Integration of on-line quality control into the process control environment for cheese manufacturing

Abstract This paper outlines the development of an interactive on-line quality control system for a cheese manufacturing process. The system consists of an Access ® database with a graphical user interface developed in Visual Basic. The database resides on a Digital MicroVAX server, linked to PC's running Pathworks for Windows 95 across a Local Area Network. The system facilitates the rapid and accurate revision and updating of the ISO manual, which saves time, money and resources. With the increase in data available, areas in the process procedure such as sensor monitoring which would traditionally have an independent role can now be fully integrated into the manufacturing process. The current project takes advantage of this fact and integrates the Quality Control Procedures into the on-line process control, thus enhancing adherence to ISO standards. The system increases operator empowerment by providing the operator with the necessary information and decision support mechanism to react to a situation in a consistent and appropriate manner. This approach to quality control monitoring and implementation is a significant improvement over the standard and rather static quality control manuals utilised at present.