Together with our customer in Japan we carried out a quality audit at the factory of Pepizo Foods, a specialist frozen potato manufacturer in Gujarat, India. Through production records, observation on the floor and interviews with the people responsible, we confirmed that improvements from earlier audits have settled into daily operation.
Together with our customer in Japan, ABCD Inc. (headquarters: Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Tatsuya Shiono) visited the factory of Pepizo Foods, a specialist frozen potato manufacturer in Gujarat, India, and carried out a quality audit.
ABCD imports food and building materials from India to Japan. In frozen potatoes in particular, we have worked continuously with Pepizo to achieve the quality the Japanese market demands. We set the rules — potato variety and raw material control, production processes, inspection methods — to the level the Japanese market requires, and we go to the site to confirm that those rules are being followed.
The purpose of the audit: seeing for ourselves that improvements have taken hold
This was not our first visit to the Pepizo factory. We have audited it repeatedly, resolving each issue found along the way. The purpose of this audit was to confirm with our own eyes that those improvements have settled into daily operation.
What we checked
Through production and quality control records, observation of work on the floor and interviews with the people responsible, we confirmed that the management systems needed to meet the agreed standards are in place, and that they have taken root in day-to-day operation.
The customer who joined us also assessed Pepizo's systems as being at a level sufficient to proceed with business in the Japanese market. Over the two days, including the corrective actions taken during the audit, Pepizo responded to everything with real sincerity.
ABCD's role: we are not a company that simply buys and resells
ABCD is not a company that simply buys and resells. Starting from the needs and standards of the Japanese market, we consider from the earliest stage what should be made and how, and we verify and guarantee ourselves that those standards are being met on the ground.
Through this accumulation of work, we will continue to offer Indian frozen potatoes as an option that customers in Japan can source with confidence.
