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 * Total Quality Management
 * By
 * Dr. Daniel G. Fuchs

Gerber Products Company

Background: Gerber Products Company is one largest manufacturer and supplier of baby food offering more than 190 products in 80 countries using 16 languages in labeling. It dominates the baby food industry in USA having share of 83 percent. Gerber brand is well known in the world, the picture logo of Gerber baby food is recognized crossed the world. Let’s look at the brief history of Gerber Products Company.

Origin:

Gerber is well known baby food producer and supplier around the world which stated it first production in 1927 and marketed in 1928 (Wikipedia, 2011). The history of Gerber goes back in 1920s when Daniel Frank Gerber was working as Assistant General Manager in his parent’s company, Fremont Canning Company. Daniel and his wife Dorothy had ill child, Sally. Dorothy urged Daniel to convince his father to begin making and selling at their canning company strained baby foods in order to end the chore of cooking, straining and preparing solid foods for babies (Wikipedia, 2010). Dorothy had already fed her daughter strained food made by herself when Sally was just seven months. Daniel with his father began experiments on baby food production process and getting formulas for baby foods. There were baby food products in the market as liquid diet usually fed to 12 months baby and above. But their experiment and research was risky as they had no idea how mother would react on the new way of strained baby food. Gerber started advertising campaign in different magazines and journals to convince the parent attracting them towards the Gerber strained baby food in 1928 which work in 1930 expanding baby food product line.

Gerber focused on improvement since very beginning, the company introduced strained peas, prunes, carrots and spinach to the market with improved method for straining vegetables and fruits. Five varieties of baby food were prepared, tested, and were ready to market in 1928. Within six months, Gerber’s baby foods were on grocery shelves in most major areas throughout the United States. Gerber made survey how the products could be sold and found scope in grocery stores selling at very lower prices comparing baby food sold in pharmacies. Gerber sold six cans for a dollar. Gerber’s product was less than half of the pharmacy baby food as Gerber advertised in the magazine campaign. Gerber invented great face of baby, Ann Turner Cook at her five months of age for promote the campaign to represent Gerber’s baby food which became trademark of the company in 1931 and famous worldwide, even today that face is trusted symbol of Gerber. The campaign included a magazine ad with attached detachable coupons which customers filled with information of theirs grocers such as name and address. Gerber collected the database of his customers and understand trend from very starting.

Milestones of Gerber: Gerber enjoyed monopoly of the baby food industry; however by 1935 more 60 manufacturers launched their own vitamin-rich, pressure-cooked, sealed baby foods. (Funding, Universe, 2011). Gerber had advantage in this competitive environment that, Gerber received the loyalty of the customers and well earned perception Gerber was synonymous to quality and expert. Gerber symbol was famous among the US population, on other hand other no other company possessed a logo approaching the appeal of the "Gerber Baby," which was already famous; Gerber continuously conducted a research on parenting, feeding, and child psychology. Dorothy wrote articles in the newspapers "Bringing up Baby" held sway with thousands of mothers nationwide. During the American recession of the Great Depression, the Gerber was confident about its strength and vision for the future by introducing a state-of-the-art agricultural program, going beyond national borders; they entered into the Canadian market, increasing their production line to double making annual revenue of $1 million, topping industry. (Funding, Universe, 2011). Weekly sale of baby food in 1941, reached up to a million cans and renamed as the Gerber Products Company. In 1943 company opened a second baby food plant in Oakland, California. The year 1948 is considered to be the best time for the Gerber when tow million baby food cans were sold. That same year, the company adopted its trademark slogan: "Babies are our business ... our only business."


 * Three more new plants were added in 1950 locating in Asheville, North Carolina; Rochester, New York; and Niagara Falls, Ontario. The death of father replaced Daniel to Frank Gerber. Under the leadership of Daniel Gerber, the company embarked on a new mission of expansion and diversification. Gerber joined toy line in 1955, a listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1956, the opening of a Mexican subsidiary in 1959, and the introduction of a large line of baby-related products in 1965. Gerber added Gerber Life Insurance as subsidiary in 1967. Daniel Frank Gerber passed away in 1974 leaving company as the world’s largest baby food manufacturer rising sale up to $ 278 million having 70 percent domestic market share.


 * Anderson, Clayton, and Company, a food products firm based in Houston aggressively launched a serious takeover attempt to Gerber in 1977. The probability of a long legal battle dissuaded Anderson from further action and preserved Gerber's independence. Within two years, Gerber began in earnest a major campaign of diversification and acquired CW Transport, a freight carrier based in Wisconsin. Although furniture, toy, and other subsidiaries followed, by 1989 Gerber had divested itself of many of these fringe ventures in order to refocus on its more profitable baby food, baby care, and clothing lines.

Class shard crisis, information center and expansion:
 * Gerber faced one of most serious threat which in 1980s, public relations crises of 1984 and 1986 proved to be even more dangerous than acquisition policy of board in 1980s. Gerber responded to the first of these two crises involving reports alleging the presence of glass fragments in jar of baby juice by recalling some 550,000 jars in a 15-state region. This cautionary action was viewed favorably by the public, and financial damage incurred by the company was limited to only a short-term, 4 percent drop in sales.
 * The second glass crisis which, like the first, sparked investigations that ultimately exonerated Gerber involved some 645 complaints spread over 40 states. This time Gerber, headed by William L. McKinley, chose to remain silent and to take no action other than offer its cooperation with federal investigators. The decision proved unpopular and contributed at least in part to a drop in profits from $69 million in 1985 to $54 million in 1987; McKinley departed shortly after the resolution of the glass scare and was replaced by Leo D. Goulet (Funding, Universe, 2011) . After second crisis Gerber learnt the lesson and understood the need of a system allowing consumers to contact it directly and give feedback. However the consumer relationship department had a flow of letter since 1938, but it was totally different than of 1986’s which related to quality and safety department. As a result of the crisis telephone service (free hotline) was launched in 1986 which brought about changes in quality discipline. It also helped to understand the consumer trend and gathered the database. In 1991company extended the operating hour to 24 a day taking daily average 2,400 call in all languages and letter correspond team answered the 45,000 letters received from consumers. In the same year In 1991 Gerber entered foreign markets including the USSR, Thailand, Brazil, Chile, and Sweden, in February 1992 purchased 60 percent of Alima, S.A., a Polish producer of food and juices.

Take over and today:
 * Sandoz, the Swiss pharmaceutical company took over Gerber in 1994 paying $3.7 billion. Two years, Sandoz merged with CIBA-Geigy and became Novartis one of the largest pharmaceutical company in the world. Today Nestle company is owner of Gerber, Nestle Company which bought Gerber for $5.5 billion in 2007 (Wikipedia, 2011).

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)

Meaning and Scope:


 * HACCP was developed by Pillsbury Company at NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1960s to provide safe food for astronauts in the space program (Youtube, 2009) . It is a method of ensuring food safety and pharmaceutical safety by examining every step in a food operation, identifying those steps critical to food safety and implementing effective control and monitoring procedures at these steps. It deals with physical, chemical and biological hazards as a means of prevention rather than checking the finished product. HACCP is a preventative system that gives a high level of food safety assurance and is considered to be the best approach to producing safe food and thus preventing food-borne illness.
 * The method of preventing hazards increasing hygiene is widely used in all the steps of food production and food preparation processes such as packaging, distributing, storing, transporting etc. The system is a mandatory requirement of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department f Agriculture (USDA) for every small and large firm involved in food productions and processing. According to USDA HACCP program for juice and meat are an effect approach to food safety and protecting public health. Meat HACCP program is controlled by the USDA and seafood and juice are taken care by the FDA (Wikipedia, 2011).
 * HACCP method includes seven major steps:


 * 1) Identifying Hazards
 * 2) Identifying Critical Control Point
 * 3) Establishment Critical Limits
 * 4) Establishing Monitoring Procedures
 * 5) Establishment of Correct Actions
 * 6) Verifying that The System is Working
 * 7) Establish a Record Keeping System
 * If a small food processing plant sets up the HACCP first it needs to create recipe  or processing flow chart, step by step description that how the product is made from receiving the row ingredients through processing and storing the finished product watching what happens  to each of the ingredient. It includes keeping watch on ingredients at the time of delivery whether are properly cleaned and undamaged, chopping, cutting, grinding, weaving and measuring, way of mixing, cooing and packaging. When these all steps are surely included in the process, time comes to look at HACCP’s every single step.


 * Identifying food related hazards: what factors may make food unsafe to consume; biological hazards are bacteria, viruses, parasites including flatworms and roundworms cause sicknesses like Chinese Liver Fluke, Lever Fluke, Pinworm, Hookworm, Viral Gastroenteritis, Botulism, Salmonellosis and Brucellosis (Microbiologyprocedure, 2011) . Chemical risk occurs when food could be contaminated with chemical substances used kill harmful insects and small animals or when they might come into contact with cleaning compounds or sanitizing chemicals. Physical hazards include any unaware action resulting addition of unwanted, harmful outside substance in the product such as class shard.

Once hazards are identified in the recipe or processing of product, next step is to:


 * Identify critical control point: A critical control point is a step in operation, or procedure in a food manufacturing process at which control must be applied and, as a result, a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced reasonably. For example, in food like tomatoes and peppers bacteria like Clostridium Botulinum can grow and produce deadly toxic. Adding an acid such as lemon juice is necessary to prevent spore grow. This adding of acid is critical control point, when food consumed will outbreak the Botulism. If the product requires heat treatment, that heat processing is critical control point, guidelines for temperature and time for particular product are given by the authorities. Looking through the product processing steps, it has to be determined whether any of steps is eliminating or reduce hazards at acceptable level, then that becomes the critical control point. Adding acid in above example is critical control point which is needed for safety. Whereas adding spices is matter of taste which not the critical control point since it has nothing to do with safety.


 * Establishment Critical Limits: After identifying critical control point the decision has to be made, what measure must be used to make sure that every risk is adequately control, this criteria is called critical limit. This most likely includes cooking or refrigeration temperature, acid levels. Since these limits are critical to the safety of the products consulting professionals to decide temperature and acid level makes sure that error may not occur.


 * Establishing Monitoring Procedures: How to know, meeting of critical limits; adding each critical control point for each critical limit monitoring the procedure. Some of the procedure may need only visual inspection. Does any of the jars has chips in the rim that prevent sealing them properly. Other may require simple instrumentations such as pH meter, thermometer and timer to see foods are cooked at correct temperature and in time period. Records of processing must be taken, what food is cooked at what temperature. If something goes wrong eventfully, like failure of the gas supply to stove. The temperature clearly notify the problem, where concerned expert will fix them and will bring back on the track.


 * Establish corrective actions. Identifying, monitoring, correcting; constant vigilance is the key of safety processed food products and to effective hazard program.  These are actions to be taken when monitoring indicates a deviation from an established critical limit. The final rule requires a plant's HACCP plan to identify the corrective actions to be taken if a critical limit is not met. Corrective actions are intended to ensure that no product injurious to health or otherwise adulterated as a result of the deviation enters commerce.

Verifying that The System is Working: Verification should include regular review of hazard plan by an outside source. Internal verification includes regular review of the processing, record and periodic collaboration of measuring instruments.


 * Establish a Record Keeping System: Final step of HACCP is record keeping, the records may be kept in the notebooks or file racks, it provides important information that the product is safely produced. Records made while monitoring critical limits at critical control point should be kept in permanent record keeping system after each batch or product lot has been processed. It is necessary to identify each batch with batch label or lot number. If the question arises about one of the products, that particular products can be identified and recalled affected product.


 * It is important to have HACCP in the plant which involves food production or food processing because this indicates that the firm is truly interested in producing a good, clean product and protecting the consumers.

Gerber Products Company, manufacturer of baby food meets almost all the definitions of quality discussed in chapter one. Gerber Products Company has higher standers set than of government. It has scientific research team to create baby food formulas and doctors to verify. They also test the product taste feeding babies to know they prefer or not. In the first chapter we discussed several quality definitions including:
 * Product based definition: quantities of product attribution.
 * User based definition: fitness for intended use.
 * Value based definition: Quality Vs price.
 * Manufacturing based definition: conformance to specifications.
 * Customer Driven Quality and Excellence.

Product based definition: quantities of product attribution
 * Gerber baby food is high in nutrition and great in taste. However, even if the food is highly nutritious and not tasty the baby will not like it. Gerber’s baby food is tasted on babies using a panel of 4,000 babies to taste the products. In 2003, along with scientific and medical team, Gerber established the Gerber Feeding Development Model (Gerber Products Company, 2011) . This ensures providing a wide array of baby foods that are the right sizes, textures, and shapes to encourage the development of proper feeding skills in young children at each developmental stage. The Gerber backs quality commitment with strict ingredient specifications, multiple sample tests, and strict safety programs to ensure that Gerber products comply with regulatory requirements and are unquestionably safe for babies.

User based definition: fitness for intended use
 * Gerber Baby Food is healthy, safe and convenient baby food. Gerber’s research team develops baby food formulas for different products indented for varying age groups of babies. The every product are medically tasted to make sure that the product will cause no side effects. Gerber’s organic baby foods makes sure that baby will not suffer from diseases based bacteria such as pesticides. Non organic baby food may cause active appearance of pesticides in baby urine (Dr. David Hill, 2008) . However this kind of bacteria is found in baby urine who takes Gerber organic baby food.

Gerber have single dose package which is contained in small bottles. It is time saving and easy to carry.

Value based definition: Quality Vs price


 * If we see the Gerber’s baby food product history they have started with very cheaper pricing strategy. In 1930s Gerber sold six cans of baby food just for a dollar whereas same amount of baby food was sold in pharmacies cost was more than doubled. Today the life has become even faster which seeks time saving in every actions. Preparing food for baby for every diet will lead a lot of time consumption, buying the vegetable and fruits, cleaning them, and process them including boiling, pilling, blending, cooking, cooling etc. After it is cooked it has to be kept in particular temperature. If the mother is working or traveling with baby it becomes inconvenient. These all steps have certain level of hazard. Therefore buying Gerber becomes cheaper and safer.

Manufacturing based definition: conformance to specifications


 * The Gerber Product Company has an extra ordinary process to produce the baby food. Gerber works hard to make sure it meets all the latest safety, quality, and regulatory standards for the products, ingredients, and packaging. To ensure that Gerber meets consumers’ expectations for quality and safety every time, Gerber often sets its internal standards even higher than those of the government.

Customer Driven Quality and Excellence.


 * The Gerber’s baby food market share in US proves that it satisfies the customers’ expectations and quality of Gerber goes beyond it. The Gerber is considered as synonymous to excellence (Funding, Universe, 2011) . The competitive US market is dominated by Gerber having 83 percentages. Gerber brand has become extremely popular producing baby food around the world. Nestle is an international giant which took over the Gerber in 2007 but kept Gerber name unchanged. This shows the Esteem of Gerber brand.

Total Quality Principles at Gerber Products Company
 * Various fundamental principles of quality has been demonstrated by Berber, let’s see some of the principles leading to total quality:

Product based definition: quantities of product attribution


 * Gerber baby food is high in nutrition and great in taste. However, even if the food is highly nutritious and not tasty the baby will not like it. Gerber’s baby food is tasted on babies using a panel of 4,000 babies to taste the products. In 2003, along with scientific and medical team, Gerber established the Gerber Feeding Development Model. This ensures providing a wide array of baby foods that are the right sizes, textures, and shapes to encourage the development of proper feeding skills in young children at each developmental stage. The Gerber backs quality commitment with strict ingredient specifications, multiple sample tests, and strict safety programs to ensure that Gerber products comply with regulatory requirements and are unquestionably safe for babies.

User based definition: fitness for intended use


 * Gerber Baby Food is healthy, safe and convenient baby food. Gerber’s research team develops baby food formulas for different products indented for varying age groups of babies. The every product are medically tasted to make sure that the product will cause no side effects. Gerber’s organic baby foods makes sure that baby will not suffer from diseases based bacteria such as pesticides. Non organic baby food may cause active appearance of pesticides in baby urine. However this kind of bacteria is found in baby urine who takes Gerber organic baby food.

Gerber baby food is convenient to carry and feed the babies anywhere with smart packaging. Gerber have single dose package which is contained in small bottles. It is time saving and easy to carry.

Value based definition: Quality Vs price


 * If we see the Gerber’s baby food product history they have started with very cheaper pricing strategy. In 1930s Gerber sold six cans of baby food just for a dollar whereas same amount of baby food was sold in pharmacies cost was more than doubled. Today the life has become even faster which seeks time saving in every actions. Preparing food for baby for every diet will lead a lot of time consumption, buying the vegetable and fruits, cleaning them, and process them including boiling, pilling, blending, cooking, cooling etc. After it is cooked it has to be kept in particular temperature. If the mother is working or traveling with baby it becomes inconvenient. These all steps have certain level of hazard. Therefore buying Gerber becomes cheaper and safer.

Manufacturing based definition: conformance to specifications


 * The Gerber Product Company has an extra ordinary process to produce the baby food. Gerber works hard to make sure it meets all the latest safety, quality, and regulatory standards for the products, ingredients, and packaging. To ensure that Gerber meets consumers’ expectations for quality and safety every time, Gerber often sets its internal standards even higher than those of the government.

Customer Driven Quality and Excellence.


 * The Gerber’s baby food market share in US proves that it satisfies the customers’ expectations and quality of Gerber goes beyond it. The Gerber is considered as synonymous to excellence. The competitive US market is dominated by Gerber having 83 percentages. Gerber brand has become extremely popular producing baby food around the world. Nestle is an international giant which took over the Gerber in 2007 but kept Gerber name unchanged. This shows the Esteem of Gerber brand.