Cannabis manufacturer and distributor seeks additional certification and standards using FileHold
Always Pure Organics (APO) (https://www.alwayspureorganics.com) are a specialist manufacturer and distributor of cannabis based products whose mission is to make lives better. Always Pure Organics have been serving the global cannabis market since 2018. Building from a strong base of expertise in raw materials and extracts, APO has leveraged first-mover market insights to drive further innovation across key CBD product categories, including but not limited to ingestibles, cosmetics and topicals. This along with focused development of our specialized in-house formulations department and significant investment in operational excellence and purpose built ISO Class 7 clean room, positions APO as a key driver in the continued accelerated global growth of the CBD market, predicted estimated to reach $20,000,000,000+ by 20241.
APO is currently ISO 22716 certified. ISO 22716 gives guidelines for the production, control, storage and shipment of cosmetic products. APO is also a member of Sedex which gives guidelines for the production, control, storage and shipment of cosmetic products, and provides practical tools, services and a community network to help companies improve their responsible and sustainable business practices, and source responsibly. They also comply with the Cosmetics Products Notification Portal (CPNP). The CPNP is an online notification system for submitting certain technical compliance related information about cosmetic products. The CPNP was created for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products and aimed at harmonizing the 28 EU Member States + 4 EFTA countries covered under this legislation.
APO is planning to seek additional certification for ISO 9001. ISO 9001 specifies requirements for a quality management system when an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
APO is also planning to seek certification from BRC Global Food Safety which is a standard that gives organizations working in the food industry a framework for managing the safety, integrity and quality of their products and services. This includes retailers, manufacturers, importers, caterers and ingredient suppliers. Many retailers across the UK, the US, and Europe will only do business with suppliers who have passed an audit and been accredited by a BRC certification body. APO is designing their systems with medical standards in mind so they are ready for any changes to the industry and the nature of their business model.
Since the commitment to quality is the driving force behind APO, they are also working toward Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. The GMP is the minimum standard that a medicines manufacturer must meet in their production processes. More specifically, the standards for Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) which covers the production of veterinary and medicinal products and puts APO in good stead for starting out with food-grade GMP.
To help achieve these accreditation goals, APO was looking for a document management system that would ensure full traceability from document creation all the way through to release, revision and disposal. Working with ISO standards, and toward GMP, it was of the upmost importance that the system APO selected would satisfy the requirements for documentation as set out in those standards.
A solution was needed to replace APO’s old document system which required manual version control and approval (managed using spreadsheets and with very little traceability). As APO adopts these new regulations that benefits the company and the development of the industry, it became obvious that APO needed to step up their game when it came to speed of document management, accuracy of audit logs, and improved traceability on the whole.
FileHold was selected because it has excellent traceability functions enabling APO to optimize metadata for the purpose of creating an audit trail. The ability to review and approve documents seamlessly without the need to print out, log email transactions, or manually follow up saves time and money. APO, as an organization, moves incredibly fast and the automation in FileHold for processes and reminders makes things so much simpler.
“FileHold has enabled our team to move our documents onto a secure platform with ease. The levels of security and access management have made it incredibly simple to implement one system for all areas of the business. We are continuing to develop our system and use it in new ways to support our business operations in a streamlined system. The custom integration work we had put in place has enabled us to work toward new standards and regulation systems. The team has adapted well to the new style of working and we look forward to completing our migration and taking full advantage of the system’s benefits to reach our accreditation goals.” - Operations Manager at Always Pure Organics
To learn more about how FileHold can help your organization reach its accreditation goals, contact [email protected].
1 Source: Forbes