The implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), has created added pressure on lot tracking, production reports and overall transparency throughout production processes. Producing consistent, high-quality products for consumers is more critical than ever.

Having detailed documentation of production reports is an increasing need as the FDA works with states to provide consistent guidelines and training. Without visibility into your production process, minor variations can have a substantial impact on your bottom line. An out-of-spec product not detected in time can lead to missed deadlines or a potential recall of your product.

Gaining Visibility

Knowing the “what” and “why” is critical to making results matter. One of the key elements to the success of your production is understanding trends in your process and tracking what adjustments are being made to support consistency.

To evaluate results and account for a corrective action you will need answers to the following questions:

• How are you currently tracking variations or changes to recipes in production? Do your current systems and processes support the ability to calculate results as they happen or as reported and measure them against your company or customer standards?
• What is your corrective action plan? Start with evaluating how issues are identified, what is the notification process for your team if something is out of spec? Doing this will assure that you can address the problem immediately.
• How is the data organized and structured? Are certain departments in charge of specific information, and how easily accessible is it to weigh against the rest of your production data? You need the ability to collect and present all the necessary information at the recipe or batch level. This will allow you to manage and track any corrective action taken.

Is your software or ERP solution able to track variations and provide notifications?

The Solution

Having a software solution that can automate batch review can help your organization to speed up addressing problem areas. Vicinity software can track recipe variations and provide real-time notifications of quick production reports to highlight any results throughout your production process that are outside of required specifications. These results could be your production throughput, target values, or an industry standard – with the ability to trace items back to specific sources or origins with their Certificate of Analysis (CoA). Having this insight will give employees the ability to detect where each transaction came from and pinpoint its relation to production.

Over time this information can help strategic decision making by keeping a record of out of spec results. In turn, this will allow your team to identify and evaluate trends and provide a high level of documentation for your production reports. Vicinity software can help your organization avoid manufacturing setbacks and streamline operations to stay on track with its ability to automate recipe review.

To learn more about Vicinity’s specialized manufacturing software solutions, contact us today.