The Implementation of Statistical Process Control in the Food Industry: A Systematic Review

This study is to illustrate a systematic review application in investigating common issues emerging from Statistical Process Control (SPC) implementation in the food industry. A total of 41 journal articles were rigorously selected from four databases and reviewed. The most common themes emerge in SPC implementation in the food industry is the benefits while the remaining themes are motivation, barriers and critical success factors (CSF). This review found that the evidence of SPC implementation in the food industry is beneficial; however, a lack of both awareness and guidelines relating to SPC implementation in the food industry has resulted in a slow adoption. This paper also provided a critical review of the existing SPC implementation framework. This systematic review concluded that there is a need for further research into the SPC deployment aspect addressing how to deploy SPC in the food industry in a systematic manner. The development of practical and useful guidelines to assist food manufacturers with the implementation of SPC is suggested able to address such issue.