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Quality department scope and responsibilities- advice sought!

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bensmith007

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Posted 17 August 2018 - 06:38 PM

Hi all,

 

I was looking for some advice/ a place to vent a little.

 

I am having a bit of a fight (including a pretty heated argument this morning!) with our general manager as to what is expected of quality and production/ warehouse personnel.

 

This stems from an insect problem we are experiencing- cigarette beetles are a known pest in many of our raw materials and we saw activity last year in the hot summer months and again this year.

 

The fight comes from who is responsible for inspecting the warehouse for infested materials. I have been pushing my GM in our morning meetings to have someone from the production/ warehouse/ temp workforce to be dedicated to searching through our raw materials. I inevitably get push back as 'someone didn't turn up today' or 'a forklift is broken' or 'we need to get product out the door'. I am asked if I expect production to be stopped for this and get surprised looks when I say yes.

 

After nearly 2 weeks of little to no action, I finally got bored and went to senior management (a fairly small company so that is not a big leap) as I know that they do believe in food safety and would get the GM to do something. They were certainly pretty upset when they came to the warehouse 2 weeks ago and saw insects flying around, but they are also hands off, so since then have been expecting that quality and production would do their bit.

 

Of course this really upset the GM who came to see me and had essentially thinks quality should be doing this (and I should not go behind his back to management!). My response is that with only 2 QA techs, if I pull one of them from their normal quality inspection work then we create another food safety problem of inspection checks or other quality tasks not being performed. Instead, we have 20 or so production personnel, and as our cheapest labor it should be one of those workers assigned to this task- the task being to inspect pallets or partials for signs of activity, clean any spills, bag any partials that are not already double bagged (majority will be 50 pound kraft sacks) and bag and dispose of any infested material.

 

My question is whether I am really thinking of this in the correct way. (I should point out here I have education but little practical experience). My thought is that the warehouse inspections should be 100% owned by warehouse/ production personnel. Quality have liaised with pest control, sorted out treatments etc., talked about improvements we can make on the QC side to try and stop this, but now we have given direction to the GM on inspecting for activity, it is now up to them to physically get into the warehouse and get their house back in order.

 

I should note here that our GM is not from a food industry background and really does put production needs before quality.

 

Does anyone have any materials or references to how a quality department is set up or the roles and responsibilities that are generally expected of quality and how that meets with production? I haven't found anything to that level online or in my university notes so I can't work out if I am actually shirking a responsibility here in expecting GM/ production to lead this.

 

As for going to cry to management- I have found this to often be the only way to get something done in this organization, and it is only when I kick up a fuss that I can get some real movement on outstanding issues. Whilst this is effective it also upsets people as the CEO will usually go a little too crazy when I may just have been looking for a slightly more gentle push from the person they will actually listen to. I don't suppose this technique is is recommended in management theory, so any advice on how to deal with colleagues at or above my level who I don't think are pulling their weight would also be good! (GM just came to see me- after putting 4 personnel on this today they have blitzed the suspect rows and found 2 items to dispose of, so I see that this method does get results....)

 

We are BRC certified- still on V7 so we don't have the extra emphasis on the food safety culture of V8 from that, but of course it is irrelevant as we should have a culture of food safety regardless.

 

As always, your opinions and advice would be very gratefully received!

 

Ben



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Posted 17 August 2018 - 06:55 PM

"My thought is that the warehouse inspections should be 100% owned by warehouse/ production "

 

Well, it's an interesting concept, however rarely actually works out that well.

 

Quality Assurance needs to be the point here  - your GM is production driven, that of course will be cut short when pests begin popping up at your customers warehouses or on the dinner table, then he may care a little bit more.

 

Considering that you have an internal audit program, my suggest would be that you rotate people out of production and have them do "internal audits" with you as a group effort and then as an aside inspect for pests.

 

I think it is the Quality department and not warehouse/production that would be 100% owned by them, I think this is miss-step that will blow up, blend them instead or request a new QA Tech.


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Glenn Oster.

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bensmith007

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Posted 17 August 2018 - 07:14 PM

Thanks for your reply Glenn.

 

I may not have been 100% clear there- the warehouse is indeed inspected by quality as part of the monthly GMP audit. Generally we try to have the GM, production manager and maintenance manger accompany us on these, although I usually don't finish the audit with everyone still in attendance!

 

I guess my question can be refined to- if we see problems on the GMP audit in the warehouse and discuss that in our CAR meeting, is it reasonable to think that GM and his side should then take on the corrective action, which in this case would be searching through materials for infestation, or do you think that I should have my quality personnel out there searching, or a combined effort from both? When I said my thought is the inspection should be owned by warehouse staff, I meant as in searching for the bugs now we know we have a problem and not the GMP type inspection.

 

It's the question of where we pass the responsibility for action to production personnel after quality have identified an issue. I am worried that I am standing my ground saying this isn't a quality responsibility to get into the warehouse and search, but actually you guys out there think I am wrong and I should be in there myself!

 

Thanks again,

 

Ben



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Posted 17 August 2018 - 08:06 PM

Well, I'm only 1 "you guys" so far.

 

Generally speaking everyone starts and everyone finishes an inspection together, if they don't they never participated to begin with - their hearts and heads aren't even into it.

 

I would say that your department needs to do the follow-up in conjuction with warehouse/production personnel and you want it that way, cause the GM is focused on warehouse/production and not on quality - if they it by themselves they will get pulled off to do other stuff - that is my experience.

 

As to a once a month GMP inspection, most do so with more frequency, especially since there appears to be an issue at least during warmth.


All the Best,

 

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Glenn Oster.

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Joseah njuguna

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Posted 18 August 2018 - 07:42 AM

Bensmith.

 

You and your GM come from two schools of thought. Don't worry this happens.

Purpose to own the process by having an interdepartmental team to handle the infestation.

Let the interdepartmental team be trained by yourself and better by your pest service provider.

You got a lean team so I would assume 2 people from production and your department can make the fighting squad.

To me the end justifies the means.

 

I work with a lean team and have developed a pest sighting form open for everyone.The whole team has undergone training by my pest provider.

it is interesting how our housekeeper has been keen and effective on this.

 

With results the manager will simply get the sense.

 

 

All the best.



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Peaches

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Posted 20 August 2018 - 01:22 PM

It's a combined effort - I agree with previous comments that QA needs to take the lead.  In my case, I will come up with an inspection plan of how we will inspect in detail, then review with the Plant Manager.  We then need to agree on a time/day that will allow production or warehouse to assist.  Since QA staff generally is the smallest team, having QA stand there for every item to be inspected might not be feasible.  However, with a plan and some extra hands, QA will be responsible for making that part of their routine checks that day and completing the documentation.  During busy times, we would get creative and have people come in during sanitation to inspect or on weekends.



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Scampi

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Posted 20 August 2018 - 01:42 PM

I agree with Glenn that you need to push for another tech

The production manager WILL almost ALWAYS put production ahead of quality.

 

It sounds to me like you need to encourage his/her boss that HACCP training be done sooner than later so that he/she may better understand the consequences of cutting corners. It sounds like a general lack of real understanding.

 

And GMP inspections (since you know you've got a problem) should be daily. 

 

If all else fails, but everything in the warehouse on hold.....AFTER you've logged your conversations with the production manager (in detail, times, dates, what was discussed) you'll need this for back up when they say "i didn't know or he didn't tell me"

 

Last place I was at, a production supervisor and plant manager were both let go on the same day, in large part, to QA constantly communicating the issues we kept seeing day in and day out (we even had to condemn product without their knowledge and remove it from the building).  

 

Next time, ask the higher up boss for a meeting with the 3 of you.....maybe then everything will be clearer to production and you won't have "gone behind his back"


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