Hello, I need some help with a product release procedure for a winery. We already perform most of the control needed to ensure a safe product for release, we just don't have a formal procedure written or a formal way of confirming. Right now our shipping/warehouse manager just gets an email stating that the wine passed Microbe testing, but that doesn't seem like good enough record keeping to me. I had an idea to add a cover sheet to the bottling report for each day/product. Each department needs to sign off that the wine meets legal requirements and specifications for release.
For example:
1.Lab signs off that the tank prepared for bottling meets legal limits for TTB for Total SO2 and Volatile acidity and such, and that the label alcohol is true to the actual alcohol.
2.then this form gets sent to the bottling managers to prove that the bottling tank is cleared. The bottling managers then sign off at the end of the day that they performed all necessary controls (filter tests, glass rinser tests, and any glass breakage procedures) for the day and that the product that is in the bottle, matches the specifications for glass, cork, label, etc that was given to them.
3.They staple the cover sheet to the front of their bottling report for the day, which then goes back to the lab for bottle analysis approval and microbe testing approval. (for our current procedures, the bottling report already gets passed between departments so that the winemaker can enter the bottling into our wine tracking software. For some reason, others are concerned that this cover sheet will get lost, even though we already pass around the bottling reports and have never lost one).
4.Once all the sign-offs have occurred, then it goes to the shipping manager who can see very clearly on one piece of paper that all legal parameters and product specifications have been met and he can officially sign off the product for release in our inventory tracking software.
I had a very difficult time trying to get some managers of the Supply procurement department and Winemaking Departments to get on board with this idea. They feel like it is too complicated and the paper will get lost. But I feel like it is the simplest way for someone who doesn't know what we do, to just simply look at this form and definitively be able to determine if the product is cleared for release. Does anyone have any thoughts on this process? or examples of their current product release procedures?