ISSAQUAH, WA - Over the past three years, Vanguard has strengthened all areas of its business with strategic moves in Peru. This has included acquiring Agricola Challapampa in 2016 and developing a brand-new packing house in Ica to support a 52-week-per-year supply solution of fresh produce to global customers. To keep building on this success, Vanguard has also implemented a Total Quality Management (TQM) team upon acquisition, which has continued to grow, thrive, and help the company further delight consumers.
“Between expanding operations in Peru, and partnering with Sun World Innovations to add their top-quality grape varieties to our growing program, it was clear that quality management of our program would be critical,” said Dirk Winkelmann, Business Development Officer of Vanguard International and President of Vanguard Direct. “We’ve seen major advances in productivity and technologies that continue to deliver quality we can be proud of.”
According to a press release, Vanguard Peru’s TQM team monitors quality and efficiencies for the whole of operations: from plant installation and plant growth, to farming, harvest, package, storage, and dispatching. Since its implementation in 2016, the TQM team’s score card has racked up quite a few wins, including migration to a fully digital recording system, developing an improved evaluation system for all suppliers, and introducing a software that assists with loading and container control.
“What differentiates our TQM program is our control system. We are consistently using indicators of work efficiency housed in a state-of-the-art data house that controls development, speed, and quality of work,” added Manuel Yzaga, President of Vanguard Peru. “Errors or inefficiencies are identified immediately and communicated through chain of command as quickly as possible.”
All in all, Vanguard is pretty pleased with the TQM team’s contributions to the company’s ability to stand as a reliable pillar in the seedless grape market over the past three years. With 2020 just around the corner, the company expects to continue this trend while also increasing its emphasis on quality, condition, berry size, bunch size, and flavor.
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