Jennifer,
after looking at your examples I get the impression that you don't seem to use a systematic approach to describing your product and process flows. The charts you have shared seem to be very intuitive, but fail to clearly identify process steps like storage, processing, preparation, cooking, cooling. You need to create charts that describe your operations on two levels: the flow (sequence) of processes and the flow of products (ingredients) through the different processes.
I am confident that you can develop a small number of generic flow charts that describe different sequences of processes in your operation.
Use very basic grouping of products (e.g. products that are heat-treated, raw products that are not heat-treated, ready-to-eat products that are not heat-treated). Follow the logical 'flow' of products from receipt of ingredients to storage of the finished product. Typical steps in the process flow are Receiving or Goods Inwards, Storage, Preparation, Cooking, Cooling, Packaging. There might be additional process steps in your specific operation and naturally not all will be applicable for each product.
Aim for the smallest number of generic charts: three or four charts should be enough to accurately describe every production process in your operation. You might find that you can get away with two (or even only one).
In a second step use the generic process flow charts to generate your product-specific charts: include descriptions of the specifics for each product under the process headings (e.g. specific types of ingredients - meat, vegetables, dried goods; specific storage - chilled, frozen, ambient; specific preparation - slicing, peeling, washing; specific thermal treatment - cooking, steaming, poaching; etc). This will result in clear and easily understood flow charts and help you better organise your thoughts. Include as much proces-specific information as possible. This will make your hazard analysis easier!
Hope this helps,
Matt
P.S.: Take a look at the attached document. Both flow charts describe the same operation (a Supermarket that offers fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, hot and cold deli, frozen and ambient goods). The first chart gives a brief overview over the process flow, while the second chart describes product flow in detail.
Sample Flow Charts.pdf 62.77KB
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Edited by MKRMS, 01 October 2011 - 06:55 PM.