six key issues to help you decide, and make an informed choice.the global 22,000 brc certified food processors and manufacturers, will after the 1st july 2015 have to adapt to some significant changes to inspection guidelines, this follows the brc global standard organizations&39 issue 7 of its brc global standard for food safety which was published in january this year.the revised guidelines will require changes to processes and practises, which may mean investment in new technologies so that your products can be stocked on the shelves of the global retailers.xray technology has been around in the food industry for a number of years, it is not a &39black art&39 but a key solution to driving up standards in food production. a fully integrated xray and checkweighing system can be the relatively simple solution, but how do you make that leap of faithwhen considering an investment in a highly accurate, fully integrated, combination xray inspection and checkweighing system specifically designed for food production environments how do you satisfy the needs of your operations, technical, quality and maintenance groups, all different functions and with seemingly different goals and requirements however, if you cut through the white noise its obvious that there is no reason why you cannot have the best of all worlds.so, what should you look for when sourcing a solutionthe from an end user perspective the following six key issues are what are commonly thought to make a quality product, starting with the most importantthe machine must fulfil its purpose clearly the most important if the product does not help you do your work, it doesn&rsquot fulfil its purpose and it doesn&rsquot matter how polished, slick or fast it is. start by comparing specifications but remember just because the spec is same it does not mean that the performance is. compare the results from machines from different manufacturers. let the results speak for themselves.the machine must be easy and intuitive to use it should be obvious where components go or what will happen when you click a button or follow a link. think about your operations, your people and your working environment, will the machine you are considering be too complex or too flimsythe machine must work as expected bugs, defects, screen crashes or software hangups are clearly bad.it must be responsive if the machine control doesn&rsquot react fast or give constant and simple feedback, your operators will get frustrated with it.it must be easy to get unstuck good, accessible and searchable documentation, and training are key to a quality product.it must be consistent the machine must have a consistent &ldquolook and feel&rdquo, with simple, consistent and predicable user interface functions and processes.if you are responsible for supporting the equipment, some very different criteria apply.quick to deploy a fast and reliable installation is important.must be enterprise ready it&rsquos no good if the product doesn&rsquot fit with your existing structure, doesn&rsquot eliminate or at least integrate with standard systems and protocols, or doesn&rsquot support your distributed enterprise setup. consider how it will send and receive data from your existing and future enterprise wide network. can it reduce the &ldquopaper&rdquo reports and not with just the obvious batch stats but with the all the other admin, reject integrity testing and reporting, calibration, change control, audit logs and performance validation etc&hellip can it &ldquotalk&rdquo to my system or is it restricted to an oem&rsquos own software system, which will leave you vulnerable to third party controlled enforced obsolescence.consider bundling technologies to share resources, floor space and time while simultaneously reducing operator induced risk. integrating label inspection and autocoding into your combination xray inspection equipment makes all kinds of sense from an operational, technical and financial perspective.simple to support the machine must be easy to troubleshoot, if something goes wrong, it needs to be easy to find out what it is and get it fixed. if you have to look at log files, they should be easy to search and understand.simple and easy to setup, use and configure setting up the product so it meets the users&rsquo particular needs should not require a degree in troubleshooting. it should not give you unnecessary choices either it should just make the product work really well with wellchosen defaults.no security issues you really don&rsquot want to know what the guys over in it think of people that introduce products that put the business at risk.easy on resources products that need more than their fair share of scarce engineering or technical resources are expensive to run and deploy.cost of ownership while the initial capital cost is often held up as the principle comparator during the purchase decision, the cost of owning and operating the equipment is very often either overlooked or seen as &ldquosomeone else&rsquos budget&rdquo and by implication someone else&rsquos problem. when making a your selection it is never a mistake to compare operating costs, service costs and particularly the cost of spares, you will often be shocked by the operating cost difference between suppliers.concluding "for sure everyone&39s requirements are always a little bit different, products, throughputs, packaging etc, at sparc we will provide a 360 degrees look and come up with a flexible solution to suit your needs now and in the future."contact sales@sparcsystems.co.uk or tel 01684 310000 
