A structured process, to catch immediately any possibile problem and guarantee the quality of our products
⏱ 3 MINUTES READING

Our Receiving Department follows a strict protocol defined in our HACCP plan, which includes three main phases:
1) the inspection of the pallet that is delivered to us by the transporters and the pre-inventory of the items;
2) the control of each products and the inventory of suitable goods in a pre-storage room;
3) the storage and the replenishment of the shelves. Only at this point the products, carefully controlled by our guys of the Receiving Department - with the support of the Quality Department when needed - become available and can be picked up to fulfill our customers' orders.  

1. PALLET INSPECTION AT RECEIVING
Every day we receive about 40-50 pallets of goods, which are carefully verified by our guys of the Receiving Department.

The first control is entrusted to Benedetto Patera, responsible for the unloading. First of all he has to check the hygienic conditions of the load compartment of the transporter with which the goods have been delivered to us, and above all the temperature at which the goods have been travelling. Respecting the cold chain is in fact essential to guarantee food safety and the correct conservation of products. We are very strict on this: in the entry sheet that shows the list of products in order that we expect to receive, the maximum temperature at which the goods can travel is also shown; if the temperature indicated on the entry sheet is not respected, the Quality Department is notified and the goods are rejected immediately.

If the cold chain is respected, Benedetto can then proceed with the integrity check and the inventory of the packages, data that are reported in the entry sheet, together with the temperature detected at the unloading. Once the checks have been successfully completed, the "acceptance stamp" is placed on the transport document and the order is pre-registered on the PC, to declare that the goods have arrived. All the phases of goods handling are in fact managed through a WMS (Warehouse Management System) software, which allows us to manage the full traceability of each product and batch.

Before moving on to the next phase, Benedetto is only asked for one more check, that is to verify that there are no pests on the pallets. The goods are then placed in the entrance storage room, where they will then be managed by the colleagues who deal with the next controls.
2. PRODUCT CONTROL AND INVENTORY
Christian Sacconi and Christian Rizzo are the people in charge of product control and inventory in our WMS, to make the items available for orders. They are also supported by Mario Antoniazzi, currently helping us in different departments, and Enrico Terzariol, who will soon end his experience in the warehouse to start a new career as an agent, still in Valsana.

This phase is probably the most delicate one of the reciving controls, because for each reference we need to verify and register the batch, the expiring date and the quantity, both by pieces and by weight, and checking the correspondence between the information printed on the product label and the once on the transport document.

It might seems easy, but I can assure it's not, also because we are working with small artisans, each of which, for instance, has his own way of indicating the batch, with stamps, abbreviations and so on, which we must be able to decode.
Each pallet is split with the aim to separate each reference, which is then individually controlled and identified with a single-product and single-batch barcode (SSCC), to manage traceability.

In addition, we carefully check the shelf life of incoming products, which must comply with the minimum life required upon arrival, established by our Quality Department.

The guys in charge of inventory are also responsible for verifying that the products comply with the requirements established in the purchase specifications, e.g. in terms of ripening. Also in this case, when discrepancies are found, the Quality Department is informed, in order to assess whether the products can still be accepted or whether they must be rejected. Thanks to their experience, our guys of the Receiving Department are often able to intercept any labeling or quality problems too, a very important filter that allow us to promptly manage any issue.

The compliant products, once registered, are then placed in a transit storage room, waiting to be placed on the shelves.
3. STORAGE AND SHELVES REPLENISHMENT
Andrea Colmellere, Andrea Michielon and Alessio Botteon are the guys who take care of placing the products in their respective shelves, once they have been checked and registered by their colleagues.

Each pallet is then picked up from the transit storage room and taken to the destination cell, established for each product by our Quality Department according to the storage requirements in terms of temperature and humidity. Most of our products are in fact managed with an "assigned picking": this means that each product has a well-defined place in our warehouse and every time it arrives it is always placed in the same storage room and always on the same shelf.

The shelves are replenished in order to facilitate the colleagues who take care of the picking, therefore according to the FIFO (First In First Out) logic, which provides that the first product received is also the first to exit. The shelflife of products already stocked on the shelf is always checked during replenishment, in order to position the new batch behind the one already available or in a spare place, higher up on the same shelf.

Once the products are stored, they finally become available and can then be picked up by colleagues of the shipping department to fulfill our customers' orders.
The are aware that our receiving process is pretty structured, we have developed it over the years, in an attempt to ensure accurate control of all products as they enter our warehouse. The incoming filter is in fact very important to be able to immediately intercept any problems and thus guarantee the quality of the products of our selection.

We may not always succeed, but we do our best to try!

Martina Iseppon
 Marketing Director