Browsing by Author "Nel, Margot"

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    A comparison of container airflow technologies to improve temperature control along the table grape export supply chain : a South Africa to Netherlands case
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Nel, Margot; Goedhals-Gerber, Leila Louise; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Logistics.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: The South African table grape industry is significant as it plays a major role in terms of the economy and the growth of the country. It is, therefore, essential to maintain the high level of exports from South Africa and ensure that the quality of table grapes is maintained. Temperature management is the first step to ensure that the fruits reach the end consumer in the optimal condition. Failure in managing the table grape export cold chain can have a significant impact on the farmers and distributers as quality issues ultimately lead to dissatisfied customers and major financial losses. The main purpose of this research was to visualise and compare the temperature profiles of two table grape shipments, each with two containers equipped with different airflow technologies and one control container, from South Africa to the Netherlands. The research questions are centred around the number of container temperature breaks, how often they occur, the duration of these container temperature breaks and which of the two technologies or the control container maintained the most optimal temperature within the containers. A deductive approach to theory development was applied. Quantitative data was gathered by temperature sensors placed within these different containers, and qualitative data was gathered by semi-structured interviews with industry experts and observations at the cold store in South Africa. The data was visualised to illustrate the number and duration of temperature breaks and the data distribution to interpret the median values and interquartile ranges across the two shipments, the various technologies and the different sensor and pallet positions within all containers along the stages of the export cold chain. Problematic areas were identified along the export cold chain through the temperature profiles of the various containers. Many temperature breaches, light breaks and humidity breaks were discovered. The control containers experienced higher temperatures, more temperature breaks, longer temperature break durations and delivered overall worse quality table grapes than the containers equipped with the airflow technologies. Therefore, the technologies played some role in maintaining the ideal temperatures. The containers fitted with Technology 2 outperformed the containers equipped with Technology 1. This study fulfils the aim of the investigation prompted by Company X. It provides insights pertaining to the table grape cold chain for role players to identify where temperature breaks occur more frequently and which benchmark activities and airflow technologies can be applied to limit product quality losses and, therefore, limit financial losses.