Agroindustrial project analysi

THE PROCESSING FACTOR 157farmer's agricultural practices. As discussed in chapter 3 (the section"Acceptable Quality"), quality control must begin at the stageof raw material production. At the processing stage, quality controlshould be applied to the raw material inventory, work in process,and finished goods. The quality of the raw material stock can bepreserved by adequate storage facilities (see the section on inventorymanagement, above), but periodic sampling of the inventoryto test for pest or insect damage or microbial growth is advisable.These measures can spot problems in time for the plant's managementto take corrective measures. Spoilage can begin inconspicuouslyand accelerate rapidly, causing massive inventory losses andproduction stoppages. By contrast, monitoring is relatively inexpensiveand, usually, cost effective.Most food and fiber processing is relatively quick, but in-processmonitoring is feasible for such aspects as contamination levels,packaging integrity, temperature, and chemical composition. Finishedgoods can be inspected by variable (that is, a particular characteristic)or by attribute (to sort good from bad). Quality-controlmechanisms include visual inspection, mechanical measuring devices,and laboratory analyses. Sampling techniques are relativelyreliable and efficient, but the processor must first set an acceptablelevel of quality. After acceptable quality is defined, sampling cantake place within limits of probability for committing either a"Type i" error (accepting a lot that should be rejected) or a "TypeII" error (rejecting a lot that should be accepted). Nutritional qualityof finished goods should be monitored by biochemical analysis tomeasure nutrient retention and any microbial contamination.Salient points for project analysisTo examine programming and quality control, the analyst shouldconsider the following questions.Is there a clear and systematic implementation plan?a Postinvestment and preproduction steps delineated?* Programming techniques such as Gantt charts, CPM, or PERTused?Has project engineering been carried out diagrammatically?* General functional layouts made?* Flow diagrams of materials designed?