Tequila production process

The support needed so that our processes are performed as planned, depends on the documented information available to the operator. With the responsibility of maintaining ISO certifications in Tequila Sauza, we became aware that the documents themselves are not enough, workers that carry out those activities that have an impact on the quality and safety of food, the environment or the safety & health at our workplace, require knowing and becoming familiar with these documents, as well as applying them. Common sense was essential to achieve this. 

The task of preparing documented information

Originally, the Quality Management System documents were prepared by a small group of workers who were responsible to perform the processes. Internal audits revealed that these documents met all requirements of the ISO standards but were not fully implemented by the workers who performed activities in the different stages of the processes.

The responsibility for updating the documents was switched from the process manager to the process stage worker. It seemed like reprocessing yet, it was a training and awareness experience that turned out to become a great practice for the workers. They were organized by the stages of each process, under the leadership of their boss. They updated the information so it would meet the applicable requirements of ISO standards. Just to now, workers are the carriers of the information needed to update documents.

The support of Documented Information

The first information kiosks in Sauza were installed at points close to the workers. They were equipped with a computer connected to the Beam Suntory's network and had access to a software that supports the document control system, which keeps the current documents available. There was a password that we all shared which allowed access to read this information from any computer connected to the Beam Suntory's network.  This kiosk helped us get rid of wasting paper on printed documents and reduce the time spent in updating operational manuals.

Over time, Sauza installed a wireless network, so more and more employees had access to computer tools and Sauza assigned personalized identification and passwords to its employees. All of our records migrated from printed paper to electronic backups. The tangible benefit was the elimination of paper and od the time spend in updating the operational manuals. In the words of our director: We need to move forward along with technological advances.

Software for document control

Workers in charge of generating information are responsible of preparing and updating documents in order to keep our documents up-to-date and to meet confidentiality requirements. All of Beam Suntory’s operation units use the same software available in the network for the control of documents. This allows us to share documents as well as to access and query documents from other Beam Suntory’s operation units. The system also allows us to restrict access to documents whose sensitive information is kept confidential. A "Key User" of the document control system in each operation unit, creates the templates that users require in the system, as well as the workflows so that these documents are reviewed and approved in order to maintain their consistency with the ISO Standards and with Tequila Sauza’s strategies.

Documents in Tequila Sauza play a strategic function which integrates the information related to: quality and food safety, environmental performance and  health & safety at the work. it is continually updated and kept flexible in order to keep up with the current changes and processes' tendencies.

If you are interested in knowing more about Casa Sauza's work on  Documents Control, download our free e-book: