Embracing Change and Ensuring Quality in Craft Brewing

Ben Chrisfield is currently the Quality Assurance Manager for New Belgium Brewing at their Virginia site. Prior to working at the brewery, he studied Food Science at the Pennsylvania State University as a USDA NIFA Predoctoral Fellow. His work focused on the impact of copper-based fungicide use on hop quality in Pennsylvania. Upon completing his Ph.D. in 2020, Ben started working as an analytical scientist in the brewing industry.

Ben now leverages his research background to promote science-based improvements in the quality and safety of their products in a GFSI-compliant environment. He strives to empower his team to make data-driven decisions that systematically improve product quality and directly support the brewery’s success.

Ben’s Professional Journey and Key Experiences in the FMCG industry

We’ve focused a lot of time and effort on improving food safety management systems to become more proactive and mitigate risks at the earliest opportunity. We have achieved FSSC22000 certification and continuously work to integrate food safety into our daily operations at every level. I’m incredibly proud of all the hard work our team has put into prioritizing the safety and quality of the goods we produce.

Accepting my first management role was a huge step forward in my career. At first, I was intimidated by the prospect of leading a team, but I realized I needed to push myself outside my comfort zone to grow professionally. I know I’ll never be a perfect leader, but I’ll keep pushing myself to improve for the sake of my team.

Quality Assurance in the Craft Brewing Industry

Climate change is real and directly impacts the raw materials we use daily. We must learn about those changes and how they will influence our products and processes. Whether it’s changing the amino acid profiles of barley or smoke taint in hops, we need to find ways to adapt. We focus on using reputable and verified suppliers, communicating critical specifications, and asking for regular updates about any changes we might expect to see in our raw materials. Whenever possible, we identify a backup supplier for critical materials so we can maintain business continuity and quality.

Increasing scope of data availability and processing – Data analysis has always been crucial in a QA program, but sometimes, there can be so much data that it’s hard to know how to leverage it effectively. You don’t often have the luxury of time to build large data models across QA, raw material, and production datasets in order to solve a simple quality issue. I am excited at the prospect of AI-like tools for data analysis that are in development. I can’t wait for the day when I can describe the problem in the brewery to an AI model, provide a massive dataset, and ask for a list of factors that may have contributed to the issue I’m seeing.

Balancing Analytical Testing with Sensory Testing in Quality Assurance

We use sensory and analytical testing throughout the brewing process to measure how raw materials impact our finished products. Sensory testing tends to be the ultimate decisionmaker since it directly correlates to the consumer’s perception. Still, having sufficiently trained panelists is time-consuming and challenging. We do our best to map analytical measurements to key sensory attributes so we can have data to complement our sensory analysis before making any decisions.

Ensuring Compliance with Diverse Global Regulatory Standards

Our goal is to create unique products that are safe, high-quality, and low-impact, and I don’t think those are necessarily at odds with one another. Various teams across the company take the steps necessary to meet regulatory compliance as we develop innovative brand concepts, design artwork, source high-quality ingredients, and scale the product up in our facilities. Each team understands its role and the regulations that apply to it, and they work together to ensure our products check every box regarding compliance, safety, and quality.

Innovative Tools and Practices

We have implemented a Notice of Unusual Occurrence form as a means for coworkers to report quality or food safety issues at any level. By scanning a QR code, anyone in the brewery can submit a form that notifies management of a potential quality or food safety issue as soon as it happens. This system has helped us catch problems that may have slipped through the cracks previously. It helps foster our quality and food safety culture by providing an open and responsive line of communication between production workers and leadership.

Quality Assurance Serving Craft Breweries

I think quality assurance is a vital part of a cross-functional production team. QA is full of problem-solvers and scientific minds, and they can bring a unique perspective to production and engineering projects. I think it’s essential for QA leaders to collaborate with all of the teams at their production facility and identify ways to use their team’s unique skills to help tackle production challenges and improve efficiency wherever possible.

Advice to Aspiring Quality Assurance Professionals in the FMCG Industry

Stay curious and humble. It’s good to recognize and use your strengths but realize there’s always more to learn and ways to improve yourself.

Get your hands dirty. Don’t get stuck in the lab or behind your computer. Get out on the production floor, shadow people in other departments, and find things you can fix before they become quality issues. You can learn a ton from people with entirely different backgrounds and experiences than your own.

Embrace change. Change can be uncomfortable, but it’s necessary for a company to stay competitive. Try to embrace it as an opportunity to learn new systems and experience new products.