BRC 6.3.3 online check weighers
BRC version 8 ha s anew requirement about check weighers:
Where used, the site shall establish procedures for the operation and testing of online check weighers.
At a minimum, this shall include:
• consideration of any legal requirements
• responsibilities for testing the equipment
• operating effectiveness and any variations for particular products
• methods and frequency of testing the check weighers
• records of the test results.
We are wondering what is the difference between an online and an offline check weigher, just because British use different words or interpret it differently then non-native English speakers. If I have to think that online in this context means that it is incorporated in a production line and checks all products that pass in front of it, then what is the purpose of the offline check weigher? Or does it mean that it is connected to a software program that shows and records all measurements on a computer (nowadays online means automatically for everybody access to internet, so my colleagues got to this conclusion)?
Lets say that the answer is being incorporated into a production line (which is our case). What is the legal requirement to test it? We are calibrating all scales, including the check weigher once per year, using an external service provider. But is there any legal requirement to check it every day/before each use?
If I have to think that online in this context means that it is incorporated in a production line and checks all products that pass in front of it, then what is the purpose of the offline check weigher?
As a native Brit, this would be my interpretation of "online".
Offline could be separate to the production line itself, and for example used for sampling a statistically-determined number of units rather than every pack. Nonetheless it would still seem reasonable for 6.3.3 to apply there too, and indeed we've done just.
Curiously, the interpretation guideline doesn't really indicate exactly what they mean by "online".
I'm a native Brit too and agree the wording is somewhat unclear. To me, "online" suggests relation to internet/connectivity of some sort. To refer to something done on a production line I'd say "on-line".
Looking at the standard, 6.2.4. mentions "The site shall establish and implement procedures in the event of a failure in the online verification equipment (e.g. a documented and trained manual checking procedure". As it mentions a manual checking procedure as an action following failure of an online verification, I'm wondering if the online verification refers to an automatic system, perhaps a measuring device that automatically sorts based on set parameters.
It's worth noting that references to online/offline measurement in the standard go back at least as far as Issue 5 (sorry, not willing to go digging in the archive to find Issue 4 and my recollection of it is not sufficiently detailed!) - this predates the general availability of most networked/web-connected equipment, so I think the term can only refer to "online" being physically part of the production line/process?
These are in the HACCP section - online / offline measurement within the CCP monitoring clause (currently 2.10.1) and I think this supports the idea that "offline" refers to something external to the production line itself.