Pat Vincen
Senior Director, Supplier Quality Management
SIEMENS HEALTHCARE DIAGNOSTICS
Pat is the head of Supplier Quality Management for the Diagnostics Division of Siemens Healthcare, located in Glasgow, Delaware. She began her career as a medical technologist, working in hospital laboratories for ten years before entering the diagnostics industry. Pat received her MS in Medical Technology in a Microbiology specialty from Medical College of PA (now Drexel University) with thesis research in Virology. Her BS in Biology was obtained from University of Delaware. Pat’s enthusiasm for the diagnostics field stems from a love of the sciences and a desire to provide positive impact to people’s lives.
Why is supplier quality important?
So many of the products and services we obtain from suppliers have direct impact on the quality of the products we deliver to our customers. We need to know that what we buy meets our requirements, and that supplier processes are controlled to continue to meet those requirements in the future.
Describe a supplier quality initiative you will be focusing on in 2014.
We are beginning a journey toward achieving a “Vision 2020” World Class Procurement organization. One of the workstreams in this initiative involves implementing our Diagnostics Division’s Supplier Classification process across Siemens Healthcare.
How do you see supplier quality within the diagnostic industry evolving over the next 5 years?
I believe there will be growing expectations for suppliers to ensure greater process control and higher levels of quality system robustness.
What are you most looking forward to regarding the Diagnostic Supplier Quality Assurance Conference?
The meeting will provide an excellent opportunity for networking with other diagnostics industry Quality and Procurement professionals. Many attendees are members of some of our suppliers’, competitors’, and even customer’s organizations. The conference provides a forum for us to interact in a collaborative way, and learn from each other to improve the industry as a whole.
