Traceability is a key component in the production process, with businesses across the UK and Ireland looking at how they can track ingredients and products for quality, compliance and optimisation. Sometimes that tracking can be tricky when your production process includes one or more mixing stages. Many businesses are unsure of the correct approach for traceability when mixing batches, or wet and dry ingredients together.
In this article we look at how businesses can maintain food traceability when mixing multiple batches together, using the Stevens Collation module, part of our wider traceability system.
What Is Stevens Collation?
Stevens Collation is a modular component of our Dynamic Traceability System and was developed to enable complete traceability throughout your mixing and collation processes.
It provides functionality for businesses to mix batches, as well as dry and wet mixes, with traceability information recorded for robust reporting on your mixing process.
Read on below to learn more.
How It Helps To Maintain Batch Traceability
Unique Lot Numbers
When using the Stevens Traceability System, incoming stock like ingredients and materials are automatically assigned unique lot numbers when they are scanned in at goods-in. It’s these unique identifiers that enable traceability, each batch has its own number that is used to record and track its movement and usage throughout the production process.
When you use the Stevens Collation terminal to mix batches, the system will automatically generate a new batch or mix on the record, with a new unique number to use for reference and continued traceability moving forward.
Tracking Through Wet & Dry Ingredients
The Stevens Collation terminal allows businesses to mix existing batches together to then create a new batch or mix to continue with in the production process. This includes the mixing of dry and wet ingredients in the following forms:
- Dry and wet ingredients together
- Dry and dry ingredients together
- Wet and wet ingredients together
Regardless of what you’re mixing to create a new batch, the system will automatically generate a new unique lot number for that batch. As we discussed above that number is used to track the proceeding usage and movement of that batch in your production process – giving you continued traceability.
Automatic Traceability Records
Like all modules of the Stevens Traceability System, all production and traceability information is automatically recorded at the collation terminal. This information is then stored electronically on the Stevens System and can be used to produce various reports using the Stevens Reporting Suite.
Reports available in the Stevens Reporting Suite include:
• Stock lot report
• Supplier batch report
• Production schedule report
• Ingredient usage report
• Production summary report
• Batch yield report
• Traceability report
Conclusion
If you would like to better manage, improve your processes, and have robust traceability records for your batches, implementing the Collation software module as part of your wider paperless traceability system could be the perfect improvement to your production processes.
