10.4.1 Food Commodity Outbound MU Inpsection Procedure

Purpose

This document outlines the warehouse procedures for inspecting outbound food-grade commodities and the potential office procedures in the event of an exception. The inspection will serve as a double check on all food commodities leaving GWSI facilities to mitigate customer complaints and maintain GWSI’s status as a top-tier food-grade warehousing service provider.

Expectations

All operators who are picking, staging, and loading food commodity orders have completed training for both outbound loading standard operating procedures (SOPs) as well as GWSI’s Food Safety Program (FSP).

All office staff working within the Warehouse Management System (WMS) are familiar with the exceptions contained within this procedure, as well as the Manage Inventory module and hold procedure in the WMS. Additionally, they should have access to Backstage and understand the Hold Code List contained within.

Any exceptions discovered during the outbound inspection and loading process will be reported verbally to the office and, in turn, to management.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Operators: pick and inspect all moveable units (MUs) for an order, as well as remediate any non-exclusionary exceptions.
• Office staff: appropriately place MUs on hold when exclusionary exceptions are detected.
• Management: evaluate exclusionary exceptions, including the source of the exception, and report to the Food Safety Team (FST) if necessary.
• FST: evaluate reports from warehouse managers to determine if a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) or any other remediation steps need to be taken.

Procedures

Inspection and Reporting Procedures

Operator Procedures

The operator will pick MUs per the outbound loading SOP. Before picking any MU in the gun (scanning it to the order), the operator will perform the following inspection:

• The operator will set the pallet down and back the forks out from under the MU.
• The operator will dismount the forklift and walk around the MU, inspecting all four sides and the top for exceptions. All operators are expected to err on the side of caution and request managerial assistance if they are unsure whether an exception is present.

Non-Exclusionary Exceptions

The following exceptions are considered non-exclusionary and are expected to be remediated by the operator at the time of loading. Remediation should be performed promptly so as not to cause unnecessary driver detention in loading.

• Stretch wrap that has been ripped, torn, is dirty, or is starting to detach from the pallet. If any of these exceptions are detected, the stretch wrap is to be removed from the MU, disposed of, and reapplied per GWSI standards.
• If a pallet cap is present, it must be clean, undamaged, and free of any dirt, debris, dead bugs on the exterior of the cap, or any other visible exceptions that would cause issues at the consignee. If any exceptions are observed, the pallet cap is to be removed, disposed of, and replaced.
• All pallets should be brushed or blown off on the top and all four sides to ensure that any dust or minor debris that was missed during visual inspection is removed from the pallet before loading, and any picture being taken and uploaded into the WMS.

Exclusionary Exceptions

The following exceptions are considered exclusionary, and the MU should not be loaded on the outbound order. The MU ID(s) and the exception(s) observed should be thoroughly photographed, and the camera returned to the office. The picture sequence should be MU ID, exception(s), MU ID, exception(s), etc., for all MUs excluded from the order. The MU(s) should be physically moved to the quarantine location in the facility and located there in the system for further action.

• The pallet or runners should be inspected for any observable damage exceptions. This includes the outer and inner stringers, top and bottom deck boards, and any nails that are pulling out of or protruding from the stringers or deck boards.
• Damaged cargo of any kind, including ripped or torn bags, crumpled cartons, bags or cartons showing signs of leaking, or any other visible condition, would be exceptions that would cause the consignee to reject or submit a claim on the load.
• Any evidence of pest activity, including dead bugs inside the stretch wrap or under the pallet cap, dead bugs on the pallet deck boards beneath the commodity, or evidence of bird/rodent droppings on the tops or sides of the MU.

MUs deemed to have exclusionary exceptions must be notated on the pick ticket with the MU ID and the nature of the exception so that the office can apply the correct hold to those MUs.

Office Procedures

The office staff will be responsible for applying holds in the WMS to any MUs that are deemed to have exclusionary exceptions, as relayed by the operators, and for forwarding the information to the facility manager for further review.

Applying Holds

The office staff needs to follow these steps to apply the correct hold in the WMS:

• Verify that the operator has relocated the MU in the WMS to the quarantine location. If they haven’t, the office staff must notify the operator that they must do so immediately.
• Once the MU is located correctly in the WMS, the appropriate hold must be applied using the correct Hold Code from the Backstage list:

Once the appropriate hold(s) have been applied, a new pick ticket must be printed to upload into the system for the customer. The old one with the exclusionary exceptions notated should be included with the report to management.

Reporting to Management

The office staff member who places the hold on the MU(s) containing exclusionary exceptions from an order is responsible for reporting all of the details to the facility manager. The pertinent information that must be reported are:

• Customer name
• Reference and transaction numbers
• MU IDs that were discovered to have exclusionary exceptions, and what those exceptions were
• Warehouse location(s) where the MU(s) were stored
• Any pictures provided by the operator

Management Procedures

Non-Exclusionary and Restack Exceptions

The facility manager is responsible for investigating and evaluating all exclusionary exceptions that were discovered during the picking process. If the exception detected is DMG or DMGP, the manager needs to set up a time for the pallet to be restacked and have any damaged units removed and segregated. The manager must also notate the number of damaged units, collect pictures, identify the cause of the damage, and keep a record of the issue.

These exceptions do not require a full report to be submitted to the FST, unless the issue is recurring and chronic. If a non-exclusionary exception is continually recurring in a facility, a report of the instances must be submitted to the FST for review and potential Corrective Action Plan (CAP) implementation.

Pest Activity Exceptions

In the event of a QC exception due to evidence of pest activity or bird/rodent droppings, the warehouse manager must investigate:

• The location and adjacent locations from which the MU(s) were pulled.
• Additional pallets in the pull location, as well as adjacent locations, to confirm if the exception evidence is detected.
• The walls and ceiling of the location area (to the extent they are physically capable), looking for a source of any pest activity.

The manager must also pull the pest control logs and warehouse inspection forms for the last month, combine them with the report from the office staff, and submit the file to the FST for evaluation and disposition.

FST Procedures

Exception Review

The FST is responsible for reviewing all data regarding the exception, including pictures, managerial assessment, and, if necessary, performing a site visit to analyze and confirm root causes. The goal of the review is to verify the root cause of the exception and determine whether or not a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is warranted.

Corrective Action Plan

If the FST determines that a CAP is required, the members must document all steps of the plan and send it back to the facility manager. This can include, but is not limited to:

• Documented training review sessions regarding safe food commodity handling and inspection.
• Collaboration with the pest prevention vendor to determine if additional steps, traps, etc. could stop and prevent the pest activity.
• Potential disciplinary action for blatant violations of GWSI procedures and policies regarding food commodity handling and inspection.

The CAP must be documented and signed off on by the FST and must also be accompanied by a plan for review at an appropriately designated time interval to confirm the CAP’s effectiveness.

FST Documentation

The FST must combine the report submitted by the facility manager, including all photos, along with the documented CAP and the CAP review (if required), and upload the file to the shared drive.