New Product Development at Heinz Wattie's
Moving the product from the lab into the factory
Pilot plant retorts
So now the Product Development teamhas a product that is acceptable to the customer.
Organising a factory trial
The Product Development team requestsa factory trial, detailing what the product is, when they would like to run the trial, what line they would like to use, what they would like done with the trial. A recipe sheet is drawn up with the factory-sized batch, this can vary in size from 500 to 4,500 litres depending on the production equipment they need to use. This information is circulated to Planning, Production, Data Integrity.
What else needs to be done before the trial?
The Product Development team must provide the factory with the recipe, including the method and specifications, ingredient check lists, filling specifications, linesheets, quality control specifications, sterilisation instructions, pack off instructions. They may also need to organise new ingredients to arrive at the right time.
What happens during the trial?
The trial is quarantined so that its movement can be controlled. The factory-sized batch is treated as a production batch. While this batch is made members of the Product Development team will be present (no matter what time of the day or night!) to ensure that there are no problems with the specified method, specifications, the way the product is made, what it looks like at each stage. Adjustments to viscosity (thickness of product) or flavour might need to be made. They will check that their estimates for costing were accurate, as well as line speed, crewing and ingredients. Thermal Processing staff will check that the thermal process is adequate.
What happens next?
Samples are sent to marketing and to test the finished product quality.
If the product or process did not turn out as predicted – such as differences in viscosity, method of making in the factory, flavour or appearance (from the approved lab recipe) – then another factory trial will need to be done. If this is the case then repeat trials are necessary to prove the second trial before full commercial production is started.
If the first factory trial is approved then often a multi batch trial of two to six batches will be done to ensure that the batch-to-batch variation is acceptable.
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