New Cloud-Based Platform to Increase Ability to Catch Product Recalls, Improve QA Efficiency in the Supply Chain
The world of quality assurance is built on two principles: “Fit for purpose,” the product should be suitable for its intended purpose; and “Right first time,” mistakes should be eliminated. QA in any food related industry faces the daunting challenge of maintaining the standards of government regulations across the country or around the world, while at the same time maintaining the internal standards of the company itself. Ensuring these standards along a supply chain that can include dozens, if not hundreds, of points between multiple suppliers, manufactures, and points of sale means many quality assurance teams are regularly functioning over capacity. Unfortunately, this can lead to mistakes that can be hazardous to customers and destroy companies.
Recognizing the need for an all-in-one platform, ABC Research Laboratories evaluated the market and selected a partnership with MICROS Supply Chain to provide the end to end technology that would allow quality assurance teams to instantly track compliance at every point along a supply chain.
The result is Actionable Quality Assurance (AQA), a completely cloud-based quality assurance automation system. Its goal: Maintaining the principles of “fit for purpose” and “right first time” like never before.
AQA will give its users real-time compliance data at their fingertips in the form of trend reports and dashboards for scorecarding and executive reporting. Processes and reports that currently take a company hours or days to assemble can be generated in seconds. The industry best practices that are the basis of the program will enable rapid recall/withdrawal/product issue investigation to enable brand protection.
Lori Stephens, business development director for ABC Research and quality assurance veteran of the restaurant industry, spearheaded AQA’s development, and eagerly described how the system will dramatically increase supply chain efficiency and lower compliance and food safety risk.
“I couldn’t be more excited about AQA,” remarked Stephens. “This system has been a dream project of mine for nearly a decade, and it has finally come true. AQA clients will be able manage food safety and quality by exception, taking advantage of the 80/20 Rule. They will only have to directly manage those significant food safety or quality situation that demand their expertise, the service provided by ABC Research will handle the remaining 80% that is purely administrative work.”
AQA will be underpinned and powered by the award winning compliance and traceability solution ‘myCreations’ from MICROS Supply Chain, a subsidiary of MICROS System Inc.
Paul Woodward, Founder and Managing Director for MICROS Supply Chain commented “AQA offers the food and restaurant industries an efficient, reliable and accessible platform for a unique blend of quality expertise and specialized software to provide, protect and promote a brand promise”
AQA will officially launch in May of 2013, but is already being purposed for use by several major players in the food industry. Additional features coming to AQA include a nutritional compliance app, providing a culinary sandbox for companies to hone ingredients in recipes (Dec. 2013) and the ability to manage manufacture facility audits for restaurant compliance (TBA).
ABC Research Laboratories (www.abcr.com), an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited testing facility, is one of the largest food testing labs in the United States. ABC Research serves the entire spectrum of the food industry from pathogen and pesticide residue testing to nutritional labeling, FDA detention resolution and appliance benchmark testing. Dedication to personalized service, coupled with superior scientific practices, is the foundation of ABC Research Laboratories’ success.
Food testing experts ensuring food safety, quality and nutritional value.
MICROS Supply Chain (www.micros-retail.co.uk) designs and develops product lifecycle management and food-safety compliance software specifically for food manufacturers, food retailers and quick-service restaurants. The company currently serves 25,000 global users at 6,500 suppliers, helping them manage and protect more than 150,000 products worth $60 billion. With North American operations based in Rochester, N.Y., MICROS Supply Chain is a business unit of MICROS Systems (NASDAQ: MCRS), which provides enterprise applications for the hospitality and retail industries and is headquartered in Columbia, Md.
