Half of 2021 has passed. For more than half a year, the SPC members struggled steadily and fiercely for “Quality- First Management,” one of the core management keywords for leading the SPC Group this year. The “Great Food Company” series, where we meet the leaders of these efforts, is now in our seventh episode. Today, we will interview Managing Director Kim Jin-eok of the Quality Management Office at SPC Samlip and listen to how they are leading quality-first management in the field.
Interview of Managing Director Kim Jin-eok, Quality Management Office, SPC Samlip
Striving for Customer Satisfaction and Super-Gap Quality
Managing Director Kim Jin-eok, Quality Management Office, SPC Samlip
Q. What are the day-to-day businesses and main missions of SPC Samlip’s Quality Management Office?
Hello. I’m Kim Jin-eok, Managing Director at the Quality Management Office, SPC Samlip. The Quality Management Office was established in November 2014 as an organization directly under the CEO. It has been reorganized into three teams and five parts through integration with the Research Center’s Analysis Team and the CSM team. Our main mission is customer satisfaction and super-gap quality management, founded on the company-wide food safety management for SPC Samlip. To this end, we conduct quality evaluation, analysis, and diagnosis of our production centers and our stores and service area partners, and control risks in advance to create quality management performance.
Quality Evaluation to Achieve Super-Gap Level Quality
Q. What are the areas that are specifically affected by quality management issues? I am also curious about the recent issues in the Quality Management Office.
SPC Group strives to reach customers with top-quality products for the successful completion of the company-wide “Q21 Campaign.” To this end, we operate the Q21 Secretariat, which includes the Quality Management Office, Production Headquarters, Research Center, and Marketing. We improve product quality through daily on-site taste quality evaluations and quarterly intensive management quality evaluations to achieve the super-gap level of quality. In the first half of 2021, this allowed us to significantly improve sanitation on-site, and complaints were reduced by 32% compared to the previous year.
Contactless educational programs due to COVID- 19
Following the recent intensification of the COVID-19 situation, we distributed guidelines to comply with each Crisis Alert level. We check compliance through random inspections of stores and service areas. In preparation for the COVID-19 situation, we are developing and operating a contactless training program so that our employees can stay competent in hygiene and quality. Also, with the record-breaking heatwave, we have increasing concerns about food poisoning and spoiling. We are implementing intensive on-site hygiene management and analysis for the summer season. In preparation for the Hoppang season, which is SPC Samlip’s flagship product, we are doing our best to manage quality by planning preliminary inspections and taste quality evaluations of raw material suppliers and production centers.
In Charge of Product Safety and Hygiene
Tasks performed by each team in the Quality Management Office for the best quality
Q. What is the role of each team in SPC Samlip’s Quality Management Office?
The Quality Management Office at SPC Samlip consists of three teams and five parts. First, the Quality Planning Team consists of the Guarantee Part and Evaluation Part. Their main jobs include safety verification of laws and policies and taste quality evaluation of our own and competitors’ products. In addition, they are responsible for overall hygiene and legal management of raw material and OEM partners, SPC’s production centers, stores, and service areas. Second, the Quality Analysis Team consists of Microbial Part and Physico-Chemical Part. They analyze hazardous substances, such as food-poisoning bacteria and pesticide residues, in raw materials and finished products at stores and service areas and analyze and diagnose production centers. Lastly, the CSM Team puts the customer’s position first through CCM (Consumer-Centered Management) certification and manages customer response and claim-related indicators using VOC monitoring. We operate as a quality-first organization with organically cooperating team members who have expert competencies in each field.
Overview of the Quality Management Office at SPC Samlip
Q. What kind of customer response are you specifically providing through the customer-first support system?
In line with the increasing demand for customer-centered management, we identify and organize all our activities from the customer’s point of view. Specifically, we gather various opinions, including customer complaints, suggestions, inquiries, and compliments, and deliver them to relevant departments such as sales and marketing. We identify the causes and improve them to increase customer satisfaction. We also support customers through multiple channels, from call centers to social media and face-to-face visits, to respond quickly and accurately to customer requests. Based on these performances, we will do our best to renew our CCM (Consumer-Centered Management) certification in December.
Consumer-centered management to enhance customer satisfaction
Bringing Health to Taste
Exterior view of SPC Samlip
Q. Could you tell us about the impact of SPC Samlip’s Quality Management Office on SPC Group?
SPC Samlip produces and supplies the key raw materials such as flour, liquid eggs, vegetables, and processed meat to the group’s affiliates. In turn, deterioration in our product quality also affects the product quality of the group’s affiliates. To manage this, the Quality Management Office regularly verifies and evaluates each production center and finished products independently from the Quality and Safety Team of the production center. In addition, we preemptively prevent and manage the overall food hygiene, safety, and product quality from raw material suppliers to production centers and stores.
SPC Samlip’s Catchphrase for Q21
Q. In relation to the 2021 management keyword, “Quality-First Management,” could you tell us about the performance and plans of the Quality Management Office?
With the “Quality-First Management” policy and the catchphrase, “Q21 Samlip: Bringing Health to Taste,” all executives and employees at SPC Samlip are working together to achieve the best quality. With the Q21 Secretariat at the center, Quality Management Office is also working hard to ensure that company-wide quality management can produce results. We procured outstanding ingredients and core technologies to elevate the taste and quality and established an efficient inbound inspection and examination system that oversees suppliers of those ingredients. In the first half of 2021, by officially launching the quality management process, we achieved an astounding 32% reduction in customer claims compared to the same period in the previous year. We accomplished this feat by concentrating our capacities at all the quality departments and production centers to improve customer satisfaction. Reduction in claims directly affects customer satisfaction and corporate image enhancement. Ultimately, we will strive to achieve zero claims through continuously improving our service.
We plan to use high-quality ingredients to make wholesome products and develop products that satisfy our customers even more, which will significantly alleviate customer dissatisfaction. Furthermore, we will select key management items to create high-quality products with super gaps and continuously manage the evaluation system to maintain the optimal taste and quality.
This time, we met Managing Director Kim Jin-eok of the Quality Management Office at the SPC Samlip to discuss their work. We learned about our colleagues’ efforts to achieve super-gap quality. SPC Group will strive to successfully complete “Quality First Management” mission and deliver the best quality to our customers.
