Repsol YPF

Repsol YPF's commitment to quality

The business of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), propane and butane, as an integral part of Repsol YPF's global activity, actively participates in the policy and organisation that the Group has established to Guarantee Quality and Excellence in Management.

Achieving Management Excellence is an aim related to the Organisation's tangible successes: what it does, how and why it does these things, what results it obtains and how these results are maintained over time. The LPG business contributes to Repsol YPF's advance towards Excellence, brought to fruition through its commitment to Clients, Shareholders, Employees, Suppliers/ Partners, and Society.

Just like the rest of the Group, the LPG business has taken two Models of Excellence: EFQM and FUNDIBEQ as references. These are the bases for the self-evaluations that have been carried out in all Units that make up the LPG area organisation (known as "Corporate Division of LPG Global"). Through these self-evaluations, the Units identify strong points and areas that need improving, gauge where they are on their path towards Excellence and assess their advances.       

With regard to the organization of Quality, the LPG area comprises and participates in the system Repsol YPF has established for it, which basically consist of:

• Repsol YPF's Quality Regulations, which establish the framework of functions and responsibilities, the general principles of the Company's Quality Policy and the instruments to propel its deployment throughout the entire Organisation.           

• The Quality Committee, responsible for defining the strategy and approving actions; the LPG area has a representative in this committee.      

• The Technical Quality Committee, responsible for monitoring actions and establishing work programmes to put the Quality Committee's guidelines into practice; the LPG area has two representatives in this committee.

• The Strategic Quality Plan, which identifies strategic objectives and planned actions with regards to Repsol YPF's Quality, in order to carry out its Commitment to Quality. The plan is approved annually by the Quality Committee.

The main lines of action included in the Strategic Quality Plan are:

- Self-evaluations based on the EFQM and FUNDIBEQ models, done every two years. All units that comprise the Corporate Division of LPG Global have done at least one. 

- Orientation to Key Processes, identifying the Corporate Division's Map of Key Processes, through the consolidation of the processes of all its Units.  

- “Six Sigma" Plans.

- Establishment and maintenance of Quality Management Systems, which, in the case of the LPG Global Units, take Regulation ISO 9001: 2000  as a reference. The activities of the LPG Units in Spain, Portugal and France are certified in accordance with said regulation's requirements.

- Quality education and dissemination.

- External representation: Participation in Quality associations and the activities they promote, organisation of forums and events, dissemination of Excellence Principles to other organisations (such as suppliers, partners, clients, public bodies, and Universities), etc.        

LPG Quality

The Quality System has continued its establishment and development, maintaining the ISO 9001:2000 certification of AENOR for company register, applied to all activities of all Repsol Butano S.A. units. The progress model has continued its ongoing excellence with the E.F.Q.M. model, Management by Processes and systemizing improvements in order to satisfy our clients, shareholders and personnel, as well as to reduce negative impacts on society.

Like in previous years, the process of setting up the Environmental Management System continues. The audits for monitoring environmental certification with the new ISO 14001:2004 have been passed, and the certification range has been extended to include two new production centres - the factories in Gijón and Palos de la Frontera.
 
The Safety Management System maintains full validity and in 2005 the notable 43% reduction of personnel acidents is worth highlighting. This year, there have been no serious accidents in 9 of the 19 factories, or in any of the offices.     

As an investment in improving production installations in order to prevent occupational risks, it is important to mention improvements made in the plants as a result of the prevention visits and the automisation of I-350 semiautomatic packaging installations.

As for Industrial Safety, it has been another year without any industrial accidents in our factories. As an investment in installation improvements and fire prevention, the completion of construction in the Palos de la Frontera and San Fernando factories stand out. We especially mention the completion of renovation of the LPG rack in the Puertollano factory.

Finally completion of the Safety education plans with in-house personnel and contractors, as well as activities with firefighting teams stand out. During the year, we were awarded for activities related to fire extinction in Lisbon, highlighting our personnel's preparation.