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Many industries have embraced the push for digital transformation in recent years to meet the increasing demands for high levels of safety and traceability across global supply chains. The food and beverage industry is no different, with many working to retire outdated software and inefficient paper-based systems that limit visibility and hamper performance improvements across their production facilities.

Cloud-based Software-as-a-Service quality management solutions make this shift easier than ever, offering rapid and simple deployment, low up-front costs and flexible scalability. Food manufacturers can gain access to critical insights whenever and wherever they are needed most in order to maintain product quality, ensure compliance and drive continuous improvement across their organisations.

Centralising data improves visibility and collaboration

Jason Chester - Direcctor of Global Channel ProgramsJason Chester - Direcctor of Global Channel ProgramsIn a traditional manufacturing environment, quality and process data are often locked away in paper files, Excel spreadsheets, or legacy on-premises software. These prevent manufacturers from monitoring enterprise-wide quality performance and inhibit data sharing with external parties across the supply chain. Cloud solutions provide a single, unified data repository where food manufacturers can standardise and centralise quality data—from all processes, production lines, and sites in their enterprise.

The resulting “big picture” view of quality enables food companies to perform enterprise-wide analyses to pinpoint problem areas, identify best practices, and prioritise resources. Ongoing regulatory compliance can be verified and accountability for all checks can be easily enforced. Ultimately, this can improve quality and compliance across the entire organisation.

Additionally, viewing supplier data in real-time to prevent food safety issues becomes possible, and manufacturers can ensure incoming ingredients meet quality standards before they are ever shipped. Only the highest-quality ingredients get accepted and incorporated into products, helping uphold your overall brand standards. Supplier performance is also easy to monitor and therefore enables any disruptions to be more easily prevented or managed when they might arise.

Respond proactively on the plant floor

A preventative approach to quality and safety just isn’t possible when using manual methods for data collection and analysis. Operators spend valuable time recording data with a pencil and paper, then sift through page after page of control charts—on top of all their other daily responsibilities. It’s easy to see how mistakes could be made and production issues could be missed.

Quality teams are also at a disadvantage, reviewing historical data about products that have already come off the production line. They act one step behind, and often by that point it’s too late. Some problems may not be identified until the final inspection, if even caught at all. Manufacturers end up dealing with defective products, wasted resources, and damaging recalls.

Cloud-based statistical process control (SPC) software can automatically collect measurement values from a variety of data sources, and then monitor processes in real-time. When the software detects specification or statistical violations, automated alarms instantly alert key personnel, allowing them to take immediate action to correct any issues.

Further safeguards can be placed using workflows – prescriptive guides for responding to quality issues that are predefined in the cloud-based quality solution. Employees can respond consistently to problems and then document the corrective actions for analysis across the entire company. This in turn allows manufacturers to spot any trends and prevent reoccurring issues on a wider level.

Routine keeps everyone on the same page

Routine sampling and quality checks are critical for food safety and compliance with regulatory and industry-specific standards. But how can manufacturers ensure required checks are completed according to schedule? In times when the plant floor is busy, it can be easy for operators to get side-tracked tackling other issues.

With cloud-based quality systems, timed data collections can be set up which send automated notifications to remind operators when it’s time to perform HACCP, CCP, and other critical quality and safety checks. Operators can stay focused on production, without having to watch the clock or worry about missing a check. Plant supervisors also get alerts if a data collection is missed—no matter where they are working—so they can keep everyone on top of compliance.

Auditing just became that much easier

Auditing is already a time-consuming and resource-intensive process, adding another layer of stress and complexity to the already complex nature of food production. Those that rely on paper records and spreadsheets usually struggle to piece together and produce auditor-requested information. Failed audits can have major consequences for organisations, which is why they must be carried out perfectly every time.

When quality records and other compliance documentation are digitised, they become quickly accessible via the cloud. Data from specific timeframes can be easily pulled and reports now take just minutes to complete – for regulatory, third-party certification, or internal audits—rather than the days or weeks it would typically take following a complicated trail of paper.

Improve traceability and mitigate recall response

Recalls are another big source of stress for food manufacturers. After all, food quality or safety incidents that result in a recall not only hurt profits and brand reputation but also put the health and lives of consumers at risk. Fortunately, recalls can be mitigated or avoided through better traceability.

With the ability to trace raw ingredient lot codes through the manufacturing process and supply chain, and centralising that data within a singular cloud repository, manufacturers can create an overall timeline between incoming ingredients and outgoing products. This information is critical for preventing and responding to product recalls. If a safety issue is found within a specific ingredient lot, manufacturers can quickly identify output lots where those ingredients were used, prevent those finished lots from being released, or in the worst-case scenario, remove those lots from store shelves in a swift, targeted recall.

A new digital age

It’s clear to see that the industry at large is heading towards a new digital age. Food manufacturers shouldn’t wait to take the first steps, and cloud-based quality can get them on the right path. While any big change comes with hesitancy, a tactical approach can help ease any fears.

Some manufacturers have started with small-scale projects, deploying the cloud-based quality solution to monitor a single process or production line. Leadership teams can see how quality in the cloud benefits everyone at all levels of their organisation—and then deploy the solution on a wider scale. It is a great way to successfully introduce new digital technology and lay the foundation for future transformation.

Published in Food & Materials
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Tuesday, 14 June 2022 09:39

The power of cloud-based quality management

Jason Chester (Director of Global Channel Programs, InfinityQS) discusses 4 reasons why food and beverage processors should consider moving quality to the cloud.

Jason Chester (Director of Global Channel Programs, InfinityQS)Jason Chester (Director of Global Channel Programs, InfinityQS)Manufacturing has a history of moving at a glacial pace when adopting new technology such as cloud-based solutions, but the cloud is not new anymore. In recent years, cloud computing and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) have begun to dominate. More and more manufacturers are looking to switch their quality management to a cloud-based quality system. Simply, in today’s ever-changing and volatile manufacturing climate, the cost advantages, power, and versatility of the cloud have become essential to survival.

The stakes are high when it comes to quality and safety

Many food and beverage manufacturers are searching for new strategies and tools to help address their quality and safety challenges. Fortunately, the most powerful and valuable resource is already at their disposal - data.

Quality data produced on the plant floor enables manufacturers to keep products and processes within specification, constantly producing high-quality products while maximising yield and minimising waste. However, this is only possible when that data is accessible and actionable.  Regrettably, a lot of food and beverage manufacturers keep their quality data protected away in paper checklists, spreadsheets, or siloed databases — leaving all those cherished insights unused.

Investing in quality data management now will allow manufacturers to reap future rewards

The cloud upends how manufacturers can collect, store, analyse and utilise quality data. With cloud-based quality management software, data from all processes, lines, and sites — and even data from suppliers — are unified in a centralised repository. The data and subsequent analyses become rapidly available and effortlessly consumable.

By bringing quality data online, manufacturers gain many valuable benefits. The following advantages help to drive higher levels of quality, safety and sustainability across processes and supply chains:

  1. Collection and analysis of data from production processes in real-time

Manufacturing is a continuous and real-time activity.  Collecting data in batches, and performing analysis or reporting on that data in batches (if it is even at all) inevitably means that quality issues and performance bottlenecks can potentially go unchecked for some considerable time.  However, when data is collected and analysed in real-time, then trends or problems can be detected before they manifest themselves into significant events. 

When a quality, safety or performance issue is detected, alerts can be immediately issued to the appropriate operators or quality personnel. They can adjust or make corrections early on, ensuring products and processes are continually optimised. This proactive approach is the key to reducing waste, protecting profits, and keeping defective products from ever making it out the door.  

Cloud-based quality management software offers the visibility process manufacturers need to break out of firefighting mode. Rather than reacting to one problem after another, they can work on preventing problems from getting out of hand or even happening in the first place.

And because all that information is instantly available via the cloud, plant leaders and quality managers can stay on top of what is happening without being physically present on the plant floor. Whether they are in a back office, on the road or otherwise working remotely, they have all the information needed to ensure operations run smoothly.       

2. Utilising advanced analysis tools

With paper-based systems — or even legacy on-site software — quality data is often siloed between disparate production sites across an enterprise. What is more, data is often not standardised across those sites or systems. This makes comparative analysis nearly impossible and fraught with difficulty.

But that all changes when data from every process, every line and every site are standardised and aggregated in the cloud. This single source of truth can guide decisions about enterprise-wide quality and performance improvements, compliance and more.   

For instance, modern cloud solutions offer innovative real-time data visualisations and advanced analysis tools that help executives and quality pros compare performance across all sites. They can spot problem areas in need of abrupt intervention, better prioritise resources and recognise sources of best practices to benchmark against across their organisation.

3. Ensuring compliance

Food and beverage manufacturers must comply with national and international regulations, as well as numerous industry standards. Meeting those stringent requirements — and all the documentation, reporting and auditing involved — can take up serious time and resources. Cloud-based quality systems make it easier than ever to uphold compliance and make audits a breeze.

Compliance can also be enhanced through the systems themselves. When quality checks or data collections are missed, automated notifications remind operators and alert supervisors. This keeps everyone on top of critical quality and safety checks.

With historical data stored in a centralised cloud repository, plant managers can easily generate reports to verify compliance. And in the event of an audit, they can collect and present requested data in minutes — rather than the days or even weeks it has historically taken to sift through mountains of paper files and spreadsheets. With the cloud, everything manufacturers need to maintain compliance is right at their fingertips.

 4. Visibility upstream

Safe, high-quality food products start with, high-quality ingredients. Cloud-based quality management helps ensure that incoming raw ingredients are up to quality standards — before they are accepted and incorporated into final products.

Food and beverage manufacturers can demand that their suppliers digitally collect and share quality data through the cloud-based system. They can then observe this data in real-time to monitor the quality of raw ingredients coming from suppliers around the globe. They obtain oversight over third-party quality inspections and, thus, ensure only the highest quality ingredients get used in their products. On top of that, food and beverage processors can evaluate the capabilities and performance of various suppliers over time to establish the best suppliers to work with.

Overall, this upstream visibility helps pre-emt quality and safety issues, even before those ingredients arrive on site.

Getting the ball rolling

One way to get the ball rolling with a phased approach is to start with a small-scale deployment concentrated on a single process that will produce quick wins and evidence of the value — a low-effort, high-return project. This will prove the value of the cloud-based quality solution to stakeholders, get plant employees happy using a new solution and lay the foundation for wider utilisation across the enterprise.

Manufacturing needs to move more quickly to adopt new technologies. SaaS technology is the answer for many manufacturers. The power, flexibility, and versatility of the cloud have become essential to manufacturing survival.

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Jason Chester, Director of Global Channel Programs, InfinityQS, provides his thoughts on what we can expect to see from the manufacturing industry over the next 12 months and beyond.

2021 was a challenging year for the manufacturing industry with the global chip shortage and ongoing Covid pandemic having a severe impact on manufacturers. Despite this, there is optimism for 2022. In December 2021 it was revealed by IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI that manufacturing output, new orders and employment all rose, resulting in a strong end to the year. But will this momentum continue onto this year and what can we expect to see over the course of 2022 and beyond? 

2022 01 27 110345Prediction #1 – Pandemic Response Becomes Post-Pandemic Strategy

The last two years has taught us two things. First, that the impact of the pandemic will be with us for some time to come, perhaps indefinitely.  Second, that the proverbial black-swan events can, and indeed will, happen eventually.  That means we not only need to make permanent some of the rapid changes recently made, and make them more robust and operationally sound, but we need to rethink many parts of our business operations.  How flexible are they?  How robust are they?  And how are they able to support other future events that may have unprecedented impact on the business?  Not just in terms of another pandemic, but from other events such as natural disasters and economic, for example.

Therefore, 2022 will be the year in which businesses of all sizes and across all industries will move from the firefighting era of the pandemic-response to an era of operational change and restructuring in the form of a post-pandemic strategy.

Prediction #2 – Cloud Computing/SaaS and the New Normal

Over the last two to three decades, Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), has been slowly increasingly in momentum in adoption with the curve becoming steeper and steeper.  That is because more and more IT departments, CIOs, CFOs, CEOs and many other disciplines are now realizing the extraordinary business benefits of Cloud/SaaS over traditional in-house client-server IT architectures.  Coupled with advances and maturing of the core technologies it is now becoming a ‘cloud-first’ strategy for most organisations when turning to new technology capabilities.

But again, the pandemic has had a role to play in that recent acceleration to a cloud-first strategy.  Supporting remote workers through anytime, anywhere access to critical business processes and information was solved largely through the rapid deployment and migration to cloud-based solutions.  Those companies that were previously reluctant to make the leap, due to either misunderstanding or lack of understanding, often had their hands forced.  As a result, legacy systems are a high priority for digital transformation and in particularly with a view to cloud/SaaS-based alternatives.  

I believe that 2022 will represent the ‘tipping point’ in cloud adoption with a cloud-first strategy becoming the standard default position for most legacy renovation projects and the major technology consideration in a post-pandemic strategy.

Prediction #3 – Tribal Knowledge Becomes Codified

In many industries, and manufacturing is certainly no exception, people build up significant levels of skills, knowledge and experience that pertain to their roles.  But most of that tacit knowledge is stored mentally and rarely documented or codified.  For example, an operator may hone a particular skillset over many years in a particular process area using a particular piece of machinery.  Quite simply, she just knows how to perform the tasks correctly and get the best out of the equipment and resources.  But what happens when she, or her immediate peers, are no longer available (such as from the impact of the Covid pandemic or other events) to perform those tasks?

2022 will be a pivotal year in this regard as organisations begin to move more aggressively towards codifying what is currently highly tacit, tribal knowledge. Not only using solutions such as workflow and business process management, but also emerging solutions in areas such as predictive and prescriptive analytics as well as leveraging machine learning and AI techniques. 

Prediction #4 – Sustainability Accelerates Digital Transformation Momentum 

The driving force behind digital transformation is shifting with sustainability beginning to take centre stage. Organisations across every industry and of all sizes are now recognizing the responsibility and scrutiny being placed on them by governments, consumers, and society at large to become much more environmentally responsible in their business activities.  From waste, resource usage, carbon emissions and recycling, for example, organisations will increasingly turn to digital solutions to optimise efficiency and productivity and this significantly reducing unnecessary environmental impact.

Prediction #5 – Industrial Automation Makes Way for Information Automation

Information is rapidly becoming the next battle ground in the war on efficiency and productivity.  We now have the technology capabilities to effortlessly capture data in real time, analyse that data automatically and in real time using sophisticated algorithms, and present the result of that analysis in highly visual and intuitive visualizations.  This makes decision making much quicker and more effective, enabling critical decisions to be made in real time to ensure that industrial processes are running optimally and where that is not the case, enable us to better predict when and where problems are most likely to occur, before they impact on efficiency and productivity.

As industrial automation delivers ever diminishing returns as much as the low hanging fruit has been harvested and now has become commonplace, I believe that 2022 will see information and cognitive automation within industrial environments become much more prevalent.

About InfinityQS International, Inc.

For over 30 years, InfinityQS has been the leading global provider of Manufacturing Quality Intelligence software and services. Powered by a robust Statistical Process Control (SPC) analytics engine, the company’s solutions—Enact® and ProFicient™—deliver unparalleled visibility and strategic insight across the enterprise, from the shop floor to the boardroom. 

This extensive deep-dive capability enables manufacturers to improve product quality; decrease cost and risk; improve compliance; and make strategic, data-driven business decisions. Headquartered near Washington, D.C. and with offices in Seattle, London, Beijing, and Delhi, InfinityQS has thousands of customers around the world, including Ball Corporation, Boston Scientific, Graham Packaging, and Medtronic. For more information, visit www.infinityqs.com

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