3 replies to this topic

[GMO]

Hi All,

 

I'll post separately about another aspect of this but I'm finding the pressure increasing on Technical folk to do "their bit" to save money due to the cost of living crisis or "normal life" as it now is.  I've certainly had to do it over the years in struggling businesses.

 

So I thought I'd share some areas I've been able to save money before (or just make life easier) and see if anyone else has any other ideas?  Also while "AI" is still more buzz word than reality in lots of fields, I think it has potential to remove some of our non value add tasks in businesses.  Is anyone using it successfully yet?

 

So quick wins:

 

• Looking at cleaning of meeting rooms / offices - I have cut this in lots of places.  I would save someone wiping desks over wiping production lines every day.
• Streamlining data using power BI to auto generate reports needed for meetings.
• Using a GMP auditing app.

[SQFconsultant]

Two of our friends own food companies and we are about to start a food company - and we plan on doing what they just enacted...

 

Instead of asking their employees how they can save money they asked them how the company can make more money - making the suggestion box and weekly meetings a money maker for  the company, owners and employees (employees get $$ for suggestions that are implemented and over-rides.)

 

As to AI - I'm one of those ... I was of the opinion that I'd be kicking and screaming before I'd ever think of using it for business -- fast forward to last week and there I was looking at an AI interactive sales assistant that can be used at our organic food & supplement stores that will be opening next year, it looks like a real person, talks like a real person and is all about the up-sell and member benefits. Cost wise - it is substantially less than a clone and there is no care (no feeding, place to live, etc. that one would expect to put out with a clone.)

 

Earlier this week I did a review of an AI personal assistant, as I plan on hiring one around June - the initial outlay is a bit steep at over $500,000, however if you paid a human $100,000 a year plus benefits this would pay for itself after 4 years and when not being used Stacy can be put in a closet.

 

The only thing I had a problem with was she kept on smacking her lips and calling me honey!!!

Edited by SQFconsultant, 31 January 2025 - 07:54 PM.

[GMO]

I'm not sure what your point was on that SQF; especially that last phrase.  Seems a bit odd to use such a phrase.  

 

However, use of AI in food safety and quality is going to grow.  I've used it to write audit questions from a standard and I couldn't fault what it came up with.  I've used it to reword some text and it was not great but helped me out of some writers block.  I have seen use of "scribe" on IT based stuff but not used it myself yet and having worked on an ERP project, that would have been great to have that at the time and as IT use in QFS grows, that's bound to grow too.  What would be great is if that could be used to write an SOP after just videoing a process.  Corrections of course will be needed inevitably but that HAS to be a huge potential for QFS.  Imagine if you could just video a cleaning process and with photos it's put into an SOP for you?  With timings?  For a whole plant producing cleaning SOPs is a labour of love (I've done it) often taking months and often night shift.  

 

That's the kind of idea I'm trying to make real.  Anyone got anything working in practice?

[SQFconsultant]

GMO wrote in part

I'm not sure what your point was on that SQF; especially that last phrase.  Seems a bit odd to use such a phrase.  

 

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Sorry, it was a New Jersey Diner thing. People from New Jersey think everybody gets that.