Westminster, CO -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/07/2013 -- Manufacturing journalist, Thomas R. Cutler recently contributed a feature article titled, “Avoid Supply-Chain Disruptions Before They Occur,” published in the current issue of Quality Digest.

Automated supplier tracking is vital and the TraceGains platform was selected by Berner Food and Beverage. It consists of supplier management, supplier compliance, and supplier impact modules that help continuously verify that a supplier, as well as every one of its shipments, is in compliance with all the company’s business rules and ingredient specifications.

According to Troy E. Grove, CIO of Berner, the system “automates key SQF 2000 Level 3 elements such as supplier approval procedures, continual assessment, risk assessment, and nonconforming material procedures.” When suppliers are out of compliance or nearing a violation, the system automatically initiates supplier corrective action requests (SCARs). It sends electronic notifications to both internal and supplier personnel and can automatically suspend suppliers and any of their shipments.

The solution also measures the financial impact of non-compliances and monetizes the potential damage done by a supplier in areas such as manufacturing efficiency, finished goods quality, and product safety. Additionally, the system provides a comprehensive purchase-order-acknowledgement tracking function, with alerts for suppliers’ late or short shipments that might cause supply-chain disruptions.

The 24/7 compliance firewall automatically and continuously ensures that supplier shipments meet all of Berner’s specifications and business rules. Noncompliant shipments can be automatically rejected, and the appropriate staff at Berner and the supplier instantly notified. Berner’s suppliers are told to automatically upload or submit any of the documents typically requested—allergen certifications, insurance documentation, letters of compliance, -

By automatically analyzing supplier data, including compliance and certification documentation, and comparing all certificates of analysis against ingredient specifications and laboratory results, the solution develops risk scores for each supplier and its ingredient and raw-material shipments.

TraceGains, based in Colorado, creates supplier documents; a management solution which prevents "bad stuff" (out of specification ingredients) from arriving in the first place. Assuring that the correct supplier documents and certifications are on file, (such as allergen statement, kosher, SQF, and BRC) is also important to verify that the finished good food product is compliant with business policies and customer requirements.

TraceGains, Inc. (http://tracegains.com), founded in 1998, is for quality, purchasing, product development, and other departments who are burdened with manually managing suppliers and documents. TraceGains delivers full service supplier, compliance, and regulatory document management solutions. Unlike manual, ERP, or traditional document systems, TraceGains extracts data from documents and automatically takes action.

Actionable intelligence is quickly leveraged for supply chain and ingredient optimization. By automatically reducing ingredient variability, finished goods are more easily and cost-effectively produced, while the cost of poor quality is significantly reduced. Charge-backs and stock-outs are kept to a minimum; purchasing and negotiating power with suppliers is increased. Follow TraceGains on Twitter at @tracegains.

TraceGains, Inc.
http://tracegains.com
Marc Simony, Director of Marketing
pr@tracegains.com
720-465-9400