Food Safety Management Systems for the International Supply Chain

The ISA-95 acceptance and support covers firms of all sizes and different disciplines. This includes the large industrial automation companies such as GE Fanuc, Rockwell Automation Corp. (Milwaukee, Wis.) and Yokogawa and smaller specialty firms such as Northwest Analytical Inc. (Portland, Ore.), where our CTO participates in the subcommittee dealing with SPC and analytics. All industry vendors have a stake in ISA-95 working with minimum overhead and maximum effectiveness.

Because all major vendors have a stake in ISA-95 success, not only is it official, but it becomes a real, functioning standard. ISA-95 is gaining traction and now being used in the planning and design of new systems by forward looking companies. For example, Gifford at GE Fanuc reports that two major breweries are now designing their next generation control and manufacturing systems based on the ISA-95 model.

Analytics for Successful Food Supply Chain Safety and Quality Management

ISA-95-based systems provide critical support for supply chain safety and quality. It structures all the important data-related tasks of data capture, management, analysis and reporting. All between-application communications use B2MML for a consistent structure that can be used by ISA-95 systems at all points in the supply chain.

This set of standards enables us to dependably pull the appropriate data we need when we need it from enterprise databases, analyze it, and deliver the appropriate role specific reports to each individual working in the supply chain. This significantly reduces the overhead and problems to effectively manage food safety and quality throughout the supply chain.

Three core analytical reports are commonly used to completely describe and support supply chain safety and quality. These are:

• Certificate of analysis which provides a quantitative instant view of product quality;
• Control chart which provides an analysis of process stability;
• Process capability reports which describe the vendor’s ability to meet specifications.

These analytics are necessary to effectively monitor vendor certification and continuing process performance. They provide the effective means to guarantee food safety performance in the supply chain. An excellent example of applying this method is the USDA AMS food safety and quality management program covering ground beef purchase for the National School Lunch program.

References:

• School Food Logistics, Steve Olson and Jeffery Cawley, pp 66-72, Food Quality, Oct/Nov 2005
• http://www.foodquality.com/mag/09012005/fq_09012005_FS1.htm

Jeff Cawley is vice president, market development for Northwest Analytical, Inc. in Portland, Ore. Reach him at 503-224-7727 ext. 5112 or at [email protected].