Analyze and compare different samples in a few seconds and choose the right supplier

Selecting a good raw material supplier is key to optimizing production and ensuring the quality of the final product. And it is not always an easy task.

Until now, food companies have had no choice but to take random samples of different batches of product from different suppliers and take them to an external laboratory for analysis to confirm the specification. This procedure, apart from being costly in time and money, does not allow comparison between samples and only provides confirmation of their specification, but what if there are deviations in other parameters?

With Chemometric Brain the process is simplified and enables to choose the most suitable supplier, evaluating the quality and homogeneity of the product, making a comparison between different suppliers. All this is possible in seconds and with in-house analysis.

Here is a recent example we solved with Chemometric Brain.

A food company needed to evaluate the homogeneity and quality of several batches of whey protein concentrate (WPC 60) from five different suppliers to check the quality of the raw material and select the best supplier.

The spectra analyzed are shown in Figure 1.

The area of the ellipse defines the homogeneity of the product; the larger the area, the more heterogeneous the lots are. Taking this into account,Supplier 4 (orange) stands out among the rest due to the high homogeneity of the batches. On the contrary, the results of Supplier 1 (green) show that its batches were the least homogeneous.

The Chemometric Brain analysis also provided information on the origin of the samples: the location of the different ellipses on the graph was essential to obtain more details on their origin.

The ellipses representing Supplier 2 (red)and 5 (purple) are overlapping. This could indicate that both suppliers obtain their raw materials from the same source and therefore have very similar batches of WPC 60. If you as a producer are satisfied with these suppliers butt heir prices vary, this information helps you to choose.

On the other hand, the batches from Supplier3 (blue) presented clear differences with those provided by Suppliers 2, 4 and5, as their ellipse barely overlaps the others.

Finally, Chemometric Brain's analysis indicated that Supplier 4's batches had some similarities with those provided by Suppliers 2 and 5 and showed that Supplier 1's production was so heterogeneous that some of its batches covered all the variability of the others.  

Ultimately, analysis with Chemometric Brain provided meaningful and detailed data on the quality and origin of raw materials, which helped the manufacturer to choose the best supplier of a key ingredient (whey protein) in its production line.

By implementing Chemometric Brain, food companies can monitor and audit their suppliers by basing their decisions on accurate,objective and high-quality data, thus ensuring the optimal choice for the company.

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