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Manufacturer's Side
Vendor Certification is one of the ancillary programs that surround a HACCP
program and make it responsive to the needs of a manufacturing facility to meet
food safety requirements and produce consistent, quality products.
Vendor certification serves multiple functions. It provides assurance that the
vendor has the capacity and capability of producing the desired ingredient. It
also shows the commitment that a vendor and a customer have to insure that
food-safe, specified ingredients are used. It also requires continuous warranty
provided by annual GMP, food safety, HACCP, BioTerrorism inspections, annual
renewal of letter of guaranty and proof of product liability insurance.
FoodHorizon has created its Vendor Certification Module to handle all aspects of
Vendor Certification. It allows entries to be made by vendors or by the user of
the FoodHorizon module. In addition, links from other servers that contain
shared information can also be entered.
There are separate locations for entering different pieces of information.
Primarily the entry page is divided into 6 separate areas. This page is
accessible by username and password which the user of the module can share with
the vendors. It is a data entry page only and no information is accessible from
this site.
- Vendor Information
- Vendor Ingredient Specifications
- Third Party Audit Results
- Letters Of Guaranty and Liability
- Certificate of Analysis
- In-house Specifications
The Vendor's access information and contact information is entered. This
provides the link for tying all the data to a source. An email will
automatically be sent to the Vendor's contact email address quarterly to update
the information. This provides an avenue for the information to be updated when
employees or responsibilities change.
The section for Ingredient Specifications is designed for the documents to be
uploaded into the program. The preferred style is a pdf document, but other
formats such as Word or Excel will be accepted. There will be fields for
entering the Ingredient ID (number, SKU, etc), the Ingredient Name and the date
of the specification. The default date will be the date of entry.
Entries for Third Party audits and Letters of Guaranty and Insurance Liability
are entered in the same manner.
A section under each ingredient provides the ability to upload a Certificate of
Analysis (COA). The Vendor's COA can be accessed by the Manufacturer at this
FoodHorizon web site, or a link can be provided to a customer for the specific
COA.
Reporting
The Ingredient's name and ID as well as the Vendor's Information is listed on a
secure web page separate from the data entry form.
The Ingredient is linked to the Vendor Information. Information about a desired
ingredient is found by selecting the Ingredient name. That will take you to the
Vendor's Information page that has a link to all the ingredients entered as well
as the audit and guaranty information. At this point the specific
document-specification, audit results, guaranty letters, etc.- can be found.
Each Vendor's Information section will have links to all the materials that were
entered for that Vendor. A Vendor is selected and the Information page will
appear with all the information for that Vendor.
A Scheduled Renewal section will provide alerts 30 days prior to the expiration
of timed entered documents. An example is that an annual Third Party audit was
conducted on December 1, 2004. On November 1, 2005, that Third Party audit will
appear in the Scheduled Renewal section. It will be designated with a Green
Circle indicating that it is still in good standing. However, 1 week prior to
the expiration date, the Green circle will become a Yellow Triangle that
presents a warning that the renewal time is near. On December 1, 2005, the
Yellow Triangle turns into a Red Circle indicating that a new document was not
added to the module for a 2005 audit as required of the Vendor. When the new
documentation is added, the item is removed from the Scheduled Renewal list. In
addition, to the visual reminders, an email will be sent to the Vendor contact
email as well as to the designated email recipient at the module user's
location. The initial alert, warning alert and past due alert time frames can be
set as desired by the user, and they can be different for different vendors and
different documents.
A separate section has also been included for in-house specifications. This is
for the manufacturer that uses this protocol. The ingredient specification is
preferred to be uploaded as a pdf file (see http://www.pdf995.com for a free pdf
printing tool). A date is required. The default date will be the date of entry.
All previous versions of a specification will be saved so that a history is
maintained. This provides an easy access to current and past specifications as
well as a link to a specification that can be shared with customers. This also
provides the customer with the most current specification instead of an old,
dog-eared copy.
The Vendor Certification Module can be a stand-alone module as are all
FoodHorizon modules, and it can be incorporated into the overall FoodHorizon
system that you choose for automating data collection and managing all the
information collected from the vendor to the customer.
Vendor's Side
Manufacturers can be Vendors. In most cases, a Vendor is a Manufacturer. As a
Vendor, there are many customers that request this information from you. Another
aspect that will be of value to you as a Vendor is that the site contains the
information for your customers. The products, the specifications, the guaranty
letters, the insurance liability letters and other information as desired. In
addition, a section for digital COA's can be established so that customers can
be provided links to access this document prior to receiving the ingredient.
This can also be customer specific as well as general.
This provides links that your customer's can access and print if they wish a
hard copy or link into their own FoodHorizon Vendor Certification Module. In
addition, the alerts will let you know when a timed document needs to be
renewed.
FoodHorizon provides a secure web site that cannot be accessed without
pre-authorized username and passwords. A different level of access is available
for the Vendor and for the Customer. The Vendor has access to add and delete
while the customer only has access to view and copy. Another major advantage is
that specific documents for a specific customer can be stored with its specific
link as desired. This allows documentation for Customer A to be different than
Customer B and does not allow a customer to access all documents on the site.
As a stand-alone module, this provides a Vendor with a great tool for getting
information to customers and to prospective customers. It is a great marketing
tool in that aspect. In addition, the information is stored on a secure server
away from your internal server that will restrict and reduce traffic, and
prevent internal security concerns.
Broker's Side
Brokers provide many ingredients to manufacturers as well as sell many
manufacturers� products. They are the middle man and although they have their
own storage facility, they also have products shipped direct from a vendor to a
manufacturer. There are many different ways that food manufacturers interact
with brokers. However, they do not generate the paperwork needed for a Vendor
Certification program. Yes, they should be inspected on a timely basis for GMP's
and handling protocol and that audit should be in your file.
Broker's have available or have access to the required paperwork from the
vendor's they represent. They may go as far as to have COA's available for each
lot code they distribute. It is dependent on the demand from their customers as
to what they provide to that customer for certification from the vendors that
they represent.
A Broker can input his vendor's information into the Vendor Certification Module
for you. He becomes the contact instead of a vendor's employee. He is the one
notified when a vendor's letter of guaranty is expiring. He is the one alerted
when a vendor's Third party audit is due.
FoodHorizon's Side
Don't forget which hat you are wearing right now. Your Manufacturer's hat or
your Vendor's hat. Automating data and information management makes the hat fit
a lot better.
The FoodHorizon Vendor Certification Module is the most comprehensive program
that you will find on the market. This is not just a list of vendors and
ingredients that can be found on an MRP or Purchasing program. This is an
interactive program between the vendor and the customer. It is not just a
storage bin. The compilation of data, the visual alerts and the email reminders
provide the impetus for this to be a dynamic part of the overall Quality/Food
Safety/HACCP/BioTerrorism program.
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