Today, we celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.👩🏼🔬
The significance of this day is to promote full and equal access to participation in science for women and girls by collaboratively taking a global step forward to remove the stigma for good. The next step in the movement is to not only be aware and educated on the issues surrounding gender inequality, but to be actively making a change across STEM occupations.
According to a 2023 Australian Government study from The Department of Industry, Science and Resources:
“ Only 15% of STEM jobs are held by women, and an estimated 8% of CEOs in STEM qualified industries are women. ”
Closing the gap starts with recognising and celebrating the value that women bring to the work place. This year, Cafetto celebrates 21 years in the coffee industry. We're proud to attribute a lot of our success to the exemplary women in our Technical/Research & Development Teams who play a pivotal role in ensuring we provide only the most effective products made by the highest quality materials from product to packaging. Here's 1 or 2 reasons how:
1: Sustainability in day-to-day operations: 🌎
One of our major goals is ensure we're doing our bit to add sustainability into the coffee chain. From the product formulation to the development, the Research and Development team (R&D) adopt the following measures into their every day routine to place sustainability as top of mind and top of action:
- Cross-departmental collaboration with the in-house Production and Quality Control team to manufacture highly concentrated products for less packaging requirements and prolonged use.
- Working with the Operations team to further develop our movement towards waterless products to avoid shipping water, and products that don't require heat to manufacture.
- Working closely with the Regulatory department for assessment of potential formulas to meet Domestic and International certifications and guidelines.
- Re-assessing and reformulating when required, to reduce hazard to the environment and our consumers without compromising product efficacy.
In the background, our ladies in the lab are also keeping up to date with research on trends in the most up to date sustainable surfactants to deliver our most sustainable products to our customers.
2. Certifying quality from the idea to the final product ☕
Ensuring quality in every stage of the product development process from concept to commercialisation to produce products that are made with quality & compliance, machine integrity and effective cost-in-use.
The Cafetto testing standards before commercialisation: 🧪
Quality assurance is front of mind from the second we hit go on an idea. In the conceptualisation stage, our R&D team conduct product compatibility testing through a range of materials or specific machines to confirm compatibility with their components.
The next stage is pressure testing through a rigorous assessment of product efficacy through in-house performance testing, followed by accelerated stability tests to improve the shelf life of the product before going to market for customers.
One of the most crucial parts of pre-commercialisation testing is assessing chemical health and safety, and applying these findings to each product made using the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) to make sure we're being held accountable to meet and exceed the appropriate health standards.
Quality assurance during commercialisation: 🔬
Quality control continues well after the product reaches the end user. A few of the standard processes include confirming real-time stability of commercialised products at the 1,2 & 3 year mark to ensure efficacy of the product from day 1 to the expiry date. All of this is of course followed by the development and refinement of standard test methods to help us better improve and expand on our performance testing abilities.
What do our R&D heads do with these learnings?
Take it back to stage 1. Report the findings to the relevant departments, and come up with initiatives that help Cafetto continuously improve with products that help our customers achieve their end goal; the perfect cup of coffee. 🍵
It's safe to say the ladies in the lab play a pivotal role in delivering quality from idea to machine. We're proud to be showcasing the unique, intelligent individuals who represent Women in Science Leadership in the Cafetto team. Our mission is to encourage change by sharing our story. Together we can unite for change to achieve gender equality and empowerment for the next generation of women and girls so we can #endthebias. 💪
Want to learn more about what makes Cafetto unique from the inside out? Click here to learn more about out 21 year journey. 🛣️