Maintaining strict control over the quality of the raw materials your company uses in the manufacture of animal feed is a posture that should happen naturally and constantly in the day to day of any factory.
Although many people think that raw materials deserve all this attention only when they are being handled, we will show you in this article that care must exist from the choice of suppliers to the final stage, when they will be used to produce some kind of food. Continue with us and check it out!
Get to know your supplier
The industries that produce animal feed have several suppliers of the most varied types of raw materials. It is important, however, to know each of them thoroughly, to certify that the way these companies produce their goods is legal, is within the specifications of the inspection bodies, and is handled safely.
Choose suppliers that prove or attest that they have quality seals and talk to them every period of time, to know if the licenses and authorizations are still within the validity period. This care is fundamental to ensure that your company is paying for quality raw materials, which will affect the production and conformity of your goods.
Think about logistics and traceability
The quality of the raw material also depends on how it is supplied, stored, transported and stocked, so it is essential to have a well-defined logistics scheme to avoid any damage to the material. This scheme must also take into account some unforeseen events and consider the best cost-benefit solutions for the company.
Your operational team must come up with some schemes so that the suppliers meet the pre-defined deadlines for delivery and that your company’s production team can use the stock within the expiration date, thus avoiding waste or damage to the final product.
Careful storage
Still in relation to the previous item, a determining factor to ensure the quality of the raw material is the storage, both from the supplier and from your company. Ensure that the products are stored in an environment that follows the country’s sanitary regulations, and have employees who fulfill the role of inspecting whether everything is working accordingly.
This close monitoring of storage ensures that problems are noticed before there is a partial or total loss of raw material. Nowadays there are also software programs that monitor the activities of the sites, as well as the climate and pressure conditions of the material storage sites.
Avoid waste
Keep the raw material supply plan constantly updated, this will give the team responsible for the purchase and the handlers more control over the quantity that must be purchased, as well as the time it takes for them to be used.
This dynamic seems simple, but many times this is where companies sin and there is an imbalance in the accounts and in the quality of the product, after all, if something is lost or consumed too quickly, it will be necessary to replace it or throw it away, this generates a cost that is not accounted for in the company’s final expenses.
Think about the cost-benefit
Thinking about raw material quality is not just about choosing the most expensive product, after all, the one with the highest value will not always be ideal for your needs. Therefore, it is important to think about the cost-benefit, which involves everything we have pointed out so far.
The origin of the material, the credibility of the supplier, the route to your company, the way it will be stocked, and the speed that is used by the nutritionists. All of this needs to be analyzed to compensate for the amount that is being paid for this whole process and the return that this will bring to the company in financial terms and in terms of the quality of the food that will be distributed in the market.
Reduce unforeseen events
Unforeseen things happen, but some situations it is possible to anticipate and reduce the probability of them happening. It may be that the truck that is transporting your raw material has a mechanical problem during the trip and this causes a certain delay in the delivery to your company, so it is important to order the contents with more time in advance, so that, if something happens, your production line is not damaged.
This is a simple example of something that can be circumvented with a structured action plan that can think of ways out of possible events. The use of technology is an essential ally to put an end to some problems once and for all, such as the overuse of a raw material. The software indicates the exact quantity, makes the measurement and certifies that the final product will come out in the most appropriate way.
