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Inter-enterprise quality and health management in agri-food chains

Offensive chain wide cooperation efforts can help improving quality and maximising profits. Chain wide information exchange and management improves predictability and supports preventive decision making.

Therefore the Dutch-German non-profit-organisation GIQS (trans-border quality assurance) could convince a group of public donors to support research and development activities in this field. Since March 2002, GIQS together with 11 partner organisations from both countries develops tools to support chain oriented quality and health management in the pig sector of Germany and the Netherlands. For the first time universities, farmers, slaughterhouses and meat processing companies as well as national inspection services from Germany and the Netherlands are cooperating with the aim to improve chain wide quality management in meat production. Solutions for improved tracking and tracing, product accompanying information exchange and the support of quality management methods are developed. Reliable IT-solutions, set up in different industries (e. g. automotive, healthcare), support risk management, document and audit management in agri-food chains.

Using quality risk management methods supported by software tools to manage agri-food chains

To manage the food chain, agri-food enterprises need to understand the processes in the chain. Critical factors and steps make an impact on the product quality and safety. Identifying risks, evaluating risks, monitoring and verifying the processes to manage the risk in the chain ensure that products are delivered in the supply chain in safe condition. Quality risk management supports a practical approach to decision-making. It provides documented, transparent and reproducible tools to accomplish steps of the risk management process based on current knowledge about assessing the probability, severity and the ability to detect the risks in the chain. Risk ranking and filtering can be used to prioritize appropriate actions to minimise risk. In order to increase effectiveness and efficiency, it is important to support the workflows as well as the cooperative work of the following combined quality risk management methods:

• risk management methods: Combination of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP),
• risk control: workflow-controlled action management,
• risk monitoring and und verification: Monitoring and control plan, workflow-controlled audit management,
• Process-oriented documentation: workflow-controlled document management.

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) enables efficient support especially for modern forms of cooperation in and between teams of experts as well as enterprises along agri-food chains.
The use of the software-supported quality risk management methods is demonstrated in Figure 1.



Figure 1: Use of software-supported quality risk management methods in the food chain

Chain oriented risk management tool SCIO™

The risk management tool SCIO™ combines the risk management methods FMEA and HACCP with a common database. Software-supported methods lead to a less complex and more flexible application of combined risk management methods. This integration in one database provides a real-time interaction between teams of experts (veterinarians, advisors, scientists) and chain actors. The teams of experts analyse and assess potential risks and define control points for critical process steps in the common knowledge database. The chain actors apply the knowledge to establish a food safety and quality management systems.

Chain oriented Document management system XERI™

According to different audit standards and norms, companies in the agri-food sector are faced with the challenge to document their activities in an integrated management system. The purpose of a document management system is to manage existing documents for quick availability, better transparency, timeliness, allocation of responsibilities and reduction of administration effort in a consistent way. Especially within organisations with many independent actors (i.e. cooperatives) this task is combined with extensive efforts. It is the objective of this module to support the labour intensive routine jobs of document management with software. The document management system thereby is the central platform to create, manage and distribute documents. This process is automated by workflows. Defined access rights integrate the chain actors in the document life cycle via the internet.
Chain oriented Audits-Management-System AUDIT

Through standards and regulations food companies are faced with a multitude of internal and external audits. To handle the different requirements efficiently, audits should be structurally organised for the different actors involved.
An audit is used for weak point analysis, validation and verification of processes and products. An audit management system makes existing information on audits available for authorised chain actors and supports the continuous improvement process. This includes to plan, implement and evaluate audits and to pursue actions along the food chain.

These management tools helps farmers, veterinarians, advisors and slaughterhouses manager to plan, control and safeguard the quality of their products and processes. The chain-oriented application in the context of salmonella prevention is described in Figure 2. With these tools, enterprises in meat production are supported to improve their chain wide quality and health management efforts. Chain actors and finally consumers benefit from the tools: healthy animals, improved animal welfare, better productivity and improved food safety.



Figure 2: Chain-oriented application in the context of salmonella prevention

Contact:
PhD Thomas Schmitz
email: tschmitz@plato-ag.com