TRACEABILITY – A HIDDEN THREAT

Cassel Metal detectors TRACEABILITY – A HIDDEN THREAT

Legislation and the contractual demands of the larger Supermarket chains, means that suppliers have to have a system for Metal Detection and traceability so that metal contamination is detected reliably, the cause determined quickly and results recorded for future investigation. Suppliers without a tightly run system are at risk legally and commercially.

The problem is that metal contamination, being an infrequent occurrence, can go unrecorded in the hectic environment of a production area.

Most importantly detectors, which are very sensitive instruments, can drift into error missing contamination or falsely rejecting items.  For this reason their operation has to be checked regularly and sensitivity adjustments made.  Standard calibration procedures employing specified test pieces are used at specified intervals.  Results have to be logged and available for inspection.  

Ultimately the retailers are responsible to the general public and are at most risk from contaminated product. To be certain that  suppliers are meeting the necessary quality standards Supermarket chains are looking to collect Performance Data including calibration results, direct from their suppliers’ detectors over the web, storing the  information in secure data bases containing the  history of individual items.  

Metal Detectors with Ethernet connectivity that meet this requirement are now becoming available with software that automatically logs calibration results and any contamination incidents. 

The most advanced of the new generation of smart detectors is Cassel’s Shark2 with Sharknet software.  It goes beyond basic logging, enabling completely remote operation of the detector. It gives a view of the detector screen in real time so that operation can be reviewed and set-up for new products, all from a remote point away from the production area.  Beyond this, through the software’s Team Viewer facility,  Cassel Technicians here in the UK and at the Cassel Service Centre can be called upon to interrogate the detector  providing advise, modifying settings and functions if necessary.

Cassel Sharknet Data collection