Systems test: mimicking real world food lines

The centre has a demo suite with a simulated production line to give students the chance to work at receiving, packing and moving products through a grading line in a controlled environment.

"When any product comes through the door, it gets a barcode which, when scanned, shows who touched it last, where it has been and if there are any quality control blocks on it," says Richard Jones, director of technology at Anglia Business Solutions, which provided the LinkFresh mobile scanning system.

The suite mimics working conditions on a technologically advanced line to give students quality control experience.

"Students are getting hands-on with the type of system they will be using in reality," says Jones. They are using the machines that are appropriate for that industry and the handheld devices they would use to move the product through."

Anglia Business Solutions has installed the industrial version of the LinkFresh system in 97 locations across the UK food industry. Jones believes that it is quickly becoming a de-facto standard for the industry. He says that it takes the best manufacturing processes that are normally found in car production or heavy industry and brings them to the food and drinks sector. "We're trying to take paper away completely. If you notice some damage you can actually take a picture with the scanner of whatever damage you have got and record it then and there," says Jones.

It took Anglia Business Solutions two years of research and development to create LinkFresh and the system is endorsed by Microsoft. Jones says that it differs from many modern IT systems in that the mobile scanners can update information in real time. Not having to return to a terminal to input information speeds up the process.

Jones says that some of the techniques learnt at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing can be transferred to other systems or back to less advanced paper and clipboard lines if necessary.