Video: 5 key audit checks for autocoding compliance
Discover the five key audit checks to ensure your autocoding and automation systems comply with retailers code of practice. Faye Louch, Trainer at OAL Connected, explains the five key areas she looks at when auditing food manufacturers label and date code verification systems.
1. System security
It's critical that access to the label and date code verification system is controlled and managed. Controlled access ensures there is a full audit trail for any decisions made on the line and people can be held accountable for their decisions. My key watch-outs are:
Multiple users
Generic accounts
Shared accounts
2. Fail-safe checks
Food manufacturers must ensure fail-safe checks are in place and they are conducted on a daily basis. Fail-safe checks ensure the system is running correctly prior and not susceptible to errors.
It's important engineering are involved so if they are carrying out works on a packaging line, the fail-safe checks are run afterwards.
3. Printers
Access to printers on the line needs to be limited with operators prohibited from changing date codes.
4. Operator interaction
Simply observing operators using the system provides a clear view of their level of understanding and potential training requirements. Spending time asking questions ensures operators fully understand the system.
5. Continuous improvement
Sites should use system reports to drive improvements. For instance, if the site has had a near miss, it should be added to the fail-safe checks to mitigate the risk.
Data embedded barcodes vs 2D barcodes
Data embedded barcodes and 2D barcodes present opportunities to reduce food waste and drive a more efficient food chain. The codes can be used across the supply chain to improve date code management, reduce store wastage and improve rotation. Retailers may require one or the other on their packaging so it’s a good idea to understand both types. The following analysis explains the difference between the two codes and how they function.
Data embedded barcodes
An expanded data barcode is an extended 1D barcode that can store more information. It can incorporate the global trade item number, expiration date or best before date and batch number. The expanded data barcode can then be stacked to make the most of space on the packaging.
2D barcodes
A 2D barcode stores significantly more information than a traditional 1D barcode as it stores information both horizontally (like a 1D code) and vertically. The 2D barcode can incorporate global trade item number, expiration date or best before date, batch number and more information, in a more compact area on the packaging.
Still not sure? Speak to our experts today to understand which one meets your needs best!
Top five reasons for label and packaging errors in food processing
Faye Louch, one of our trainers explains her top five reasons for label and packaging errors in food manufacturing.
Faye Louch is one of our trainers, helping manufacturers eliminate label and date code errors with our market leading Autocoding system and save money through increased efficiency. We asked her for her top five reasons for label and packaging errors in food manufacturing.
1. Human errors in food processing
We've all seen the trend for food retailers to implement category ranges, like 'food-to-go', so the products have unified branding. But this has created difficulties for operators ensuring the correct labels are applied to products. It's now commonplace for all products to have the same design with just one word different on the label artwork; hence it's very easy to select the wrong labels when working in the high speed, quick changeover environment of a food factory.
“I have seen many errors when setting up printers, it’s all too easy to change the date and not the month or put the 32nd of a date. Although quality checks seek to prevent errors when signing off labels, these can be easily missed when you are trying to check 10 or more things as well as keeping an eye on the production line.
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2. Promotional activities
In most cases promotions are briefed to the production team at the last minute or packaging arrives just before production starts. This increases the pressure on the team and can lead to a lack of clarity on when the promotion was meant to start and finish. Incorrectly packing product into promotional packs after the promotion has ended can lead to retailer fines and claims for loss of income due to the wrong prices being scanned at the tills.
3. Supplier packaging errors
Packaging suppliers make errors too! Splice reels of labels or films are more common than most people think. The difficulty with this, especially due to similar artwork designs, is that it's almost impossible for operators to spot mistakes on the line. 30-minute quality checks (applying a label to a check sheet and signing it off) may catch some, but if the splice error occurs between a check and in some cases reverts back to the correct label, the error will not be noticed until the dreaded phone call from the retailer.
These errors from the suppliers can often go undetected or incorrectly identified as operator errors which may lead to misplaced disciplinary action but without the necessary evidence and it’s very hard to prove otherwise.
4. Equipment errors
If a printer goes into a “fault” state then this can usually lead to one of two things.
The printer stops printing but the line carries on running. This can result in unprinted or badly printed packs. If these are not detected by the operator at the end of the line then these could go out to the customer.
The date code can revert to a default setting. This has been seen on a number of printers. If this change in date is not detected then this will potentially result in a product withdrawal.
5. Last minute dot com…
The nature of the food industry means we have to respond to changes quickly, often at the last minute. Quick decisions and high production demand naturally lead to errors. Incorrect packaging being issued to the line, coupled with quick, inaccurate checks can usually lead to incorrect packaging being used.
Date code, print information required for the product needs to be accurate to ensure what is being printed on the packs is correct. Last minute information is often incorrect or misinterpreted on the shop floor resulting in the wrong date codes being printed. Usually, these are only detected by the retailer or after the production run, resulting in costly re-work.
