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Information management systems for dairy factory laboratories
Author(s) -
O'CALLAGHAN DONAL J,
CROWLEY EOIN M
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
international journal of dairy technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1471-0307
pISSN - 1364-727X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0307.1992.tb01793.x
Subject(s) - workload , automation , quality (philosophy) , engineering , consumables , truck , data collection , manufacturing engineering , factory (object oriented programming) , data quality , computer science , operations management , business , automotive engineering , mechanical engineering , metric (unit) , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , epistemology , marketing , programming language , operating system
Dairy laboratories are responsible for measuring the quality of ingredients, intermediate products and finished products. A particular challenge in the food processing sector is that consistently high quality products must be made from raw material which varies widely in composition and to some extent in quality. Consequently, routine milk sampling and analysis form part of the quality control system in any dairy plant. Sampling and data collection begin at the milk collection point on the farm, and so the collection truck must be considered part of the informationlquality control management system. Computerized information management systems relieve the workload on the laboratory manager by assisting with tasks such as organizing the workload; tracking samples; monitoring instruments; acquiring, storing, reporting and analysing test data; and with additional functions such as Good Laboratory Practice and IS0 9000. Of particular significance to laboratories is that computer interfaces and computer technology inside analytical instruments have opened new ways of integrating on‐line measurements in the process, and on‐line laboratory data. With the increasing rationalization of the dairy industry there are fewer laboratories, and a laboratory often processes samples for several factories, which requires good integration. The number of samples which are submitted is increased and the cost of automation becomes justified ,