(1888PressRelease)
March 10, 2008 - In the current issue of AccountingSoftware411.com manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler, profiled the importance of statistical process control. Cutler suggested, “Over-packing is just giving away product; conversely if packages are under-filled the fines to regulators and damage to a company’s reputation are even more costly.”
According to Evan J. Miller, President and CEO of Hertzler Systems, “The first task of any Net Contents program is to meet the requirements of NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Handbook 133 and other governmental regulations for compliance to net content declarations on packaged goods. The NIST 133 standard does not specify limits for overfilling, which puts food manufacturing CFO’s between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, fill weights must be above the Maximum Allowable Variance (MAV), while simultaneously needing the average fill to be over, but as close as possible to the label declaration.”
Hertzler’s solution, GainSeeker Suite, streamlines data collection by connecting directly to all brands and models of scales and balances and can incorporate simple or complex calculations to derive volume, whether immediate or “roaded”. As each new measurement is entered into the system, quality professionals, often reporting to the CFO, can apply real-time statistical tests to this data immediately alerting staff if a process change is detected.
Beyond reacting to real-time alerts, food CFO’s must utilize powerful analytical tools to pinpoint sources of variation in the fill processes. Automated tools make it easy to discover which fill heads, material suppliers, operators, product lines, and other variables have the greatest impact on process variation – individually or in combination.
Overpack: Reported in Dollars and Cents
Miller suggests, “Food CFO’s can accurately calculate overpack costs by linking directly to both cost accounting systems and production systems. The analytical tools then make it easy to identify the products, lines, and shifts with the highest cost of overpack.”
While the regulatory compliance issues are specific to the food manufacturing sector, the same statistical process control variables are applicable to any manufacturing process that requires:
• Real-time analysis is critical
• Data comes from disparate sources
• The need to drill down to find underlying sources of variation in the data
• The need to integrate with other information systems
Because Quality Control and Quality Assurance staff, plant and operations managers, as well as engineers are direct or indirect reports to the CFO, the access to a comprehensive solution for data collection, data analysis, and data management is cohesive both functionally and culturally. Real-time responses to process issues, (as well as a central data repository for long-term process and operational analysis and statistics), transforms a lean manufacturing operation.
Hertzler Systems (www.hertzler.com) provides seamless, accurate data acquisition solutions that drive business transformation. The company provides the leading real-time data acquisition and analytics software, the GainSeeker Suite. This powerful and flexible system is best used by lean and progressive companies. Gainseeker Suite allows companies to connect with devices and other information systems, collecting data and alarming key personnel when problems arise; this technology allows organizations to analyze data for root cause problems, converting data into knowledge.
Hertzler Systems has been a leader in Statistical Process Control and Six Sigma for over twenty years, and includes a diverse customer base in service, transactional and manufacturing environments; clients include BAE Systems, Crown Audio, IDEX Corporation, McCormick & Company, Inc., Hormel Foods Corporation, Titleist & Footjoy, and TaylorMade-Adidas Golf Worldwide. The company's software and services enable clients to collect and analyze data; building a robust data infrastructure for making data-driven decisions. These capabilities help clients to reduce costs, cycle time and errors, and increase profitability.
Hertzler Systems Inc.
www.hertzler.com
Adrienne DePew
Communications Manager
info ( @ ) hertzler dot com
800.958.2709
