Baking & Snack Magazine Profiles Statistical Process Control by Hertzler
Hertzler Systems (www.hertzler.com) provides seamless, accurate data acquisition solutions that drive business transformation. The company provides the leading real-time data acquisition and analytics software, the GainSeeker Suite. This powerful and flexible system is best used by lean and progressive companies. Gainseeker Suite allows companies to connect with devices and other information systems, collecting data and alarming key personnel when problems arise; this technology allows organizations to analyze data for root cause problems, converting data into knowledge.
Manufacturing journalist, Thomas R. Cutler, profiles the “Quality, Compliance, and the Bottom-line” in the current issue of Baking & Snack magazine. According to Cutler, “The first task of any net contents program is to meet the requirements of NIST Handbook 133 and other governmental regulations for compliance to net content declarations on packaged goods. However, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 133 standards do not specify limits for overfilling; that becomes a costly challenge for baking and snack firms. Fill weights must be above the maximum allowable variance (MAV) but as close as possible to the label declaration. The classic method of meeting the regulation is to shift the curve up, so that the average is at or above label, and the lower tail is just above MAV. SPC technology solutions allow bakeries to tighten the curve so that there are no MAVs and less overpack. Streamlining data collection by connecting directly to all brands and models of scales and balances provides either simple or complex calculations to derive volume, whether immediate or “roaded.” As each new measurement is entered into the system, real-time statistical tests to this data will immediately alert production if a process change is detected. Beyond reacting to real-time alerts, powerful analysis tools to pinpoint sources of variation in the baking and fill processes make it easy to discover which fill heads, material suppliers, operators, product lines and other variables have the greatest impact on process variation — individually or in combination. Armed with this information, bakers are making better decisions on process improvements that reduce process variation and shift average fills weights closer to the declared label weights.”
Reducing overpacking and material costs at the same time is becoming vital as ingredient costs continue to rise. “When baking companies overpack, they are giving money to their customers, and when they under fill, they are giving money to the regulators,” said Evan J. Miller, president, Hertzler Systems, Goshen, IN. The company’s SPC system GainSeeker monitors this process and demonstrates that overpacking is just giving away product. In high-volume operations, this quickly adds up to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. If bakeries under fill, the fines and damage to company reputation are even more costly.
One reason why SPC solutions are widely used in the baking (and other food and packaging industries) is that they easily convert raw data (such as overpack weights) into something everyone. The entire feature can be read at http://trcutlerinc.com/Baking%20&%20Snack%20Magazine%20WCS%20SPC%20June%2008.pdf.
Hertzler Systems Inc.
www.hertzler.com
Adrienne DePew
Communications Manager
info@hertzler.com
800.958.2709
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