Ppecb by East Coast Promotions

COMPANY PROFILE

2014

Perishable Product Export Control Board

+27 21 930 1134 | www.ppecb.com

company profile

“Our communications will be revolutionised” Editorial: Roland Douglas Production: Emily Woodhall South Africa’s Perishable Product Export Control Board is making the move from old-school pen and paper to 21st century tablets as it looks to modernise its communications and information management systems. CEO, Stuart Symington tells IndustrySA more about the company and its developments in what is set to be an important year for the organisation.

It is definitely true that in some countries and in some industries, the most important and influential companies can remain under the radar to a certain extent. Take South Africa’s agricultural industry for example; you have your big name players, the likes of Afrifresh, Karsten Fruit, du Toits Vrugte and the Two-A-Day Group to name a few, all efficient and successful companies but all relying partly on export as an important income stream. This is where the Perishable Product Export Control Board (PPECB) comes in - perhaps not the most well-known of all companies in the agricultural industry but one which holds the most clout when it comes to the export of foodrelated products. The company holds the vision of enabling its customers to become the preferred suppliers of perishable products worldwide; a sizeable task but one which the PPECB has taken significant strides towards in the past few years. CEO, Stuart Symington tells IndustrySA more about the company’s remit and important plans for development in the coming months. “We don’t export,” he says. “We inspect exported product. We are a government agency; we belong to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). Where most

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state-owned companies get their funding from the National Treasury, we get ours from the client. We operate under a statutory mandate yet we collect our income from customers. “Our business model is very simple. It’s non-profit; our financial model is to break-even. We look at what it will cost to do business for the next year based on volumes predicated from all industries and then we charge a levy for the volumes inspected to cover those costs. As a monopoly, we cannot be seen to be making surpluses or losses.”

A FULL-SERVICE PORTFOLIO The PPECB has an impact on many different industries and its influence is felt far beyond South African shores. All perishable products that intend to leave South Africa for foreign markets have to be inspected by the PPECB and of course, this takes a large and knowledgeable workforce. “We have 1500 inspection points around the country and we have about 500 inspectors. We employ permanently 360 people and we have 200+ temps at any time to account for the season,” explains Symington. “We look after about 200 different product lines that include many varieties of different commodities”, he adds. Some of the country’s most important drivers of foreign exchange are inspected by the PPECB and its not just the way they are packaged – the inspection includes everything from

PPECB

food safety to cold storage during transportation. “What we do is inspect the quality of a product, and these perishable products are mostly fruit products (including vegetables and flowers). We also provide inspection services in the cold chain. We don’t just inspect products; we look at the cleanliness of containers, the operational side of the refrigeration units, performance of cold stores and refrigeration trucks, and we inspect reefer ships and monitor temperatures throughout voyages. “When looking at fruit quality, we would look externally at size, colour and blemishes for example. Internal quality is assessed for the composition of sugars and acids in the product. “We provide a food safety service. We do auditing of food safety on farms and at pack-houses. “We pre-screen phytosanitary issues and issue quality certificates for cold-chain and product inspection. Our mother department inspects for phytosanitary issues and they issue the phytosanitary certificate. Phytosanitary concerns plant health; we make sure that pests do not get onto the product before being exported to other countries. Things like insects, spiders, flies, diseases and fungi are phytosanitary issues and other countries do not want to receive products with these attached. “If you want to export to England, the English import

authorities will want to see a phytosanitary certificate. If you don’t have it then the import authorities will order it to be taken away. In order for the exporter in South Africa to get a phytosanitary certificate from DAFF, they will need a quality control certificate from us. “Phytosanitary compliance is very important as access to international markets can be restricted if this is not dealt with correctly,” explains Symington. PPECB’s core activities surround the fruit sector with South Africa being an exporter of choice for Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, the USA and, of course, the rest of Africa. But strict guidelines set out by the big name retailers in these regions mean that inspections have to be meticulous and meet universally high standards. “The product range we deal with is mainly fruit,” says Symington. “We deal with everything from subtropical fruits (mangoes, lychees and avocados) through to citrus fruits (grapefruit, orange, lemons and soft citrus). Then there is also the deciduous fruit basket of apples, pears, table grapes and all of the stone fruit types. “We also look at maize and carry out mycotoxin analyses on maize and groundnuts at our laboratory in Pretoria. We have just bought new technology to look at MRLs (maximum residue levels) of chemicals on fruits. Supermarkets in Europe would prefer a zero or miniscule amount of chemical residue

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company profile

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PPECB

EMPOWERING THROUGH PASSION Since inception SBS Softel have been at the forefront of the constantly evolving world of information technology and for just short of two decades have solidified our stance as preferred suppliers of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and customer relationship management solutions. As an established Microsoft Dynamics partner with expert skills in NAV and CRM, our strength lies in farming strong and mutually beneficial relationships based on trust, transparency and integrity. Our success is founded on our most valuable resource - our people. SBS Softel proudly employs some of the most sought-after and qualified resources within the industry whose unparalleled knowledge and depth of experience ensure our client’s needs are met with swift efficient service in a cost-effective manner. Through our vast knowledge of system and technological requirements, SBS Softel follows the Microsoft Sure-step methodology in every facet of service delivery ensuring projects are implemented to expectation and timeously without having to compromise quality with the best possible return on investment for our clients through anticipation and adaptation honed by years of experience.

TEL | 0861 777 025 FAX | +27 21 531 7258 on all of its fruit products. If the residue is over the maximum level allowed, then the supermarkets will reject the product. “We can also work with frozen meat, frozen fish and dairy products. Africa is on the rise in the dairy industry. There are a lot of dairy products in the form of long-life milk or UHT, condensed milk, cheese and yoghurt. South African supermarkets are spreading rapidly across the continent so many South African dairy products are being exported into Africa,” he says.

CHANGING TECHNOLOGY The PPECB is an old organisation. “It was founded in 1926 and it’s one of the only organisations of its type in the world,” says Symington; but while it may be old, so far the systems and processes in place have helped to successfully manage exports of perishable products and gain South Africa a foothold amongst the world’s most efficient and well organised international traders. However, very soon the company’s processes will be upgraded in a huge step towards increased efficiency and connectivity. The whole organisation will adopt the use of tablet-based software for the purpose of speed and centralised storage of information. While this will be a costly investment, it will be one that will provide much greater efficiencies for inspectors

WEB | www.sbssoftel.co.za EMAIL | anrethav@sbssoftel.co.za

and customers. “Because of the climb in volumes and technology available today, we are moving all of our inspectors from clipboard, pen and paper to smart mobile devices. “Apart from the time saved, we will have real time information from anywhere in the country. We won’t have to courier bundles of paper from around the country to a central point. We should be able to conduct more inspections because of the time saved, and there should be fewer mistakes due to fewer people capturing data into computer systems,” says Symington. “Time is hugely important because this is a perishable product - you simply can’t delay the product from getting to market as quickly as possible.” When the smart tablet system is implemented, inspectors will have a wealth of information available at their fingertips in a matter of seconds and will even be able to take pictures of products and upload those pictures instantly for future reference. “This means if someone tries to falsify a quality claim on the other side, we have visual evidence of what the fruit looked like before it left,” says Symington. This type of organisation is vital, especially in the current times when South African product is in high demand because of fewer exports from competing countries like Chile. At the end of last year, Chilean farmers witnessed a ‘black

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company profile frost’, which decimated a lot of their fruit producing regions. This resulted in a loss of over 50 million cartons. “In markets where we supply the same type of product at the same time of the year to the same customers, these customers are now short-supplied and desperate for our product,” explains Symington, reiterating the importance of an organised industry. “We believe we do give South Africa an edge because an organised industry invariably performs better,” he says.

Symington. “Recently, we have explored overseas and found the Israelis, the Dutch, the Moroccans, the Turks, the New Zealanders and the Kenyans all have an equivalent of what we do. Essentially they are state owned entities that look after quality control in an export environment with perishable products. We are having our first gathering this year to compare notes as we don’t compete with each other. We hope to open an international inspection forum which is exciting as it’s a first.”

A MODERN ORGANISATION

CHALLENGING SPOTS

The PPECB brand is recognised around the world as one which represents quality and safety but the title of ‘Control Board’ is one which Symington admits has been considered for change recently. “Officially, we are the Perishable Product Export Control Board but we would prefer to be known as a certification business rather than a control board. We have looked at changing our corporate identity but the brand is very strong around the world; our logo is on every carton,” he says. Even though the benefits of the PPECB’s involvement with exports are pretty clear, not all countries adopt the same approach and sometimes the private sector is chosen to look after the export industry. However, nations that have a similar state-owned system have agreed to meet this year and share ideas. Huhtamaki Fruit Advertisement.pdf 1 2014/01/30 “We are not the only control board in the world,” says

One area that might be on the agenda for discussion when the company meets its peers might be South Africa’s concerns with citrus black spot. Citrus black spot, a fungal disease that was discussed in previous editions of IndustrySA, affects the appearance of citrus fruits. Although it is widely considered to be no more than a visual defect, the EU market has considered closing its doors to affected SA products because of concerns about the disease spreading and infecting European crops. “Citrus black spot has been in the limelight,” says Symington. “It is a small fungal disease on the peel of some citrus products which has no negative effects on people’s health. However European scientists believe it could have a negative impact on EU citrus orchards so they could consider banning entry to the EU of this product in 2014.” 4:36 PM The trouble with citrus black spot is that it’s a progressive

CMY

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PPECB defect meaning it may not have manifested itself when it leaves South Africa. But when it arrives in Europe it may be more obvious, creating on-going issues for the SA Department of Agriculture to contend with. “The logistics of getting products to market also offer many challenges. Temperatures have to be managed over long distances. Since there has been a significant shift from reefer ships to refrigerated containers, the PPECB has had to train more inspectors to certify the increasing number of containers in the system,” says Symington. So what does the future hold for the company? Can these challenges be overcome? Will the move from the old system to the modern, smart tablet system make a difference? Symington thinks it will, and the CEO says that future processes will change dramatically with some customers receiving more frequent or less frequent inspection activity depending on their track records. “Once the laws have been changed in Parliament, we will have the opportunity of auditing systems rather than endpoint inspecting products. This is akin to becoming auditors of pack house quality systems rather than inspecting 2% of every consignment for export. We will review each business in terms of its quality track record, taking into consideration its systems, products and destination markets,” explains Symington. One thing is for certain; although the PPECB might not be the most well known of all the companies in South Africa’s agricultural industry, it is definitely a significant player in the export value chain. If a company wants to operate in the export market with perishable products produced in South

Africa, then there’s no escaping the watchful eye of the PPECB. The next 12 months will be vital for the company, as the introduction of the tablet system will force working practises to change drastically. Although the changes should provide substantial benefits to customers, it will take some getting used to. Hopefully the transition will be smooth and the PPECB will continue to successfully oversee the export quality standards of all perishable exports from South Africa, estimated to be worth around R15billion a year.

For more info about the PPECB go to: www.ppecb.com

Meet Stuart Symington: “Since 2001 I’ve been closely involved with the exports of fruit out of South Africa into 70 different countries around the world. After ten years in the export sector, I was approached to lead this state-owned entity. It came as a surprise as I had not considered working in the public sector. The challenge at the PPECB has been to re-create a culture with a greater sense of urgency around the need to change the way we do business. We have had to become more client focused, and business orientated as an organisation. This has required extra care on ensuring that the organisation is financially stable and runs an acceptable business model whilst operating in a monopolistic space. “Whilst our shareholder (the Department of Agriculture) gives us our mandate to operate, our clients (in the private sector) pay the bills for our services. Being a regulator is a tough task, and it is not always possible to satisfy customers when having to apply the law to their disadvantage. So the PPECB has to walk a careful line of diplomacy between trying to help its fee-paying customers yet taking unpopular decisions when the situation arises.”

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