8 Steps to Assess Your Supply Chain Quality Control Processes

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Any company can say its products are top quality, clean, and the best, but very few can prove it. For cannabis cultivators, that distinction could be the difference between selling crops for top dollar or not. In extreme cases, it could be the difference between keeping your cultivation license or losing it.

The challenge for cannabis growers is knowing which suppliers across the supply chain are actually providing the highest quality products and materials. To help you overcome that obstacle, follow the eight steps discussed in this article, which are based on bio365’s own 42-point quality control process.

By asking the questions listed below, you’ll be able to choose vendors that are willing and able to provide proof showing how they adhere to the highest quality standards in each step.

1. Vendor Selection and Raw Materials Purchasing

Quality control starts with choosing the right vendors and purchasing the right raw materials. If you don’t start with quality, you can’t make it magically appear later in the process. It’s important to have every vendor you work with accredited by a third-party.

Here are some of the questions we recommend that you ask when choosing a vendor or purchasing raw materials:

  • Are your inputs organic?

  • Can you provide samples before I buy?

  • Do you send samples to an outside lab for analysis? Can I see the results?

  • Can you agree in writing that each order will meet the specifications I agree to?

  • Will you confirm the specs in writing with each new purchase order generated?

  • Will you test each order following a uniform, comprehensive testing protocol that I agree to?

2. Raw Materials Receiving

Any vendor you work with should have a defined process for receiving raw materials. We recommend that you ask the following questions to ensure every vendor you work with follows raw materials receiving protocols that protect quality at all times:

  • Do you have a receiving protocol for how and where raw materials are stored?

  • Do you inspect materials to confirm they match each order?

  • Do you sample and test raw materials? What do you test (e.g., sand content tested and pH and EC measured in coir)?

  • Do you do periodic testing on any raw materials? What do you test periodically (e.g., periodic size screening of perlite)?

3. Facility and Management

A vendor may receive materials in perfect condition, but if those materials aren’t stored correctly, quality can deteriorate quickly. Here are important questions to ask potential vendors about their facilities and management:

  • Are materials, inputs, and finished goods stored in a tightly controlled indoor environment?

  • Do you restrict movement of people, equipment, and materials?

  • Do you have HEPA filtered air in your facility?

  • Are production areas indoors and separate from shipping and receiving areas?

  • Is your production staff required to change from outdoor clothes, wash, and enter the production area through footbaths?

  • What are your production area cleaning protocols?

  • Do you use ongoing monitoring for insect pests?

  • What are your IPM protocols for production areas?

  • Do you use organic pesticide protocols for facility fumigation?

4. Production Controls

If a vendor produces a product that you want to purchase, then it’s critical that you evaluate their production controls to ensure what they’re producing is high quality. Following are questions you can ask to evaluate production controls for quality:

  • Do you use lot numbers to track inputs used, their source, and receiving of those inputs?

  • Do you calibrate equipment for each input?

  • Do you check equipment settings for each batch?

  • Is your blending and mixing line equipment PLC controlled (i.e., computer controlled)?

  • Do you keep detailed records of the product made for each batch?

  • Do you test every batch to ensure everything matches specs?

  • Do you test every batch to confirm no insects are present?

5. Final Packaging

Consistency is critical to quality control, and that includes consistent packaging. Ask these questions to assess a vendor’s final packaging processes:

  • What processes do you follow to ensure a consistent package and volume?

  • Do you dispense by volume?

  • Do you test calibration?

6. Batch Tracking

There is no way to ensure the products and materials you purchase are the high quality you want if the products and materials can’t be tracked back to their origins. For example, each pallet a customer receives from bio365 can be traced back to its lot number, and bio365 can re-test a sample from that batch.

Ask these questions to evaluate a vendor’s tracking system:

  • Do you assign a unique lot number to each batch?

  • How do you record lot numbers? Do you use production software to record and track lot numbers?

  • Do you retain a sample of each finished product? How long do you keep these samples?

  • Do you record lot numbers at the time of the shipment to the customer?

7. Certificates of Analysis and Certificates of Conformance for FSMA and GAP

The proof is in the testing data, and there is no better proof than certificates of analysis and certificates of conformance for USDA Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) and if you’re in the food industry, the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule (FSMA PSR.

In some cases, cannabis growers need these certificates when working with regulatory agencies or certifiers, so be sure to ask each of the questions below when choosing vendors:

  • Can you provide a Certificate of Conformance for all of your products?

  • Can you test the products shipped to me and provide a corresponding Certificate of Analysis?

  • Will you work with me to provide documentation that a regulator or certifier requires?

8. Quality Control Support for Customers

Don’t work with a vendor that isn’t willing to provide quality control support to you. Transparency is the key to identifying a vendor that can deliver high quality products and/or raw materials consistently.

Here are a couple of questions you can ask to determine how transparent a vendor is with its quality control process and whether or not they’ll provide the support you’ll need in the future:

  • Will you share your quality controls with me?

  • Will you share your reference samples with me to ensure consistency between my lab and yours?

Key Takeaways about Assessing Supply Chain Quality Control Processes

An effective quality control process leads to consistency, which not only means you can grow the highest quality plants, but also, you can also sell your crops for a higher price. In addition, consistency leads to cost savings on labor and inputs. Ultimately, your bottom-line should improve when you work with suppliers that follow the best quality control processes.

At bio365, we follow a strict and comprehensive 42-point quality control process. Every shipment of finished product can be tracked through the production process to the raw materials ordered, received, and processed. All of our receiving, manufacturing, and storage processes are done indoors with a high level of control and are overseen by a central production support and quality control team.

That’s just one of the reasons bio365 produces the highest quality horticultural media that are consistent in their characteristics and performance. As a result, bio365 media enables cannabis cultivators to consistently and confidently exploit the potential of their growing systems.

Ready to test bio365’s grow media at your facility? Contact us to start a free trial.