July/August 2021 - 19

QUALITY CONTROL
TECHNOLOGY
QC manager:
A day in
the life
 Photo: Clarifruit
NEW PLATFORMS CAN HELP PRODUCE
SUPPLY JOBS CHANGE FOR THE BETTER
By Elad Mardix
Contributing writer
AS A MORE ACCURATE and
consistent fresh fruit and vegetable
quality control (QC) process takes root
across the value chain, many jobs will
change for the better.
Let's look at the existing process for
a QC manager at a wholesaler, and
the changes that could make all the
difference. For a grower or a marketing
company, the timings and volume may
vary, but the processes will be similar.
7 a.m.: Throughout the last few
hours, deliveries have been arriving at
the warehouse, and are being unloaded,
ready for their initial check. On any
given day, there might be five to 10
loads worth of produce coming into the
wholesaler, each of which could have
20 pallets onboard. At this point, QC
intake starts checking the fresh fruits
and vegetables, but they don't always
know who the end-customer will be.
8 a.m.: The QC manager arrives
on-site, where QC intake engineers are
already working on their first quality
control check at the loading bay. This
is done manually, using tools such as a
sizer, color chart, defect chart, scale and
a refractometer, requiring all QC intake
staff to go through training. Before they
can even start sampling, they need to
manually take down the information,
usually with pen and paper, before
inputting the data on each load into
the system, which is often an Excel
file back in the office.
9 a.m.: A single QC intake can take
an hour or more, and QC intake needs
to consider whether they are being
impacted by their own value judgments.
As each pallet is looked at in a silo, with
no reference points to compare it to, if a
whole consignment is lower than average,
this can be hard to judge accurately.
Noon: By midday, all the arrivals
should have been inputted into the
system, where they are cross-referenced
with individual customer quality
specs. Produce might be suitable for
one customer but not another. In many
cases, work might need to be done to
make the fruits or vegetables suitable
PRODUCE PROCESS ING
19

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