Removing Artificial Flavors—Without Removing Customers

But the challenges don’t stop there.

Companies also face external challenges as they need to ensure they are maintaining compliance as well as company standards in order to have a close-loop quality process. More and more, organizations are relying on quality management software to automate and manage processes such as complaints, internal audits, hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), corrective actions, and change management across all suppliers and partners.

Of course, the next step is picking the right partners. The leading manufacturers establish proactive supplier management programs through the same automated software solutions that include supplier scorecards, risk-based audits, and complaint resolution procedures to resolve issues quickly and ultimately protect consumers and their brands. This process is imperative to guarantee quality, safety, and compliance.

By testing incoming material, manufacturers can contain a contaminated ingredient before it is used in production, and therefore expedite replacement material to stay on schedule with production. Organizations can also leverage their hazard analysis plans and internal shop floor audits to identify and manage critical control areas and equipment to prevent biologic, chemical, or physical hazards from harming the product at any stage of the production process.

The last crucial step is determining if your suppliers or contract manufacturers are compliant with ISO, Global Food Safety Initiative, and Food Safety Modernization Act requirements. Enterprise quality management solutions are used to perform site audits and review HACCP plans, providing transparency into processes and how incidents and corrective actions can be rightfully managed.

The solution to having it all—customer satisfaction and a quality product—comes down to automation. Food manufacturers need to look at the benefits of implementing an automated solution, such as enterprise quality management software, that can enable companies to streamline their processes of quality, supplier management, operations, and regulatory compliance to create a continuous improvement process that is sustainable and protects product quality, safety, and brand reputation. Information can be easily integrated with data from existing disparate IT systems to finally create a single version of the truth for better business decisions.

Kuchinski is VP of product marketing for Sparta Systems. Reach her at [email protected].