Principle of Quality Control:
In the confectionery Industry, the past sixty to seventy years have seen a change from the craft of the single worker to mass production methods with much technology. The technologists have developed the product and engineers have constructed machinery to make the product consistently to standards laid down by the technologists and marketing personnel. Quality and production to a standard then become a close control of raw materials, instrumentation at all the stages of the process and the statistical examination of the finished product.
Who decides the Standard of Quality?
In the development of a new product or in the changing the process for an existing product, the quality standard is set by the sales and marketing executive. In the confectionery industry, quality will also include the packing, where there are elaborate boxes used for chocolate assortments and the simple printed wrapper of a chocolate covered bar that just tells the buyer what is inside and gives protection to the product. Quality control department is responsible for the quality of the product. The quality department should consider quality only not quantity.
How should Quality control be organized?
There are 3 stages of operation in the control of quality
1) Raw Ingredients
2 )Process of manufacture, and
3) Inspection of the finished product.
The prime responsibilities of quality control depts. are the approval of raw materials for use in production and the inspection of the finished product.
Raw materials:
The acceptance or rejection of raw materials is normally the duty of the Analytical Chemists Dept. Their duty is to decide whether the material is good or not. Inspection is usually combined with sampling and is the most important part of aw material inspection. A sampler must be reliable.
The supplier:
Knowing the supplier f raw material and the supplier’s method of manufacturer and quality control greatly influences the degree of inspection to be carried out at receiving end. It is necessary for a senior quality control chemist and purchasing executive to visit the supplier and to agree on specifications, type of packing, batch signs and keeping periods. In many cases supplier will give a certificate of analysis with each delivery and with bulk tanker deliveries.
Bulk delivery for raw materials are delivered to large factories in tank truck or rail tank cars. When the trucks arrive at the receiving factory the contents which are delivered in to the storage containers must be inspected first. The sample must always be tasted and examined and a tanker delivery would be made from approved batches.
The most recent improvement for delivery of raw materials is to use heavy-gauge polythene bags or to line the containers mentioned with thinner polythene bags.
Analytical chemists will conduct tests on raw materials delivered. If delivery is accepted then it will be transferred to production batches.
Process control:
In confectionery industry great changes in process methods has occurred. In the batch process control is largely in the hands of 2 persons one weighs out the ingredients according to the recorded recipe and other who makes the batch of the product. The larger the quantity of product manufactured, the greater will be the number of batches, and the more likely will be the risk.
In many factories when increased production is required, instead of using a continuous manufacturing process an automated batch system is installed. In batch process, the times of cooking and cooling are usually longer than in continuous process.
In-line process control continuously recording instruments are used. These feed signals to controllers, which in turn, operate valves adjusting stem pressure, there by quickly correcting any defect appearing in the end product. In batch production boiling temperature, density, viscosity, refractive index, pH, color or even the thickness or width of the slab are measured manually, usually on a proportion of the batches only.
Finished product Inspection:
Finished product is necessary to cross check the previous operations. The problem is to decide the minimum level of inspection.
Following are the most important checks are to be made for finished product.
1)Is the product and the packing is good or appearance is satisfactory?
2) Is the taste correct?
3) Is the weight within the agreed-upon tolerance?
