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2016 ANNUAL REPORT
Improvements Made to the
Management System
Laboratory cross-study assessments and validations
RECOPE made sure that all of its
products were in full compliance
with Central American Technical
Regulations, as part of the efforts made
by the Department of Quality Assurance
in 2016, in the interest of offering its
customers environmentally friendly
products of the highest quality. To this
end, efforts were doubled to encourage,
promote and maintain the INTE-ISO/IEC
17025:2005 accreditation, as regards to
QA testing and measurements.
In 2016, the Department of Quality
Assurance in the Pacific Region
and in Moín, and the Department of
Metrology, received the external audit
report prepared by the Costa Rican
Accreditation Organization Body (ECA
as per its Spanish acronym) and, on the
basis thereof, put in place numerous
improvements in furtherance of the
accreditation requirements.
It is worth mentioning that the audit
of the Department of Metrology, and
the technical evaluation thereof, was
carried out by experts from the National
Metrology Center in Mexico in the orders
of magnitude of mass and density. As
part of the continuous improvement and
expansion of the Quality Management
System (QMS), RECOPE filed a request
to maintain the accreditation and widen
its scope.
In the same vein, RECOPE’s Department
of Quality Assurance submitted a request
to the Costa Rican Accreditation Body to
include new testing methods within the
scope of the accreditation, which will be
ratified in early 2017.
All nonconformities discovered during
the ECA’s audit were resolved and the
Department of Quality Assurance was
found to be in full compliance with
respect to the testing methods.
The test was carried out by an expert in
the orders of magnitude of mass and
volume from the National Metrology
Center in Mexico. The metrology
laboratories were able to maintain their
accreditation in regards to all the tests
that were carried out.
In 2016, RECOPE’s internal metrology
laboratories participated in bilateral
cross-study assessments, at a national
and regional level, in connection
with the following measurements
and determinations: density, mass,
volume, humidity and temperature. The
comparisons were satisfactory in all
respects, corroborating the technical
competence in the calibrations of the
Department of Metrology.
The Department of Quality Assurance
tested the suitability the company’s bunker,
gasoline, diesel and Jet A-1, in addition
to its asphalt and asphalt emulsions, to
determine whether these fuels meet ASTM
and AASHTO standards, respectively. 17
different tests were carried out; all tests
showed positive results.
Annual Internal Audit
Program
In order to meet the accreditation
requirements of the INTE-ISO/IEC
17025:2005 standard, and as part of
the company’s continuous improvement
efforts, the Annual Internal Audit
Program was carried out in 2016.
Three internal audits were conducted
with respect to the Quality Assurance
System and three others with respect
to the Metrology System. The company
made proposals on the basis thereof
and carried out the pertinent corrective
measures in that same year.
Two training courses were developed, as
part of the audit process, on the basis of the
needs discovered during the assessments
carried out in 2015 34 different auditors
took the training courses (ECA policies &
Presentation of Findings).
Standardization
RECOPE made a series of amendments
to its internal standards in the interest of
maintaining and optimizing the company’s
