The co-packing producer Carolina Beverage targets customers in the beverage industry with specialty-size packages that need strategic production on the East Coast. Carolina Beverage has the capability to produce a variety of package sizes including 8.4oz, 12oz, 16oz, 24oz Cap Can, and 32oz cans, as well as various glass and PET bottle shapes. In the Food and Beverage industry there is a growing demand to implement automated systems to manage and track food safety records. Carolina Beverage recognized this need and sought to enhance their method of managing documents within their organization. This led to a need for an enterprise document management process.
Filling the Gap
Carolina Beverage had two specific criteria in mind when looking for a software vendor to meet their need: The software had to be user friendly and a comprehensive solution for all document management processes. EtQ met both of these requirements exactly by offering web-based a solution that is intuitive, flexible, and is able to support multiple document types across multiple workflows.
In particular, they liked EtQ’s capability to be maintained by business users, which enabled them to save IT resources and implement the software in a way that is most effective for matching their company’s unique business processes. In addition, Carolina Beverage was able to leverage EtQ’s intuitive user interface to train users on creating documents and workflows within the system. This ability helped flatten the learning curve for their users and speed up the training process. EtQ also stood out as the premier solution at Carolina Beverage through reputation; individuals within the company had previously worked with EtQ and touted a positive experience. With all these considerations in mind, Carolina Beverage chose to implement EtQ Reliance™ Quality Management System (QMS).
Reaping the Benefits
EtQ Reliance™ was seamlessly implemented at Carolina Beverage and they were pleased with the end result. They consider EtQ to be “easy to maintain and interface with.” Since implementing EtQ Reliance™, Carolina Beverage’s initial challenges have been effectively addressed. They now have almost all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) housed within the EtQ system and have removed all uncontrolled copies from their file server. EtQ’s Document Control system uses specific workflows, escalation rules, email alerts, and links to training, which help to efficiently manage all controlled documents. Furthermore, EtQ’s workflow-enabled change request process allows Carolina Beverage to track and manage revisions to new documents as well as to archive obsolete documents. Carolina Beverage has been pleased with their investment in EtQ Reliance™ and has been able to see positive returns in meeting their overall objectives thus far. The company continues to reap the benefits of EtQ’s solution and seeks to expand their use in the future.
Looking Forward
Carolina Beverage plans to build a Quality system that is compliant with one of the GFSI standards in order to ensure continuous, high quality products for their customers. They will leverage EtQ in this process to ensure compliance with the GFSI food safety standards. EtQ’s ability to automate processes, streamline employee training, and provide overall ease of use in a Document Control system has resulted in a solution that will grow with Carolina Beverage and continue to help nurture their business processes. EtQ’s Quality Management System has provided them with the tools needed for document management within their organization as well as with the ability to ensure compliance to applicable regulations, which will help in future implementations.
