Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151

Review

Statistical
Process Control benefits for implementing SPC in the food industry are
improved food safety and reduced process variation.

(SPC) in the food Introduction

The food industry is known for its highly perishable prod-

industry e A ucts, existence of variability in raw material quality, diversity

of recipes and processing techniques, seasonality effects,
varied harvesting conditions and, typically acquired lower
systematic review volume of batches (Dora, Kumar, Van Goubergen, Molnar,
& Gellynck, 2012; Luning & Marcelis, 2006). However, in
recent years, the importance of quality amongst food tech-
and future research nologists and food producers has critically grown, mainly
due to strict consumer expectations, governmental regula-

agenda tions and fierce market competition. In response to such de-

mands, the food industry began to seek solutions through
powerful quality control and quality improvement tech-
Sarina Abdul Halim Lima,b,*, niques, namely: food quality management (FQM) practices
consisting of goal-oriented decisions and production- and
Jiju Antonya,1 and Saja Albliwia,1 people-based systems to manage quality expectations and
delivery (Dora et al., 2012; Luning & Marcelis, 2006). As
a
Dept. Design, Manufacture and Engineering proposed by the model of FQM functions by Luning and
Management, James Weir Building, Marcelis (2007), quality control and quality improvement
75 Montrose Street, Glasgow G1 1XJ, are two interconnected components that greatly impact
United Kingdom (e-mail: [email protected]) customer satisfaction in the food industry; thus, the research
(e-mail: [email protected]) in this paper presents a detailed discussion on both activities
b through the application of Statistical Process Control (SPC).
Dept. of Food Technology,
Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Quality control in the food industry is closely related to
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, technology, sensory (flavour, colour, texture, smell and taste)
Selangor, Malaysia (Tel.: D44 0141415482029, and physical attributes, safety (microbiological), chemical
D44 7500200965; e-mails: sarina.abdul-halim-lim@ make-up and nutritional value (Edith & Ochubiojo, 2012).
strath.ac.uk; [email protected]) Food poisoning or microbiological outbreaks have been the
biggest concern for food producers, governments and con-
sumers have thus moulded consumer behaviour to being
This paper presents a systematic review on the reported imple- more rigid and strictly concerned with the quality of their
mentation of Statistical Process Control (SPC) in the food in- food (Grigg & Walls, 2007b; Loader & Hobbs, 1999;
dustry. The final selection comprehends 41 articles selected Luning & Marcelis, 2006). The continuous rejection of
and comprehensively analysed to assess SPC development in finished goods, product scrapping and product recalls have
the food industry through its motivations, benefits, challenges serious financial implications, and put the company’s image
and limitations. Key outputs indicated from the review and public trust at risk (Edith & Ochubiojo, 2012; Loader &
include: reduced process variability and conformance to the Hobbs, 1999; Strugnell, 1992).
food regulations are the biggest motivations; resistance to In addition to the customer’s perception of the quality of
accept SPC is the most cited challenge; lack of statistical a product, the food industry has faced the need to consider
knowledge is the most common limitation and the biggest critical factors in the production process, the distribution
processes and product-market systems as indicators of
* Corresponding author. quality overall (Orr, 1999; Peri, 2006; Trienekens &
1
Tel.: þ44 0141415482029. Zuurbier, 2008). This has introduced and strengthened a
0924-2244/$ - see front matter Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2014.03.010
138 S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151

trend observed over the last decade among western retailers improvement in the food industry, there is a sufficient un-
towards quality certifications such as: Hazard Analysis and derstanding of the importance of control charts over the
Critical Control Points (HACCP), International Organisa- past decades. Considering the successful implementation
tion for Standardisation (ISO), British Retail Consortium and advantages achieved through SPC in industries like
(BRP), European Retail Good Agricultural Practices the automotive, the reasons for the lack of implementation
(EUREP-GAP) and Safe Quality Food (Hubbard, 2003; of this technique in the food industry are rather unclear.
Trienekens & Zuurbier, 2008). Furthermore, food manufacturers adhere to diverse quality
The variability in food products has challenged food control and assurance techniques doomed to fail (Van Der
technologists and food scientists for more than 80 years. Spiegel, Luning, Ziggers, & Jongen, 2003).
Accounting for such variability, in the context of food pro- With the aforementioned considerations in mind, this pa-
cessing and agricultural production, has served to originate per aims to consolidate the existing knowledge on the SPC
some modern statistic approaches as demonstrated by W. S. implementation in the food industry by illustrating the SPC
Gosset. As a technologist and statistician, and through his development within the industry; critically analysing the
work within Guinness’ breweries, Gosset contributed to motivations, challenges, benefits and limitations of imple-
the foundation and testing of the statistical application in menting SPC; drawing conclusions and presenting future
quality control hypothesis (Dora et al., 2012); which clearly research avenues.
demonstrated that elements of statistical techniques can be
successfully applied in the food industry (Grigg, 1998; Methods
Grigg & Walls, 2007a; Surak, 1999). SPC was initially popularised in 1950 in the Japanese
Studies by Banse et al. (2008); Dora et al. (2012) show a manufacturing industry by W.E. Deming, who elaborated
lack of competitiveness in the food industry in Europe on the principles developed by W. Shewart in 1920. How-
when set side-by-side in North America and Australia. ever, it was not until 1980 that the western manufacturing
Furthermore, compared to other industries such as the auto- industry rapidly adopted the technique for their own appli-
motive, insurance and aerospace the food industry reported cations (Srikaeo, Furst, & Ashton, 2005). For this reason, a
the lowest performance based on an assessment against the systematic review bracketed to the literature published be-
European Business Excellence Model criteria (Mann, tween 1980 and 2012 was carried out to investigate the re-
Adebanjo, & Kehoe, 1999). According to a rigorous ported and emerging issues of SPC implementation in food
research by Grigg (1998) such issues are due to the weak industry settings and food production-related organisations.
quality improvement practice in the food industry today. The systematic review is a method of literature review
The lowest rung in the ladder of food quality control is adopting a series of steps to ensure the appropriate rigour
the usage of inspection mechanisms. These are based on and transparency is brought to the process. Tranfield,
detection of faults or defects at the end of the production Denyer, and Smart (2003) suggest that for evidence-
line and is, in general terms, an expensive quality control based research in management studies, such steps are
technique since defective products are identified too late embedded in four phases: planning, sampling, analysis
in the process (Deming, 1986). An inspection provides and reporting.
only ‘defective/non-defective information without
providing any insight on the variable; this allows room Planning phase
for alternative techniques such as SPC to investigate vari- The planning phase is crucial in depicting the structure
ability in food production to prevent product defects from and directing the systematic review to meet the research
happening earlier in the process. Such characteristics pro- objectives. A useful framework to achieve this is
vide SPC a significant advantage over quality control the application of CeIeMeO (contexteinter
over inspection mechanisms (Paiva, 2013). Furthermore, ventionemechanismeoutcome) (Briner & Denyer, 2012;
investigating of the process through SPC allows reductions Denyer & Tranfield, 2009; Rousseau, 2012). This frame-
in variability achieving process stability. Decreased product work determines the relevance of the gathered material,
variability through the SPC implementation follows De- the criteria for evaluation, the research contributions, the
ming reaction chain where the variation reduction translates research rigour and the communication of the research
into fewer defects, less rework, decreased cost of poor qual- findings. Then, the review protocol calls for research
ity and subsequently allows improvements in product and aims, questions and objectives; research background; inclu-
process quality. sion and exclusion criteria; a search and selection strategy;
Most research in SPC is generic and statistically theoret- study design and the development of tools for data synthe-
ical; hence, there is a limited body of literature on how to sis and analysis (Tranfield et al., 2003). The protocol is
operationalise SPC to address the needs of the food indus- essential to guide the literature review process towards
try (Grigg, 1998; Grigg & Walls, 2007a; Pable, Lu, & answering the research questions and promotes the trans-
Auerbach, 2010). Although the literature suggests that there parency, transferability and repeatability of the review
are only a few related articles available on SPC im- and its findings (Boiral, 2012; Booth, Papaioannou, &
plementationdas a whole, for process control and process Sutton, 2012).
 S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151 139

Sampling phase each theme. Thematic synthesis was conducted on the

To create the article sample, the authors utilised search selected articles by using data extraction forms and QSR
strings as inputs in different databases. These search strings Nvivo for coding the extracted data, as it is regarded as
included: (statistical process control) or (Six Sigma) or (to- the most appropriate software for coding data from full ar-
tal quality management) or (quality control) and (food in- ticles (Thomas & Harden, 2008; Thorpe, Holt, Macpherson,
dustry) or (food or agriculture* not service) and & Pittaway, 2005). The extracted data that shaped the
(statistical process control) (food industry or food or agri- finding synthesis, as previously stated are related to the mo-
culture*) or (Six Sigma) and (food industry OR food OR tivations, benefits, challenges and limitations of SPC imple-
agriculture*). mentation in the food industry (Boiral, 2012; Medeiros,
As suggested in the previous section, the CeIeMeO Cavalli, Salay, & Proença, 2011; Thor et al., 2007;
framework guided the search process by determining the Thorpe et al., 2005).
inclusion criteria for this review. The inclusion criteria
included: food manufacturing, SPC, Six Sigma, Total Qual- Reporting phase
ity Management (TQM) and Continuous Improvement (CI). Systematic review is valuable and pose clear advantages
Moreover, SPC is considered one of the most powerful over classical narrative reviews. Systematic review reduces
techniques in the implementation of TQM (Barker, 1990; the bias that could be introduced by the original research
Chandra, 1993; Does & Trip, 1997; Tar
ı, 2005) and Six and reports, and by the reviewers during the data collection
Sigma (Geoff, 2001; Guti
errez, Llor
ens-Montes, & and sampling phases introducing an element of rigour and
S
anchez, 2009; Schroeder, Linderman, Liedtke, & Choo, transparency to the work presented. This paper uses the IM-
2008) and as a result, TQM and Six Sigma were considered RaD structure (introduction-methods-results-and-discus-
in the inclusion criterion for this review. That is, if a com- sion) as such structure provides a clear flow of the article
pany/industry applied Six Sigma and TQM, it can be for the readers (Booth et al., 2012; Smith, 2000).
argued that the company would have also used SPC whilst
implementing the aforementioned. Results
Other exclusion criteria are based on the understanding The search strategy reported in the method yielded a to-
that this review seeks to shed light on the implementation tal of 2008 articles spanning across two domains of studies:
of SPC, the motivations, benefits, challenges and limita- the food industry and SPC. Further implementation of the
tions in the food manufacturing industry instead of food- inclusion/exclusion criteria narrowed the sample to 41 arti-
related services. Terms like food service, laboratory trials cles to be analysed comprehensively. This section exhibits
(context) and technical outputs such as mathematical equa- the patterns of publication growth across different food
tions are, consequently, listed in the exclusion criteria. commodities, the evolution of SPC implementation in the
Similarly, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Just-In- food industry and key factors of the motivations, benefits,
Time (JIT) and lean have been excluded for there is no challenges and limitations of SPC implementation in the
clear evidence that the usage of SPC underlies these tech- food industry.
niques and philosophies. In recent years, SPC has been integrated with other qual-
Finally, database search results usually include all types ity programmes such as Six Sigma, becoming a cornerstone
of sourcesdconference proceedings, book chapters, leaf- philosophy within the world’s leading corporations
lets, brochures and website contents and peer-reviewed (Sharma, Gupta, Rathore, & Saini, 2011). Nonetheless,
journals, where standardising the sample guarantees the the number of articles in this area of study continues to
quality of the information. In this particular study, the re- be relatively low when compared to other process improve-
view only included journal articles due to the peer-review ment methods and tools (DelliFraine, Langabeer, &
process in the publication of journal article able to produce Nembhard, 2010); and systematic review of the SPC appli-
quality data. Upon that, the final sample of articles was cation in other industries such as healthcare industry has
selected according to the inclusion/exclusion criteria dis- yielded eight times number of articles than those consid-
cussed in this section. The sampling process flow is pre- ered for this review (Thor et al., 2007).
sented in Fig. 1.
SPC related publications across food commodities
Analysis phase Since its introduction to the manufacturing industry in
There exist a number of methods for the synthesis of the 1950s, the adoption of SPC per sector has varied over
qualitative research. These include: meta-ethnography, the- time depending on the evolution and maturity of the knowl-
matic analysis/synthesis, grounded theory, content analysis, edge available on this technique; then, it is comprehensible
qualitative meta-analysis, qualitative comparative analysis, that this paper proposes to consider the reported distribu-
qualitative meta summary and narrative synthesis. For the tion of SPC application across commodities in the food in-
purpose of this review, thematic synthesis was considered dustry over the considered timeline. The aforementioned
the superior choice to identify important recurring themes consideration shows an inconsistent trend of growth of
and the use of structured ways of dealing with data within SPC publications in the food industry, and in 1998 reported
140 S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151

Retrieved articles with

potential relevance to the study
Reasons for article exclusion
EmeraldInsight = 1643 • Not peer reviewed
IgentaConnect = 13
publication.
ScienceDirect = 229
ABI/Inform = 17
• Duplicates
IEEEXplore = 115

N=2017 Reasons for article exclusion

• SPC is not used in the

Title and abstract domain of food
for quick scan manufacturing
• Quality control technique
N=184 does not discuss SPC
application.

Full article screening

Reasons for article exclusion
N=80
• The article is not in English
• The output met exclusion
criteria.
Articles considered
for thematic analysis

N=41

Fig. 1. Process flow for the sampling of articles.

research on SPC implementation reached its summit less complex processes in these industries compared to
(Fig. 2). other commodities, enabling the observed wider application
The publications analysed mostly referred to the bakery of SPC. In the dairy industry, the implementation of SPC is
industrydbread, pastry goods, cakes, rusks and biscuits observed as a result of the obligation to comply with strict
(20.31%) and dairy industrydliquid milk, cream, butter, food safety laws. It was also found that most SPC applica-
cheese and other milk-derived products (20.31%). This tions in this industry are integrated with the use of HACCP
declaration could be explained by the smaller amount and (Hayes, Scallan, & Wong, 1997; Jacxsens et al., 2011).

Fig. 2. Growth of SPC publications across food commodities.

 S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151 141

Evolution of the SPC implementation in the food quality system was suggested and Good Manufacturing
industry Practice (GMP) was proposed (Hubbard, 2003; Van Der
The essentials of food quality control can be traced back Spiegel et al., 2003). In 1986, the American Society for
to around 2500 BC where Egyptian laws had provisions to Quality Control (ASQC) published the Food Processing In-
prevent meat contamination (Edith & Ochubiojo, 2012). dustry Quality Systems Guidelines outlining the basic ele-
Although coined in engineering terminology, the term qual- ments for structuring and evaluating the systems required
ity control was borrowed by the food industry for food production. Later, Total Quality Control (TQC)
(Herschdoerfer, 1967) and has been widely used in all types was introduced after a long-range research programme con-
of settings. ducted in Norway (Pereira & Aspinwall, 1991). During the
The statistical approach to quality control has its origins 1980s, quality management materialised as a better
in the invention of the control chart by W.A. Shewhart for approach to quality control and improvement; highlighting
the Bell Telephone Laboratory. However, it was not until the importance of the management strategies, employee
the late 1940s when W. Edwards Deming, having adopted involvement, consumer needs and satisfaction and were
Shewhart’s work, found that the use of statistical techniques highly discussed in many research publications.
such as control charting, could be beneficially employed in Several major food-borne illness outbreaks in the 1990s
manufacturing industry. This slowly cultivated the usage of have resulted in the perception that effective control of food
statistical quality control in the manufacturing industry. safety should be the most critical activity in food produc-
Pereira and Aspinwall (1991) report that it was not until tion. Therefore, HACCP and SPC were put in practice in
the mid 1950s that the use of statistical quality control an integrated manner to improve the effectiveness of food
methods in the food industry became significant. One of quality control systems. Additionally, the utilisation of
the first successful applications was the control of container SPC has facilitated HACCP applications to control and
filling processes (Herschdoerfer, 1967; Pereira & monitor process in real time (Grigg, 1998; Hayes et al.,
Aspinwall, 1993). Until then, most of the applications of 1997).
statistical quality control took place in the packaging pro- Entering the millennium years, quality control studies,
cess, where food producers continuously faced problems especially in the food industry, have diverted its direction
reducing process variations and detailing accurate net to nurturing a statistical thinking mindset in the whole busi-
weight. Since then, many efforts to improve filling process ness (Grigg & Walls, 2007a; Hersleth & Bjerke, 2001).
control through statistical methods have been made and However, it is necessary that top management as well as
have led to important savings. all employees appreciate the advantages of quality
Another important area of study in the 1950s was the use improvement initiatives. The culture of continuous
of sampling plans for the raw material inspections. Partial improvement and statistical thinking has set a new perspec-
applications of SQC were reported in the USA and UK tive in the food industry on quality related issues, where
and by the late 1950s, statistical methods were generally quality control and improvement activities are not only use-
accepted as an important approach for quality control in ful at the production line but also for the other business
the food industry (Pereira & Aspinwall, 1991). units across the organisation. Fig. 3 maps the evolution of
In the 1960s, studies on capability analysis were con- SPC in the food industry literature.
ducted to identify the best machine setting to control In the face of the emerging trends above, the key ques-
weight accuracy and to determine the best time for preven- tions to be answered are: What is the driving force for SPC
tive maintenance to take place. As stated by Pereira and implementation for the food manufacturing companies?
Aspinwall (1991), the food industry began to apply SQC What are the challenges and limitations of SPC implemen-
methods in combination with operational research tech- tation in the food industry? What is the future research di-
niques in the so-called Evolutionary Operations (EVOP), rection of SPC implementation in the context of the food
opening a window of opportunity to control operations of industry? Thus, the following subsections are structured
processes under continuous change and for process to address these questions.
improvement. Various applications of quality control tech-
niques changed industries’ maintenance priorities, intro- SPC implementation in the food industry
ducing the prevention instead of detection approach. In the case of this review, 41% of the sampled articles
Also, during this period, quality control practices in the carried out case studies (Table 1); out of which only three
food industry started to stress the importance of managerial studies applied SPC through the implementation of the
and training aspects to achieve quality. Six Sigma methodology. Of the remaining sources, all
The concept of quality assurance spread in the 1970s by SPC studies depicted an integration of other quality tools
food processors and public bodies which it was believed as and technique such as Design of Experiment (DOE).
the best remedy for the quality issues faced by the food in- Most of the integrated SPC and HACCP cases refer to
dustry. One of the major foci, especially in the USA, was food safety control and the main issue discussed in these ar-
the establishment of the Food Products Safety and Con- ticles concerns the validation of critical control points
sumer Protection Act. By achieving this, an integrated (CCP).
142 S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151

Fig. 3. Development of SPC implementation in the food industry.

From the case studies presented in Table 1, a considerable influenced 80% of the impact, Fig. 4 depicts the most cited
number of critical parameters involved in the food industry factors (vital few) that motivate food producers to adopt
processes were identified. These appertain sensory attributes SPC in their facilities
(i.e. size, weight, texture, colour, height) and safety attributes Further analysis of the catalyst elements shows that 67%
(i.e. microbial counts). In the same way, for the food industry, of the vital few factors consist of proactive factors and the re-
SPC implementation prime characteristics of quality include maining 33% to reactive ones. The most cited motivation for
food safety attributes, sensory attributes and packaging attri- SPC implementation is to reduce process variability, cited by
butes of the products. This is supported by information from 16.7%, followed by the national legislation demands on
the seminar of quality control for processed food by the Asian assurance of product safety (UK Food Safety Act, 1990),
Productivity Organization (APO) where it was reported that a cited by 11.1%, and the correct weight and measurement of
Japanese food quality pre-requisite programme named the food products (Weight and Measure, 1985, UK).
Importance of the Quality Control highlighted the most
important criteria in quality control of processed food to be
safety and reliability, followed by “deliciousness” and
“appropriate price” (Raju, 2005). Benefits and challenges
In contrast to other industries, the lower levels of SPC
implementation in the food industry highlighted the impor-
Motivations tance of assessing the challenges this industry faces and the
This review unearthed that the SPC implementation in advantages to be gained despite the challenges. The authors
the food industry is inspired by two categories of motiva- categorised the benefits and challenges of the SPC imple-
tional factors. Such factors are categorised under proactive mentation in the food industry in terms of their nature:
(i.e. self-desire by the food producers); and reactive (re- managerial, business and operational performance. This
sponds to regulations and threats whereby failure comply categorisation is presented in Table 2, ranked in order of
may result in adverse effects) (Brannstrom-Stenberg & citation frequency.
Deleryd, 1999; Grigg & Walls, 2007a). In fact, the obliga- The review identified that the most cited benefits are
tion of food producers to comply with food safety and food reduced process variation (23%), improved food safety con-
law and regulations is highly discussed in food control trol (13%), improved knowledge about the process varia-
management studies (Jia & Jukes, 2013). Based upon the tion (13%) and cost savings (13%). On the other hand,
Pareto 80/20 rule, where 20% (vital few) of the factors the most cited challenge is resistance to change (17%),
Table 1. SPC application in the food industry.

Articles and country Commodities (product) Issues Quality characteristics Type of SPC tools Other quality program Output: benefits and duration
Knowles, Johnson, and Sugar confectionery The variation of the sweet Saved £290,000
Warwood (2004), (Medicated sweets) size caused reworks, scraps  Sweet thickness  X bar chart  Six Sigma Improved Cpk from 0.5 to 1.6
-UK and machine downtime.  R chart  Taguchi method -12 months
 Histogram
 Scatter plot
 Ishikawa diagram
Daniels (2005), Bakeries Major customer filed Reduced scrap rate 40%
-USA (Pie) complaints on the crust  Crust strength  X bar chart  HACCP Saved £274, 983
strength and risk of losing  Box plot  Six Sigma

S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151
the customer.  Pareto chart  DOE
Grigg, Daly, and Stewart Fish Product give away and Reduced product give away and
(1998) unnecessary Checkweigher  Package weight  X bar chart  None rejection rate.
-UK rejection  R chart
Negiz et al. (1998) Dairy In dairy pasteurisation, if 20% over processing is able to be
-USA the product temperature  Temperature  Hotelling T2  None detected
drops below 1610 F (15 s Receive signals for non-
holding time), the product compliance.
must be diverted
immediately to comply.
(Srikaeo & Hourigan, Eggs There is no evidence of the The CCP value validated (All
2002) effectiveness of HACCP  Temperature  Individual chart  HACCP control measures are capable to
-Australia elements.  pH design critical limits except
 Chlorine level chlorine level).
-6 months
Augustin and Minvielle Meat processing and The low rate of Validates the assumption of
(2008) preserving unsatisfactory batches of  Microbial count  Moving average chart,  HACCP microbiological contamination
-France Enterobacteriaceae and  Box plot variances is in control (2%
Pseudomonas count  Histogram variances above the control limit).
detection caused doubt on
the efficiency of the
traditional control scheme.
Dalgiç, Vardin, and Meat processing and There is a demand for more Stabilise the moisture content
BelibaA€ Yli
€ (2011) preserving effective quality control  Moisture content  Process mapping  TQM (reading approximately 40%).
-Turkey technique to assist HACCP  pH  Pareto chart  HACCP Able to prioritise 5 critical
implementation.  Scatter plot  ISO 2200 problems.
 Ishikawa diagram  ISO9000 Enable plant operators to take
 X bar chart  FMEA action quickly.
 R chart -3 months
Rai (2008) Tea The critical problem faced Reduction of out-of-control
-India in tea production is the  Weight  CUSUM  None situation from 66% to 4%
weight variation in the tea  X bar chart
packet (underweight or
overweight).
(continued on next page)

143
 144
Table 1 (continued )
Articles and country Commodities (product) Issues Quality characteristics Type of SPC tools Other quality program Output: benefits and duration
(Srikaeo et al., 2005) Biscuits Best practice is required for Able to detect the worst line
-Australia process characterisation  Temperature  Histogram  None performance;
either for new process or for  Cooking time  X bar chart Cpk 0.63 < 1.33 (required values)
when a process has  Press pressure (in  R chart An inadequate measurement
undergone significant moulder) system with operators’
engineering change. measurement variations for wheat
protein and moisture content
contributes 92.21% and 98.84% of
total variation respectively.

S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151
-10 months
Miller and Balch (1991) Nuts Downtime for the blend/ Reduce 35% blending/grinding
-USA grinding process caused lost  Colour  Pareto charts  None downtime and 61% total
production and more  Salt content  X bar chart downtime occurrences.
equipment wear-off.  R chart Uniform feed of salt into the
grinder
Reduce 55% colour variation.
-15 months
Hung and Sung (2011) Bakery During re-steaming bun Decrease the 70% shrinkage rate
-Taiwan process, customers  Weight  Pareto charts  Six Sigma (defects).
complaints that the product  Tree diagram  GMP -6 months
have issues such as  Process mapping  DOE
shrinkage, foreign material  Ishikawa diagram
and crack.  X bar chart
 R chart
Hayes et al. (1997) Dairy There is neither proper Provide warning in FAIL case as
-UK trend analysis nor advance  RLU reading  CUSUM  HACCP early as Day 51 before the out-of-
warning to out-of-control  Individual chart control on Day 74.
CP in the Relative Light Depict better prevention, control
Units (RLU) e reading for system with the integration of SPC
ATP Bioluminescence and HACCP
Technique for food safety -3 months
purposes.
€
Ozdemir €
and Ozilgen Nuts Turkey production of The quality performance is clear
(1997) hazelnuts worth  Damaged nuts  p-charts  DOE and able to detect the need for
-Turkey £312,480,500 faced a equipment readjustment and
quality problem of damage operational problem (crusher
during the cracking process. equipment).
Gauri (2003) Bakery Loss of profit due to Reductions of 4.6 g average pack
-India manufacturing target is set  Thickness  Pareto chart  None weight
above the declared  Weight  X-moving range chart Reduction of 5.65 S.D
packaging weight.  Scatter plot Reduction of 10% underweight
packet, and 1.2% for overweight
Increase 48.6% yield
 S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151 145

18 100%
16 90%
14 80%
70%
Percentages (%)
12
60%
10
50%
8
40%
6
30%
4 20%
2 10%
0 0%
A B C D E F G H I J L M K N O

Proactive Reactive

A. To reduce process variations I. To improve operational performance

B. comply with food regulations and law J. To gain more knowledge related to the process
C. To increase productivity K. To validate effectiveness of other quality control
D. To gain customer confidence and trust technique
E. Customer pressure L. To improve the image and reputation of the company
F. Market competition pressure M. To extract more information from the collected data
G. To reduce cost N. To reduce risk of product recall
H. As the diligent defence for prosecution O. To characterise process

Fig. 4. Motivations of SPC implementation in the food industry.

lack of sufficient statistical knowledge (17%) and lack of for feedback action to reduce variation in the production pro-
management support (15%). cess. Without any out-of-control feedback action, SPC can
only be applied as a process control technique, not as a pro-
cess improvement technique (Xie & Goh, 1999).
Limitations
The major difference between the implementation of
There are several factors that may limit food companies
SPC as a stand-alone technique and SPC through Six Sigma
from gaining full advantage of SPC implementation in their
is expressed in the measurement units to assess the imple-
organisations. Based on the Pareto analysis in Fig. 5, out of
mentation impact. That is, Six Sigma cases render a clear
six factors, three are the most common limitations. These
saving cost as the success of the projects is linked to the
are the lack of statistical thinking (ST) (30.8%), lack of us-
business bottom-line (Zu, Robbins, & Fredendall, 2010)
able and practical SPC guidelines for the food industry
and, since a business or financial bottom-line is considered
(23%), and SPC perceived as too advanced for the use of
a good measurement of quality improvement impact and
food companies (23%). The top three factors deduced from
clear calibration of progress (Goh, 2002), Six Sigma imple-
the results depicted operational factors are limiting the im-
mentation could be considered superior to SPC. In contrast,
plementation of SPC, instead of technical aspects of SPC.
performance measurement indicating the success of SPC
implementation in the food industry is vaguely addressed
Discussions and current literature, mostly refers to the use of Cpk, per-
This review aims to consolidate the existing knowledge on centages of waste and defects, and customer satisfaction as
SPC implementation providing a starting point for re- measures for performance. In the food industry, customer
searchers and practitioners seeking to implement SPC in satisfaction is measured through surveys by using the Likert
the food industry setting. Table 1 illustrates that SPC imple- scale; however, this scale is not standardised and it is diffi-
mentation has taken place in the food industry across various cult to measure the real impact of the implementation to-
food commodities and countries; however, from the empir- wards the business performance.
ical study suggested that its integration with other quality
tools and technique would provide better results. For
example, typically, DOE is used in early phases of food prod- Motivations of SPC implementation in the food
uct development prior the SPC implementation to identify industry
factors affecting the elaboration of the finished product and The motivation section examined the reasons for the up-
in the later stages, but in SPC implementation, DOE is used take of SPC in the food industry. The results of this review
146 S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151

Table 2. Benefits and challenges.

Authors Benefits Authors Challenges

Bidder (1990); Daniels (2005); Managerial Alsaleh (2007); Beardsell and Dale Managerial
Hung and Sung (2011)  Improved process knowl- (1999); Bidder (1990); Hersleth  Resistance to change
edge and understanding and Bjerke (2001); Hung and Sung  Employees lack of statistical
 Improved decision- (2011); Jha, Michela, and Noori knowledge
making process. (1999); Matsuno (1995);  Lack of management support
 Gained more information Rohitratana and Boon-itt (2001);  Lack of interest
from the data. Sanigar (1990); Scott et al. (2009);  Lack of empowerment culture
Srikaeo et al. (2005); Surak (1999)  Lack of experience
 Lack of in-house expertise
 Lack of trained staff
 Lack of feedback and continuous
learning
Alsaleh (2007); Augustin and Business Grigg (1998); Grigg and Walls Business
Minvielle (2008); Hayes et al.  Improved food safety (2007b)  Lack of reported business
(1997); Holt and Henson (2000); control benefits
Narinder, Aastveit, and Naes  Cost savings
(2005); Negiz et al. (1998); Orr  Improved customer
(1999); Srikaeo and Hourigan satisfaction
(2002); Van Der Spiegel, Luning,  Increased customer trust
Boer, Ziggers, and Jongen (2005)  Improved image of the
company
 Reduced product recall
Grigg and Walls (2007b), Grigg Operational Gauri (2003); Grigg and Walls Operational
€
(1998); Ittzes (2001); Ozdemir and  Reduced variations (2007b); Hersleth and Bjerke  Poor measurement systems
€
Ozilgen (1997); Pable et al. (2010);  Reduced defects (2001)  Lack of guidelines and manuals
Knowles et al. (2004); Cinar and  Predicted process  Lack of systematic systems for
Schlesser (2005); Mataragas et al., behaviour data collection
(2012); (Kosebalaban) Tokatli et al.,  Saved time
(2005); Psomas and Fotopoulos  Increased productivity
(2010); Alsaleh (2007)  Reduced product
‘giveaway’

strongly suggest that most of the food companies imple- more likely to provide only short-term improvements and
ment SPC on their own free willdto experience a greater restricted further long-term success (Brannstrom-Stenberg
extent of advantages; but when implemented as a defence & Deleryd 1999; Cheng & Dawson, 1998). Furthermore,
mechanism against audits and to abide food law, it is the companies that were forced to implement SPC

35 100%
90%
30
80%
25
Percentages (%)

70%
20 60%
50%
15 40%
10 30%
20%
5
10%
0 0%
A B C D E F

A. Lack of statistical thinking within the food companies

B. Current SPC guidelines unable to comprehend food manufacturing applications
C. SPC tools are considered too advanced for food industry usage.
D. SPC is too complex for non-statistical background employees to be applied
E. Food sectors perceived quality improvement initiatives like SPC is costly
F. Food industry contains too many variables for quality control

Fig. 5. Limitations of SPC implementation in the food industry.

 S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151 147

commonly missed their opportunity to gain greater benefits optimising standards and for the planning phase of the pro-
such as understanding process behaviour, identifying pro- cess, where short-run SPC applications could aid keeping
cess trends and subsequently defying process improvement the process under control at its infant stage (Pable et al.,
opportunities (Dale, van der Wiele, & van Iwaarden, 2007). 2010; Paiva, 2013).
The result from this review contrasts with a survey study The most cited benefits of SPC implementation due to
on the application of lean in the food industry, where food the effective application of control charts is the reduction
safety is the main focus and less on process improvement of process variation; however, application of the remaining
(Dora, Kumar, Van Goubergen, Molnar, & Gellynck, SPC tools is rarely discussed in the reviewed articles. This
2013). Nonetheless, the results of this review are in syn- supports the observation that the perception of SPC within
chrony with the result of a survey of the motivations of the food industry is solely that of control chart application.
continuous improvement practice in the Canadian food in- Second most cited benefits of the application of SPC is the
dustry (Scott, Wilcock, & Kanetkar, 2009). It can be said ability to improve food safety control. The review also dis-
that uniformity of products is the target of most of food pro- closed that food safety control through SPC implementa-
ducers and reducing variation is the most effective solution tion can improve the predictability of process behaviour
for such goal (Surak, 1999). and as well as the feedback systems to avoid occurrences
The food manufacturing industry continuously struggles of contamination. Food safety control is improved by the
to maintain their process performance within the restric- integration of SPC and HACCP, where SPC enhances the
tions of their low profit margins; in other words, the work HACCP effectiveness for real-time monitoring purposes.
has to be right first time, every time (Dudbridge, 2011). Similarly, a study on the implementation of lean
The implementation of SPC would help overcome such manufacturing in the food industry shows that most of its
struggles, providing a profound understanding of the sour- applications focus on addressing food safety issues (Dora
ces of product variability. In return, identifying the influ- et al., 2012).
ence of the variations on product properties could also The evolution of quality depicted a paradigm shift in
aid the lessening customer complaints. quality control; from the use of inspection to SPC imple-
Since introduced by governments, food laws and regula- mentation (Dooley, 2000). Yet, based on the review, most
tions are highly overseen and mandatory for compliance of the articles failed to report the reduction of inspection
and are mostly circulated by food safety officers (Grigg, frequency. The minimisation of inspection activities con-
1998; Grigg & Williams, 2000; Surak, 1999). This has tributes to operational cost savings where the required
influenced the motivating factors for the implementation workforce would be reduced as well. Not surprisingly,
quality management techniques. In fact, Psomas and such benefits lead to the employees’ resistance to change
Fotopoulos (2010) indicate that TQM implementation in as well as the employees’ fear of losing their jobs.
the food industry took place due to the escalating demands Resistance to changedwhether sourced from the shop
of the consumers and the government in regards to food floor or from the management spheres influences the way
quality and safety. For example, since January 2006, all in which SPC is perceived, considering it as just another
Greek food companies are obliged by the legislation to new quality control technique not worth providing the
implement food safety and hygiene management necessary employee time releases and resources for their
procedures. involvement in the implementation. Compared to the
Finally, this review disclosed that although the SPC im- healthcare industry, which faced a similar challenge
plementation in the food industry mainly relates to food (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kaboli, 2010; Thor et al.,
safety, the adoption of SPC implementation in these recent 2007), the food industry is more known for its conservative
years is also due to great interest in process and quality nature and resistance to change (Glasgow et al., 2010). Fear
improvement opportunities. of the implementation contributed to the resistance against
SPC adoption and its rooted in the lack of experience and
Benefits and challenges of SPC implementation in the insufficient employee capability for the implementation
food industry (Hung & Sung, 2011). Although there are many food orga-
The low rates of SPC implementation in the food indus- nisations that have implemented SPC, it is regularly applied
try have led to the speculation of its effectiveness in this in- in its orthodox form of a long-established process with the
dustry. Despite the challenges of its implementation, this majority of data available and at their disposal.
review has listed the evidence SPC applicability in this in-
dustry. Table 2 shows some of the benefits that could coun- Limitations of SPC implementation in the food industry
terbalance the challenges faced. Some characteristics of the The list of limitations in this review stressed that the lack
food production systems, such as high variability of product of early education on SPC led to other limitations such as
features, the small batch production techniques and the data the lack of ST culture. ST core elements entail the realisa-
in the area are appropriate at least for short-run SPC. In tion that all work occurs in interconnected systems, each
spite of being known as a powerful technique for variability process has variations and the key to success is to reduce
control, SPC is also an effective tool for troubleshooting, these variations (Hersleth & Bjerke, 2001). ST has a critical
148 S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151

role as a platform for the adoption of continuous improve- are the common reasons that spark the intention to apply
ment initiatives such as SPC and Six Sigma in the food in- SPC? What type of benefits can be expected from SPC imple-
dustry (Grigg & Walls, 2007a; Srikaeo & Hourigan, 2002). mentation? And what are the challenges and limitation, ex-
It would also reduce the fear of statistics usage in the food pected from the SPC implementation?
sector and eliminate the perception that SPC is too complex This review found that, SPC implementation in the food
for the users without a solid statistical education back- industry is mainly motivated by the conformance of food
ground. As a result of lacking ST culture, food industry laws and regulations. Food quality attributes are developed
companies are unable to use statistics-based techniques through a network of rules and legislation from government
with maximum effectiveness. This is partly due to lack of bodies, as well as safety requirements such as Food Safety
pre-requisite knowledge and awareness among managers Act (1990) and consumer preference. However, in these
of the SPC method’s real purpose (Snee, 1990). recent years, more SPC implementations concentrate on
Grigg and Walls (2007a) and Hersleth and Bjerke (2001) process improvement purposes. The rising application of
are concerned with the lack of guidelines in SPC imple- structured methodologies such as Six Sigma and Lean Six
mentation within the food industry. A survey of 71 different Sigma have sparked the awareness that process improve-
food processing sites by Grigg (1998) suggested that most ment initiatives have a significant and strong impact on
of SPC activities in food organisations derived from the quality and operational performance (Sousa & Voss, 2002).
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The usage is This review disclosed that the most cited challenges for
mainly focused on weight and measurement control, where the food manufacturers to implement SPC are the resistance
operators, although not statistically trained, are able to sim- to adopt SPC by various levels of the organisation, insuffi-
ply follow the written procedure. However, although the cient statistical knowledge and the lack of top management
manual works well for untrained statistical staff on a work- commitment. Such challenges can be addressed through
ing level, it falls short of the full set of recommendations continuous training, increasing the awareness and knowledge
within the DTI manual. It is recommended that to establish related to SPC implementation and subsequently, reducing
accurate measures of medium-term process variance, large the resistance to the implementation. Despite the list of chal-
data sets and longer periods of data collection on an infre- lenges listed in the empirical studies, compared to previous
quent basis, after significant changes in a process or estab- articles, this review identified that the SPC application man-
lishment of new processes are used. ages to improve food process performance whilst being indi-
The food industry provides a few numbers of specific ex- rectly beneficial to the business and management aspects too.
isting codes of practice, such as the Codex Alimentarius The most cited benefit reported is process variation reduction
Commission (CAC), the Campden Food and Drink and followed by food safety control improvement.
Research Association (CFDRA) and the British Meat Man- This review suggests that incorporating SPC to the other
ufacturers’ Association (BMMA); however, while quality quality control programme such as HACCP could
assurance aspectsdsuch as sanitary hygiene are covered strengthen its application, given that most articles sug-
in detail, there is no specific information on SPC tools or gested that food safety control is improved with the integra-
methods for their application. In order to achieve ST within tion of SPC and HACCP. Notwithstanding all the benefits,
the food industry besides having systematic guidelines the there are limitations to the implementation of SPC in the
organisation must be able to communicate both structural food industry, which has caused the low penetration of
and cultural changes (Grigg & Walls, 2007a). SPC application in the food industry. The most cited limi-
tations include: the lack of statistical thinking in the food
Conclusions and future research agenda industry, the lack of practical SPC guidelines customised
This paper provides a consolidation the existing knowl- for the food industry, and the perception that SPC is too
edge on the SPC implementation in the food industry based advanced to be applied. It is the identification of these lim-
on the systematic review and thematic analysis of a sample itations that have opened a window of opportunity to draw
of 41 articles. The advantages of using systematic review the agenda for future research.
are, the process of the review were structured and trans- This review discovered that the current research on what
parent for future research in this topic. The theoretical im- to do has provided only a static view of the implementation,
plications of this paper are depicted in Fig. 3, which intends offering only an indication of how the end results should
to examine the roots underlying SPC philosophies and their look like especially in most of empirical study. Yet,
implementation and suggests the future of SPC implemen- research has failed to produce the guidelines on which fac-
tation within the food industry. tors should be emphasized at different stages of SPC imple-
The development of systematic reviews in various areas, mentation or SPC maturity and what is the best SPC
notably in medical field results from the difficulty to find implementation sequence to reach the target/end
related articles, usually scattered through various journals result? There is no practical guideline for the food pro-
in different areas that few managers have time to read. ducers to embark on an SPC journey and there exists a
Thus, the main findings in this review able to provide answers limited discussion on the method for its implementation.
to the most common questions posed by the managers: What A guideline for SPC implementation can prove of
 S.A.H. Lim et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 37 (2014) 137e151 149

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