It is an important part of QA in a dairy processing plant to monitor the weights of the finished packaged products. For Fluid products; even though the package is on volume, dairy processing plants typically perform volumetric checks and determine product target weights. It is then easy to perform weight checks through out the packaging process. For Culture products; such as sour cream, dips, yogurt and cottage cheese; the net weight is on the package. Finished packaged weights are set up in QA Studio in the Product Specifications part of the program. Until now, there was a range entered into the program and anything out of the range was out of specification. Now, within QA Studio, you have the ability to set an allowance for the product to go under a specified amount before it is designated out of spec.

New in the Fluid Program: An allowable amount under the target can be set so the reports will not highlight out of spec if the product is slightly under the specified low limit. For example; an allowance of -1, can be allowed and will not count as an out of spec weight. Note: Please see NIST Handbook 133 for more information on Weights and Measures procedures.

http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/upload/All-H133-05-Z-2.pdf

In the Fluid Support List > Size (tab) > For an example; enter a 1 (do not use the minus sign) to allow -1 to be acceptable. In this example; the QT size now has been set to allow it to go 1 gram under the minimum weight without being out of specification.

After an allowance has been set up for each size in the Fluid Support List, the new Allowance specification must be applied to all products. To do this > Fluid Program menu > Fluid Product Specs > Spec Processes > Global Apply. Please note this may take some time. Other computers may use QA Studio during this process but QA Studio should not be used on the computer performing the Global Apply.

On a Fluid In-house report; the weight difference for -1 meets specification. The -1.5 does not meet specification.

In the Culture Support List > Size (tab) > For Example: enter a 2 (do not use the minus sign) to allow -2 to be acceptable. In this example; the 32oz size now has been set to allow it to go 2 gram under the minimum weight without being out of specification.

After an allowance has been set up for each size in the Culture Support List, the new Allowance specification must be applied to all products. To do this > Culture menu > Culture Product Specs > Spec Processes > Global Apply. Please note this may take some time. Other computers may use QA Studio during this process but QA Studio should not be used on the computer performing the Global Apply.

On a Culture report; the weight difference for -2 meets specification. The -3 does not meet specification.