The effect of the ISO 9002 system standard on South African food manufacturing

Abstract

The objective of this investigation was to establish the effect of the International Organisation for Standarization (ISO) on food manufacturing. The in-depth investigation took the form of an exploratory and a descriptive study of SABS certification (with the focus on SABS ISO 9002) in the food manufacturing industry. A qualitative and quantitative approach was followed. The research strategy necessitated a personal survey in which all SABS certified food manufacturers were visited. The in-depth study required three measuring instruments to increase internal validity. The empirical study showed that, regardless of hard work, much documentation, fear of change, cost implications and culture problems, food manufacturers are very positive, loyal and committed to the system according to SABS ISO 9002. By integrating the results of the exploratory and descriptive studies, the primary positive outcomes were that culture in terms of participation, discipline and uniformity is a dimension that benefited very much; conformance to specifications showed an average improvement of up to 77%; customer complaints decreased by 57%, customer satisfaction improved and process efficiency improved by 10.4%.