Two Discussion Responses Needed 100 words each 200 words

Please provide responses to the below posts and ask the student one question for each post. 

Response Needed for Post #1 below:

In this case, we are looking to understand which side to error on in terms of over 12oz per package or under 12oz. As a quality control manager it is important to understand the full risk of the options at hand. It can make significant profit impacts if overfilling the bags of candy. This can be worrisome, but how does this risk compare to the alternative. If slack filled, there can be some major issues with regulation. As a quality control manager, it is important to take the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act into consideration. The Act authorizes additional regulations where necessary to prevent consumer deception (or to facilitate value comparisons) with respect to descriptions of ingredients, slack fill of packages, use of "cents-off" or lower price labeling, or characterization of package sizes (Federal Trade Commission, n.d.). With this in mind, it would make sense to error on 1oz over the 12oz goal in order to avoid any legal or regulatory issues. 

In order to maintain highest standards of quality, it will be important to implement a process which maintains this +1oz standard. It will begin by having a routine calibration check of all dispensing machinery. This will help keep consistency in the quantity of candy placed into each package. From this point the candy will be weighed with a checkweigher to ensure the sub 12oz standard is maintained. After this point it will be boxed and shipped if weight is above the minimum. If the product is below, it can be adjusted and repackaged or discarded. 

This process will allow the organization to maintain tight checks and consistency measures on the process of packing the candy. By maintaining each step of the process, it will maintain regulation through checks and balances. 

By utilizing a checkweigher, it will allows us to have an accurate reading of every package that is created. This will also be managed by an operator to cross check any flagged weight. This will allow for additional accuracy in the process. 

Response needed for post #2 below:

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, reasonable variations in net quantity are allowed when caused by unavoidable variations in weighing and measuring which may result in filling deviations (US Dept. of Commerce, 2016). Additionally, the variation from the quantity on the label cannot be under filled by more than the maximum allowable variation or MAV (US Dept. of Commerce, 2016). In regard to a 12 oz. package of candy, the deviation from the labeled quantity cannot be unreasonably large. After reviewing a 12 oz. package in my own cabinet, I deducted that I would not notice if the package is 11 oz. or 13 oz. Therefore, the allowable deviation is an ounce.

Not only are the government standards on weights and measures important to follow, but companies that overfill to ensure compliance are giving away profit (Quality Integrators Corporation, n.d.). Companies can be asked to prove their compliance to the standards and need to  be able to provide documentation that they follow regulations, adequately sampled, used properly calibrated equipment, deal with and eliminated non-compliances, and did not manipulate data (Quality Integrators Corporation, n.d.).

As the quality control manager, I would use end of line checkweighers and implement quality control checks every hour to ensure packaging weights are within the set tolerance level. A checkweigher compares the weight of the product against the set tolerances and can either pass the product through or reject it (ThermoFisher Scientific, n.d.). If the packaged product’s weight is not within its set limits, the checkweigher will push the product off into a reject box. This process would be accepted by government regulators as any product that doesn’t pass the required weight requirements would be rejected and taken off the line.

Quality Integrators Corporation (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2020 from http://www.qic-intl.com/glossary/NetContentsControl.htm (Links to an external site.)

ThermoFisher Scientific (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2020 from http://assets.thermofisher.com/TFS-Assets/CAD/Handbooks/checkweighing-checkweighers-ebook.pdf (Links to an external site.)

US Department of Commerce (2016). Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods. NIST Handbook.  https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2016/11/29/h133-2017-webfinal.pdf