Best Answer SQFconsultant, 24 September 2022 - 08:39 PM
There are a LOT of factors that come into play when trying to determine from start to certification how long the process will take.
As SQF Consultants we can only determine an estimated range of time needed but only after asking many questions, determining condition of the physical plant and seeimg what capital improvements are needed and taking the temperature so to speak of the level of expertise we will be working with, level of training, overstaffed or understaffed, is the facility blowing their own bottles or buying them, do they already have a viable FSMS, are the owners on board for a solid food safety program or is this just sonething they need to do with no real thoughts to food safety.
Are they willing to make resources available to the staff, will they invest money into needed infastructure to becone SQF Compliant.
We know for instance how long it takes us to create a documentation system and the minimums for staff to implement everything and shake out prior to the first of the 2 first year audits - that can be quite the grey area and under our program the staff can call or email us with questions etc during implemention for up to year after our core work is done.
In a nutshell we've had clients go from zero with not even a simple HACCP plan to certification in under 6 months and others that took their time during implementation of upwards to 1.5 years.
For DIY's we've seen 6 months min to an average of 1 year and that was without any cap improvements.
It is the cap improvements that can add a lot of time - we had a pet food company that I visited and we determined that improvements would be extensive with a price tag of 2Mil (eventual was 2.5Mil.)
But then again I had a water company that needed no cap investnents, where ownership and staff were fully onboard and where all recommended training was acted upon and ordered uo quickly. That one was completed by us in 1 month, they took 4 months to implement and another month to shake it all out.
They aced their desk audit and got a 99 on the certication audit.
So, lot's of factors to consider.
By the way SQF did away with the term level 2 some years back.
Go to the full post As SQF Consultants we can only determine an estimated range of time needed but only after asking many questions, determining condition of the physical plant and seeimg what capital improvements are needed and taking the temperature so to speak of the level of expertise we will be working with, level of training, overstaffed or understaffed, is the facility blowing their own bottles or buying them, do they already have a viable FSMS, are the owners on board for a solid food safety program or is this just sonething they need to do with no real thoughts to food safety.
Are they willing to make resources available to the staff, will they invest money into needed infastructure to becone SQF Compliant.
We know for instance how long it takes us to create a documentation system and the minimums for staff to implement everything and shake out prior to the first of the 2 first year audits - that can be quite the grey area and under our program the staff can call or email us with questions etc during implemention for up to year after our core work is done.
In a nutshell we've had clients go from zero with not even a simple HACCP plan to certification in under 6 months and others that took their time during implementation of upwards to 1.5 years.
For DIY's we've seen 6 months min to an average of 1 year and that was without any cap improvements.
It is the cap improvements that can add a lot of time - we had a pet food company that I visited and we determined that improvements would be extensive with a price tag of 2Mil (eventual was 2.5Mil.)
But then again I had a water company that needed no cap investnents, where ownership and staff were fully onboard and where all recommended training was acted upon and ordered uo quickly. That one was completed by us in 1 month, they took 4 months to implement and another month to shake it all out.
They aced their desk audit and got a 99 on the certication audit.
So, lot's of factors to consider.
By the way SQF did away with the term level 2 some years back.
