The most recent BRCGS yearly report highlights the most well-known quality control non-conformances that food manufacturers got when reviewed. Thus, to avoid these non-conformances on your next audit, continue to read… 

The BRCGS (Brand Reputation Compliance Global Standards) is the quality standard  for manufacturing quality control and assurance. A BRCGS accreditation ensures the guarantee of quality assurance, sanitation of food safety and is frequently considered to be a fundamental necessity for retailers, makers, and food administration associations.

The cycle towards BRCGS includes a yearly review. Getting ready for this review can be extensive and includes an increase of paperwork. Unfortunately, slip-ups or errors recognized during a yearly audit can prompt a ‘non-conformance’ being logged. This isn’t the be all and end all, yet these non conformances should be settled speedily if not you could fail to accomplish or lose your certification.

1. Internal Audits 

The most well-known non-conformance is unsatisfactory recurrence of the way internal audits are documented. As indicated by BRCGS reports, inside reviews are frequently not reasonably archived, with key data missing resulting in documentation that cannot qualify as adequate internal audits. This non-conformance can emerge due to internal reviews being overlooked or hurried. 

Food and drink manufacturers need to keep up with consistent and regular internal audits to ensure that they are up to the standard set by BRCGs, this would mean verification of four internal audits throughout the year. 

How Tekmon Can Help:

The transformation of innovation amongst the food manufacturing industry has caused a rise in the demand for a software that can assist with the automation of these quality control processes.

An innovative software centralised platform on mobile devices, provides users with the tools and ability to carry out such audit checks easily and efficiently. Through the digitisation of forms, eliminating paper wastage and introducing digital templates that can offer a range of uses such as, validation rules e.g if the criteria for audits are not fulfilled, resulting in non-conformances,  an automatic email/notification is sent out to relevant individuals to initiate follow up actions. 

This risk management software can aid manufacturers to keep regular error free documentation, as well as reducing printing costs and increasing quality assurance.

2. Housekeeping and Hygiene

A major reason food and drink manufacturers get housekeeping and hygiene as a non-conformance is because of cleaning methodology and their documentation not being satisfactorily defined, diminishing quality control. It is significant that your business has an appropriate number of cleaning stations and consistent solid hygiene standards, to diminish dangers of contamination. 

How Tekmon Can Help:

An innovative quality control software can help organizations create schedules for cleaning processes. Alongside creating a photography library of mandatory photo per cleaning process to increase quality assurance when it comes to reports. These processes can also be monitored in real time, this aids with staying up to date to increase quality control.

3. Temporary Repairs 

Speedy and temporary fixes to equipment and machinery can regularly be disregarded, which can prompt a non-conformance. Temporary site repairs ought to be appropriately logged and controlled to guarantee maximum safety and wellbeing, as well as permanent repairs to be issued as soon as possible within a recorded time period.

How Tekmon Can Help:

With Tekmon’s software application, individuals can carry out safety checks digitally and are able to request repairs via mobile device, all requests can be assigned to specific individuals who are responsible for repairs. These individuals are notified automatically on their mobile devices, as soon as an issue has been identified on site which increases efficiency. There is also a dashboard where individuals can see and log any temporary repairs, the progress of each repair can be tracked in real time. All key factors that ensure an increase in quality control for organizations.

4. Equipment Maintenance

With regards to equipment upkeep, non-conformances regularly emerge when there isn’t sufficient satisfactory documentation or appropriate sign off methods set up. It is vital to exhibit an effective maintenance and cleaning process for equipment and machinery, which results in a decline in contamination and hazard of breakdown.  

How Tekmon Can Help:

Tekmon’s automation application provides individuals with the tools to import assets and equipment in order to create scheduled maintenance tasks. There are options to specify what exactly needs to be maintained in detailed reports with mandatory fill-ins. All safety checks can be carried out digitally, you can keep monitor progress checks in real time, and keep track/log data of each equipment, asset and machinery for future reference. All resulting in less paper usage, higher quality assurance and eliminating human error.  

5. Management Communication/Goals

Another common non-conformance happens due to an absence of correspondence or good communication among the executives and different levels of the business. Senior management ought to have the option to have clear goals, plan of action in order to constantly improve the progress of food handling, safety and quality control. This incorporates guaranteeing staff know about their obligations and have clear working criteria which are easily accessible. 

How Tekmon Can Help:

Tekmon can aid in creating communication automations amongst team members, so that correspondence and communication is no longer a problem. For example,  when there is a non conformity, an email is automatically sent to whoever needs to be notified in regards to this issue being solved. Alongside, follow up prompts and real time frames of task completion. There is also an option of automated communication reports with suppliers, (non conformity for an incoming goods), so there are two options of both internal and external communication with not only team members but also suppliers. 

Know Better, Do Better! 

Since you now know some of the most common non-conformances, you have a better understanding of what to really focus on and can act proactively to ensure you have a system in place to automate your manual labour to increase quality control to reap a positive result, efficiency and reliability for when your next BRCGS audit occurs.