Qmach revolutionises food quality and safety systems

The firm's business development director Mark Fuller claims that the system is a radical departure for the food industry, which has traditionally relied on paper to manage quality and food safety programmes.

Qmach​ have teamed up with Gael Quality, a specialist software developer in compliance management, and worked with them over the last 18 months to optimise their market-leading Q-Pulse solution to specifically address food industry needs.

This approach has created a specialist partnership that utilises the skill sets of two different companies to embrace new technology and significantly enhance the due diligence process.

"Food manufacturers have no choice but to comply with food safety legislation,"​ said Fuller.

"With Q-Pulse, however, compliance activities need no longer be so complex, time-consuming and frustrating."​

One thing Qmach recognised very early on was the immense time demands placed on food safety professionals to simply maintain existing compliance systems, let alone find the time to utilise continuous improvement techniques.

Pressure exerted on manufacturers by the retailers has led to significant consolidation and rationalisation within the industry, leaving companies with little or no choice but to cut cost.

Understandably this has developed a fire fighting culture and placed businesses and food safety professionals in a catch 22 situation. As Qmach puts it, companies need to find a balance between finding the time to move forward in developing ideas while at the same time utilising the limited resource available.

Another issue Qmach aimed to address was business continuity. Too often with the introduction of new software systems, users were forced to change their way of working simply to fit the needs of the system.

The solution was to ensure that Q-Pulse could be quickly and easily configured by food safety professionals to suit their unique circumstances and needs, with minimal impact on their existing business processes.

Indeed, this new approach, which will be demonstrated at Foodtech 2004 (stand D110), is something that Qmach and Gael are proud of. Both organisations were conscious that in order to satisfy the needs of the Food sector, more had to be done than simply supply software "out of a box".

As a result, the Qmach - Gael solution has a distinctive paper system feel to it, meaning that there is a real comfort for the end users who see a familiar solution to solve traditional problems.

Qmach and Gael also believe that this approach will provide manufacturers with a scaleable affordable means to rapidly deliver bottom line returns in a demanding lean manufacturing environment.