The batch record, written while the batch runs.
Material lots scanned at the line, checks falling due as the batch runs, critical points that hold the lot until they conform. Recording them against the order as it is produced is what turns a folder of signed sheets into something that can be searched.
The evidence is on paper, and paper is read once.
Food manufacturing produces more records than almost any other sector, and almost none of them can be queried.
The binder is the archive
Batch sheets, control point checks and cleaning logs are signed, filed and never looked at again unless something goes wrong. When something does go wrong, the search is manual and the clock is already running.
A withdrawal wider than the problem
Where the link between a material lot and the finished batches that consumed it has to be reconstructed from paperwork, the safe answer is always to take back more than necessary. What that costs is set by the record-keeping rather than by the incident.
Cleaning time nobody separates out
Sanitation is not downtime in any useful sense, but if it is not distinguished from downtime the line’s performance figures mean nothing, and any attempt to improve them starts with an argument about the denominator.
Bind the lots, check at the line, keep cleaning out of the losses.
Each step is a part of VZIAM MES, and its page is linked under it. None of them asks an operator to copy a value from one screen to another.
- 01
Bind material lots to finished batches
Starting a work order creates its finished lot, and material lots are scanned against it as they are consumed; a GS1 code fills in the lot number and the expiry. An expired or blocked lot is refused at the line, with a message that says what to do instead.
Lot genealogy and recall - 02
Check at the line, on the line’s schedule
Checks fall due when an order starts, every so many minutes or every so many units. A non-conforming critical point alerts the supervisor at once, and the lot stays held until a recheck conforms.
Checks and lot release - 03
Book cleaning as a planned stop
Cleaning is a stop reason typed as planned, with a target duration. It does not count against availability, and the overrun beyond its target still shows, so a long clean is visible without being mistaken for a breakdown.
How a stop is timed and qualified - 04
Close the batch with what was left undone
At closure the order’s record lists what is not done: a check not carried out, a component never declared, a quantity short. Closure is not blocked, but the comment is written into the record, and its PDF is composed from the data.
The order’s complete record
Four people, one batch record.
The line, quality, production and the auditor read the same record, written while the batch ran. Nothing is transcribed from a sheet afterwards.
Scan the material, run the checks that are due.
Material lots are scanned as they are loaded, and the checks due on this order appear on the cockpit, most urgent first. An expired lot is refused at the line rather than found at the audit.
The operator terminal- Material
- Scanned at loading
- Checks
- Due by event, time or quantity
- Expired lot
- Refused
Release with a reason, or hold.
A lot whose releasing point is open stays held. Release, quarantine and rejection are decisions for the roles you authorise, each with a written reason that stays with the lot.
Checks and lot release- Who
- An authorised role
- Why
- Written, required
- Forced release
- Justified, on the record
Cleaning kept out of the losses.
Cleaning and changeovers are stop reasons typed as planned, each with a target duration. Availability describes the breakdowns, and an overrun on a clean is still visible.
How a stop is timed and qualified- Type
- Planned
- Duration
- From the controller
- Overrun
- Against its target
From a material lot to every batch it went into.
Search by your lot number or by the supplier’s label. The genealogy runs every level, so a withdrawal covers the batches the lot went into and no others.
Lot genealogy and recall- Tomato lotTOM-0442
- The orderWO-2207WO-2211
- Finished lotSC-2207SC-2211
- Search
- Your lot or the supplier’s
- Depth
- Every level
- Lift
- Only what this recall blocked
What gets connected on a food line.
- Controllers
- OPC UA, MQTT
- Older equipment
- Modbus, S7, via a gateway
- Process values
- Historised from the controller
- Lot scanners
- USB or Bluetooth, no driver
- Lot labels
- GS1: lot, quantity, expiry
- Checks
- By event, time or quantity
- Order record
- PDF composed from the data
Frequently asked questions.
Bring what your last audit asked to see, and ask the engineers where it would come from.
Book a callValidation and certification belong to the plant’s own quality system and its auditor, not to a software supplier. VZIAM MES records the evidence they ask for: the lots consumed by each batch, checks with their results and rechecks, and every correction with who made it.
Where the genealogy was recorded at consumption, a recall is traced from the material lot to every finished lot made from it, and only those are blocked or quarantined. The width of the withdrawal is then set by the record rather than by what cannot be proven.
No. A check past its due time is flagged and the supervisor is told; a form that is due never blocks starting or closing an order. What was not done is named on the order’s record, where it can be discussed.
Process values the controllers report, such as temperatures, can be historised by VZIAM MES. Checks at a control point are scheduled at the line and recorded with their result, and a non-conforming critical point alerts the supervisor at once.
An expired lot is refused at the line, as are quarantined, rejected and blocked lots, with a message that says what to do instead. Expiry is the only change of state the system makes on its own.
Other industries we work in.
Plan the change before it reaches the line.
Request a demo and an engineer looks at how your production runs today, shows how the software would fit around it, and where a pilot on one line would start.
01Pick a time
Choose a slot in the calendar, and note what you make and what reads your machines today.
02Screen shared with an engineer
A video call with someone who builds the software, in English or French.
03What would connect
For each machine, its path: native (OPC UA, MQTT or HTTP push), through a gateway, or nothing to build.