Beverage World - May 2008 - (Page 51) BEVSOLUTIONS distribution • packaging • production • r&d • sales & marketing • supply chain QUALITY CONTROL Solving the 21st Century QC New and diverse beverages mean a greater need to enhance quality control practices. by john karolefski B everage facilities nowadays are challenged to maintain stringent quality control in the face of rapidly expanding product lines. Experts say ensuring ingredient quality is the first step for adhering to production standards and specifications. The next level of quality monitoring is ensuring that proper mixing of components meets product quality standards. Finally, there is inspecting packaging materials to make sure they meet specifications. » “There are more products with different characteristics, more packages and higher speeds than ever before,” says John Peter Koss, a beverage operations adviser. “All of those things are impacting quality. It’s not only controlling the quality, but assuring that the quality going out to the consumer is proper.” Beverage officials agree that maintaining a high level of quality control is more important today than ever before. Some companies, such as Sweet Leaf Tea, dispatch a representative to the beverage facility. “It’s not that we don’t trust our coINSIDE BEVSOLUTIONS just taking it one step further. At the end of the day, we’ve been able to convince them that this is a win-win, that this person is there as a resource. So we’re going the extra mile to make sure that we’re putting out a consistently high quality product.” The worst outcome from shoddy vigilance is illness from consuming bad or tainted product, stresses Howard Gurney, director of quality assurance for Tahitian Noni International, maker of Tahitian Noni Juice. To avoid such a scenario, companies are doing several things to ensure safety in the plant and along the supply chain if an TAHITIAN NONI’S QC regimen incident occurs. includes hazard analysis plans, For example, Tahitian onsite investigations, audits and testing of every finished product. Noni International implements strict SOPs, hazard analysis plans, testing procedures and sourcing mandates that promote a quality product from its inception. Onsite investigations, audits, R&D testing, first rate raw material vendors and component vendors are the packers,” explains Robert Walker, direcadditional components of the program. tor of operations, Sweet Leaf. “We’re Finally, a finished product is tested to SUPPLY CHAIN Up to your ears in SKUs? This is one problem when ‘just shelving’ it actually works. PAGE 54 SALES & MARKETING GlobalShop drew more than 15,000 attendees to see the latest in visual merchandising. PAGE 74 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM MAY 2008_BEVERAGE WORLD_51 http://BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.