7 replies to this topic

[Serena :)]

Hi all,

I just conducted my  BRC Audit last week that went very well with only a little non conformance raised regarding damaged wooden pallets observed in production area.

 

The auditor advise us to create an inventory of our wooden pallets and sharing with team pictures of what is acceptable and what is not.

I am struggle to find a right way to do this wood inventory: we use wooden pallets received from our fat supplier and re-use them for our finished product. So basically is always a turnover of pallets.

What I should do? Numerate the pallet on their arrival and make sure production supervisor check all of them( as hard plastic audit)?

 

any ideas? any suggestions? any template to share?

[Duncan]

Hi Serena congratulations on your audit outcome :)

 

Since pallets don't have unique identifiers, I would think you could have a simple tally of the number of pallets into production, with an integrity check after the raw material has been unloaded and before you use the pallet to load product onto. Your recorded check could simply note the number of damaged pallets identified and removed from the production area.

 

If it's practical, I'm aware of some food manufacturers who load product onto plastic pallets in production, then invert onto wooden pallets in a warehouse, so wooden pallets aren't introduced into an open-product handling area. I appreciate there's a cost to doing it, so it may not be a suitable approach - just something to consider.

[Serena :)]

Hi Duncan,

thank you for your reply.

 

We already have a start -up check  that include a check of the wooden pallets in open-product area. We would like to avoid double handling of the product so switch for plastic pallets is an option not suitable for us ( we use to have steel pallets and moving fat from wooden to steel before to reach the open-product area but this caused a lot of problems and a lot waste time in productivity.)

We do check our goods in and we include wooden pallets in this check also.

On the arrival this wooden pallets are checked everywhere but was not enough for the auditor.

 

So that's why the auditor asked me to formulated a proper inventory for our wooden pallets with some standard of acceptability.

I May think to correlate the fat batch number to the respective pallet and conduct this check every time a fat intake is coming.

 

Many thanks for this brainstorming  always useful!

[TylerJones]

Hi Serena,

 

You can also create a RA for damaged pallets in production / warehouse. What is the likelihood that a damaged pallet will contaminate your product? Was the auditors concern that the damaged pallets are being brought into production or that they were damaged during production such as forklift operator error? If it was the first then maybe a simple checklist to ensure that the pallets are in good condition, if its the latter maybe a refresher training on forklifts / pallet jacks? Depending on your volume I'd be careful creating a policy that would require putting a ton of energy into this. Good job on your audit! 

[Ryan M.]

Interesting...it seems the auditor may be over-reaching on this one due to what you already have in place.  I'm not familiar with BRC so I could be wrong, but what was the specific non-conformance issue and linked to what part of the code in BRC?

 

It sounds like you are doing all the right things to ensure pallet integrity and the impact on the food.  Not sure what an inventory of pallets would tell you...

[Jocelyn Legaspi]

Hello,

 

pallet integrity checking is recommended and better to have the pallet numbered for easy tracing in the event of damages.

[Serena :)]

Thanks all! 

I basically did everything needs to be done for wooden control.( obviously a full RA has been taken).

I will try to make an easy process for my production team and will ask them to mark the wooden pallet con the last for digit of the fat batch code on the arrival, so they can be easily identified.

I think the auditor have to find something as all the system in place is well implemented.

thanks all for this brainstorming 

[TylerJones]

Serena,

 

I guess I am a little confused on your original question. If you already have a full RA for wood and pallets then you should be fine. Reading your last post makes me think the auditor wants you to track Work In Progress (WIP) better. I do not see a benefit of actually marking a pallet unless there is product on it, hence tracking your work in progress. If that's the case, I see your auditor wanting you to check off on all finished pallets as a way to release them from production, (damaged, acceptable..). Not being rude but I do not believe an auditor has to find something, if the policy and code was in place you would not have the NC. You are also lucky that your auditor "consulted" with you at the time of the audit. Anyways great job!!!!!!