Improving People’s Lives with a Quality Mindset

Larry Collie started his career in production and was quickly promoted to quality manager in the medical device industry. During the first few years, as he grew in capacity and understanding about the role, he was fortunate to have a mentor. “I was given a great opportunity and we worked together side by side. My mentor taught me everything he knew and my career took off from there.”

Collie enjoys the challenge inherent in the quality field—from refining processes to working with new people and gaining fresh ideas. “It’s the job that never ends, which might seem discouraging to some people, but I really enjoy the challenge.”

Over the past 15 plus years, Collie has seen a drastic change in regulatory requirements across the globe. Each country has slightly different requirements, and every year, rules and standards are changed or added.

“Quality requires an active approach. You have to stay on top of everything, so I’m always educating myself and networking with other people to learn about the updated requirements.”

In 2020, Collie joined Candelis, which offers solutions for the healthcare IT industry specifically focused on image visualization, workflow, archival, and reporting.

Candelis utilizes ComplianceQuest, a cloud-based Enterprise Quality and Safety Management System (QHSE), natively built and run on the Salesforce platform. Recently, it came to his attention that an upgrade was required on the platform, which also required a migration from Salesforce Classic to Salesforce Lightning.

Collie worked closely with ComplianceQuest and spearheaded the project internally. He was impressed with how seamless the transition was for the entire organization. “I use ComplianceQuest on a daily basis and the upgrade was quick, efficient, and straightforward. I also sent out a mass email to my team requesting feedback about the updates and there was literally zero impact on productivity, which was a great thing to see.”

One of Collie’s goals is to always be audit-ready. He’s dedicated to creating a culture of continuous improvement by inspiring a quality mindset.

“Medical professionals are relying on our products to help people. When we do our job, regardless of what role we play, we can help improve someone’s quality of life, whether it’s a stranger, friend or family member. If you think of it in those terms, you are going to do your best.”