Looking for advice on good layout for receiving area
Hello!
We are a small scale food and drug processing company. Most of our products deal with plants and herbs as they are our primary ingredients. We have recently been certified for HACCP and one of minor non-conformance is to improve our receiving area. I would like to ask for advice and/or tips on how to properly design an efficient receiving area? Or what are the primary considerations of a good receiving area? Any professional input would be highly appreciated. Thanks!
Hello!
We are a small scale food and drug processing company. Most of our products deal with plants and herbs as they are our primary ingredients. We have recently been certified for HACCP and one of minor non-conformance is to improve our receiving area. I would like to ask for advice and/or tips on how to properly design an efficient receiving area? Or what are the primary considerations of a good receiving area? Any professional input would be highly appreciated. Thanks!
Hi nbp,
Welcome to the Forum ! :welcome:
It might help if you could give a little more detail as to what you are actually doing and yr current type of layout ?
Currently we have a single receiving area for our raw mat and pack mats. We have a plastic curtain located against our door. The door opens out to the front area of the processing plant. In a recent audit, one of our non-conformance was how the plastic curtain, placed against the door, doesn't really serve its purpose of keeping pests out. Because when the door opens, we also have to open the curtain to transport materials in and that means dust and flying objects can make its way into the plant.
Currently we have a single receiving area for our raw mat and pack mats. We have a plastic curtain located against our door. The door opens out to the front area of the processing plant. In a recent audit, one of our non-conformance was how the plastic curtain, placed against the door, doesn't really serve its purpose of keeping pests out. Because when the door opens, we also have to open the curtain to transport materials in and that means dust and flying objects can make its way into the plant.
Hi nbp,
Thks feedback.
A few possibilities I have seen are -
(1) receiving raw materials in a small ante-room prior main process area with the internal connection using self-closing doors,
(2) air curtains at entry,
(3) an industrial size overhead blower/cooler impeding entry of flies,
(4) using a (sealed) conveyor feed through the wall going directly into ante-room/process area.
Ideally the transport vehicle in (1) is taken entirely into the ante-room but this often not practical.
It likely also depends on the style which is used for raw material supply, eg piles heaped on trucks or ???
Thanks for your insight, Charles! This gives me a better idea on how to fix it. Most of our deliveries are delivered via truck. Our receiving area is relatively small but suggestions 1 & 2 are something we can work with. I still have to propose this to management but it's a good start. Thanks so much for your help!
Best regards,
Niambee P.