EQMS for the CPG sector in 2024

The CPG sector has always been known for long-term strategic planning, often resulting in building a collection of brands that will stand the test of time.

Brand building, trust and longevity are three pillars for CPG companies.

But the key to the efficacy of all three factors lies in one key process: Quality.

There is no doubt, CPG companies need a robust, automated, efficient EQMS process. This needs to be an end-to-end process, driving quality and compliance across the entire lifecycle, right from concept and manufacturing to the consumer side.

An integrated, cloud-based EQMS like ComplianceQuest can certainly make life easier for a quality leader in this sector.

A collaborative platform that is scalable and flexible, with the ability to provide data-driven insights into supplier, with operational and customer dashboards will go a long way in automating the quality process.

But, first, we analyze some key challenges facing quality leaders in this space:

• Product Recalls is a major challenge faced by CPG companies. This is true across categories including packaged food, toys, home furnishings, electronics, personal care and household products. According to a study conducted by Switzerland-based SGS, a world leader in inspection, verification, testing and certifications for CPG companies, over 51 products in the US alone were recalled with an “unsafe” tag in the last quarter of 2019. They were unsafe for several reasons including the use of unapproved chemicals, sharp edges, etc.
• In the packaged food category, the FDA recalled food items for a variety of reasons including the presence of undeclared peanut, wheat, milk, soy and nuts, elevated calcium levels, the potential presence of small particulates, unapproved herbicide, and so on.
• These recalls indicate the need for stringent quality control from the design stage to the sourcing of raw materials, and from the manufacturing process, packaging and distribution.
• Product recalls can cause panic amongst customers, harming the reputation of the business. While one or two of the company’s products may fall short of regulatory compliance, in the customer’s minds the entire brand suffers as a result.
• With the growth of e-commerce reviews and social media complaints, brands need to build robust processes around complaint handling, taking corrective and preventive action and RCA.
• Regulatory bodies also expect documents and a trail for auditing purposes. Managing different versions of documents can be challenging.
• Packaging must also meet regulatory statutes, and accurately declare ingredients, especially in food items.

How can a cloud-based, modern EQMS help overcome these challenges?

• A cloud-based EQMS that is inherently collaborative across both web and mobile devices can provide an enterprise-wide view of data and processes, improving transparency, communication and streamlining of data gaps.
• Supplier qualification processes can help standardize the process of empaneling suppliers who meet the company’s quality benchmarks, ensuring there are no quality gaps on the supplier side.
• An EQMS can streamline every activity in the design-to-market cycle without the need for too many manual checks and controls, minimizing errors and improving efficiencies.
• Enterprise-wide solutions that integrate with other ERP and CRM systems also help collaboration and Document Management.
• As part of the system, complaints handling and customer management becomes easier and becomes an actionable point that can be kept track of for closure. This improves customer satisfaction and, thereby, revenues.
• Root-cause analysis helps identify the source of problems and implements long-term preventive measures.

A Nielsen survey shows that globally, 49 per cent of consumers were willing to pay a premium for high-quality assurances and verifiable safety standards. A cloud-based EQMS like ComplianceQuest offers 12 key solutions ideal for the consumer-packaged goods industry. It is built with automation and customization as its fundamental principles, thereby empowering the quality leader to choose the modules applicable to his or her context and scale as the enterprise evolves.

The EQMS solution drives efficiency and productivity while reducing complexity of operations for quality heads.

Currently, ComplianceQuest serves customers in over 1000 cities across the world in several sectors including Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Cannabis, Consumer Packaged Goods, General Manufacturing, Hi-Tech, Healthcare and Life Sciences. We’ve worked with the world’s largest CPG firms, rapid-growth start-ups and mid-size growth companies in the consumer space.

Request a demo and we can show how ComplianceQuest has delivered digital transformation and automation for CPG firms around the world.

Please email us at [email protected].

Other blogs in the series

• EQMS for Manufacturing in 2024
• EQMS for Life Sciences in 2020's
• EQMS for Hi-Tech in 2024
• EQMS for the Automotive Sector in 2024
• EQMS for the Cannabis in 2024
• EQMS for the Aerospace Sector in 2024

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