Case Study - Harford Control at DFOB

The Dairy Farmers of Britain Group chose Harford Control's new Compliance Plus system to ensure regulatory compliance and continuous improvement. DFoB originally purchased the Harford system to maximise labelling compliance within their bottling operations across their UK sites. They expected the same system to also satisfy their compliance with Average Quantity Law, replacing their aging weighing systems. In additional to these primary needs, the Harford automatically programmes date coders on product changeovers, minimising the risk of rework, scrap and EPWs due to incorrect date codes. On-line barcode scanning and production line efficiency complete the factory floor data collection and compliance needs. System operation could not be easier in that the operator calls up the product by barcode or SKU. A full colour picture of the product appears on the touch screen terminal. On confirmation of ‘correct' product, the system automatically programmes the on-line barcode scanners, date code printers, the PLCs and other on-line components. Compliance issues and improvement opportunities are immediately notified to operators and managers on existing PCs, across the DFOB intranet. Colin Stalford, DfoB's Dairy Operations Director says "Our need to ensure correct labelling, together with replacement of our old quantity compliance system, encouraged us to choose the new Harford integrated solution. Having now used the new system for more than a year, we couldn't be more pleased with the outcome. Not only has the new system met our primary objectives, it has also helped us to improve our overall effectiveness through the additional information provided, in respect of production efficiency, downtime analysis, paperless quality assurance and auto set-up of date coders." Colin says "The management information generated by the Harford system has now become our milk group standard, used to drive further improvements. The after-sales support from Harford has also been superb. We believe that we have found in Harford an excellent partner who truly understands our business needs and who has the capability to help us achieve our ongoing objectives."