Why quality sits at the top of the agenda at ZOUTMAN

What role does quality play in your business strategy?

Quality is a core pillar of our business strategy. Our mission is clear: we want to achieve a global shift from traditional mined salt to the more ecological sea salt. Mined salt is extracted from the earth through mining, which causes soil disturbance and requires a lot of energy. Sea Salt is created naturally by sun and sea, which is more sustainable. Still, we know that sustainability alone is not enough. Our customers not only want a greener raw material, but also need a product that perfectly fits their processes, quality standards and technical requirements. This is precisely the essence of what we do at ZOUTMAN. We take a natural product and refine it into salt that meets the highest quality standards. By washing, drying, cleaning and sieving it into various grain sizes, we ensure it works perfectly for the different applications from food to chemistry and water treatment. The result is a natural product with an exceptional quality level.

How does your leadership team think about quality?

Our leadership sees quality as a driver of growth. It’s not just a support department of our primary process. It’s something that impacts our reputation, our customer trust and the way we operate every day. That’s why Quality is always on the agenda when we talk about scaling, sustainability or new markets.

Where does quality sit in your list of business priorities?

It’s right on top. Quality is one of our highest priorities. As we grow internationally, we face more regulations, more customer expectations and more complexity. You don’t manage that without strong quality processes and reliable data. So it’s one of the areas we invest in first.

The complexity of growth

What are the biggest challenges your quality team faces day to day?

The complexity of our business has grown significantly. Our QA team deals with a large volume of customer questionnaires, certification documentation, specifications, and international compliance requirements. Much of this work is repetitive, highly administrative, and extremely time‑sensitive. Managing it manually is becoming a big challenge.

What frustrates you most about how quality is managed today?

Information is often scattered across different systems and formats. This leads to inefficiency, duplicate work and a higher risk of errors. Our experts spend too much time searching, checking and revalidating data instead of focusing on improving processes and strengthening our food safety culture.

If you had to describe what's not working in quality right now, what comes to mind?

The lack of a truly unified and intelligent QA platform. We have strong processes, but the digital backbone to support them is missing. Without centralization, automation and a structured cockpit for daily follow‑up, scaling becomes harder and the workload grows faster than the team.

One platform. Full picture.

What made you choose Backbone?

We chose Backbone because it provides exactly what our organization needs: one integrated platform that centralizes all QA information, automates compliance checks and supports structured workflows from questionnaires to complaints and CAPA management.

What was it about Backbone that convinced you?

First, the platform itself and the level of intelligence built into the system. Second, the way the Backbone team works. They come across as very professional, they understand our processes quickly, and they guide the whole project in a structured, process-driven way. They give us confidence. It is a combination of a strong tool and a team that really knows how to run an implementation properly.

Why Backbone over everything else you've seen?

Backbone is a true operating system for quality. It brings structure, speed, and consistency to areas where we need it most. Compared to other solutions, it offered the best combination of usability and alignment with the needs of a fast‑growing, internationally active food‑grade manufacturer like ZOUTMAN.