Experience

• 

  Chiquita

  • Switzerland
  • Food Production
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Latin American Senior Quality Assurance Manager

    • Oct 2017 - Present

    • Leading the Latin-American Quality team (120 people in 9 countries) pursuing consistent compliance with quality specifications and customer expectations. • Managing quality market issues implementing all necessary corrective and preventative actions assuring fruit and packaging materials quality consistency from all sources with a reduction of the associated cost of quality failures into a historic minimum forecasted failure rate of 0.83% for 2022• Administration of the global quality management system (specifications and standard procedures), packaging innovation initiatives, customer specific requirements, including cost-saving initiatives.• Providing direct quality support during the development of the new banana Latin-American market (five countries) for both green and already-ripened bananas.• Development of the CURI project (Chemical Usage Reduction Initiative), pursuing the use of biological post-harvest control alternatives to the current market trend of pesticide-free food supply.

  • European, Middle East and Asia Senior Quality Manager

    • Oct 2015 - Sep 2017

    • Providing presential assistance to the sales team in their commercial relationships with all their customers.• Managing all quality crises reported by the sales team and customers, implementing all necessary actions to prevent future failure occurrences, assuring quality consistency and reduction of the associated cost of quality.• Direct follow-up with the tropical operations for the effective correction and prevention of any identified issue.• Leading the quality team of 12 inspectors working in different European ports.

  • Latin America Quality Manager

    • Sep 2012 - Sep 2015

    • Managing all quality issues reported by different markets, making sure all necessary actions are taken to prevent future occurrences, assuring quality consistency from all sources and reduction of the associated cost of quality failures.• Leading all innovation initiatives on packaging, customer-specific requirements and expectations, including cost-saving initiatives and packaging optimization processes.• Direct management of Peruvian and Dominican Republic organic banana operations.• General administration of the global quality management system.

  • Certifications and Food Safety Manager

    • Jan 2010 - Aug 2012

    • Managing certification process for Social, Environmental and Food Safety standards for company-owned farms and new producer’s farms including bananas, pineapples, melons and passion fruit crops.• Implementation of a new traceability system PTI standard compliant.• Development of a documentation system for the integrated management system.

  • Tropical Quality Supply Chain Manager

    • Apr 2006 - Dec 2009

    • Designed and implemented a quality management system for purchased materials and logistics processes from farm to vessel including SOPs and policies, training materials, and process control forms for all Latin American operations achieving a general process failure reduction throughout the supply chain.• Standardized operational practices throughout Latin America operations via training and best practices review.• Established operational excellence committees with 10 indirect reports. Used key process indicators, dashboard control charts, and pre-defined diagnostics to measure success.

  • Farm Management Program

    • Sep 2005 - Mar 2006

    • Performed all farm manager and supervision functions.• Directly supervised pre-harvest, harvest, packing and processing plant workers.• Supervised farm waste and process control systems.

  • Cost of Quality Coordinator

    • Dec 2004 - Sep 2005

    • Designed, implemented and managed early warning system, key process indicators and dashboard reports to prevent quality failures minimizing quality failures.• Corporate efforts resulted in a $6 million reduction in the cost of failures.

  • Process Failure Analyst

    • Sep 2002 - Dec 2004

    • Implemented process failure analysis and feedback system for Latin American and African divisions reducing the recurrence and magnitude of quality failures.• Developed an early warning failure alert based on the historic defect calendar and trend analysis.• Cost of failures was reduced for tropical divisions supplying Europe by $1.5 million.

• 

  Chiquita

  • Guápiles, Limon, Costa Rica

  • Information Center Coordinator

    • Nov 1995 - Sep 2001
    • Guápiles, Limon, Costa Rica

    • Designed and implemented Information Center Department for production and quality departments, to measure critical processes improving farm productivity.• Led the fruit volume estimates process standardization and optimization to minimize production variability.• Implemented precision agricultural model for owned farms.

• 

  Coopeagropal R.L.

  • Corredores, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

  • Extraction Plant Production and Quality Manager

    • Oct 1991 - Sep 1995
    • Corredores, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

    • Assisted the built-up team of a 25 tons per hour extraction plant in southern Costa Rica with an $8 million investment. • Developed and implemented quality and process control systems. Responsible for the quality control laboratory set-up, and technical and operational crew training for all plant process positions.• Led a 24-hour operation, 6 days a week, with three shifts, and a total of 120 employees.• Implemented process changes with up to $500k in yearly efficiency improvements.• Developed a feasibility study for an oil refinery plant with a total investment of $6 million.