Keep every fryer batch, seasoning drum and bag count on record per line.

Snacks are made fast and sold on weight, crispness and taste. A fryer that runs a few degrees off or a seasoning drum that is overfed changes the product, and the bag is sealed before anyone sees it.

Line and batch records for snack makers keep the fryer, the seasoning and the bag count tied to one run. Tell us which flavours run on which lines, and each distributor order can be traced from the hopper through the drum and bagger to the carton.

Potatoes, flour, maize grits or pellets come in with the oil, seasoning and film. Potatoes are washed, peeled and sliced. Doughs are mixed and extruded or sheeted. The base is fried in oil or baked, then moved over a de-oiling belt into a seasoning drum, where powder and oil are applied by weight. The fryer crew watches oil temperature, dwell time and the age of the oil, since one overdone batch can leave a pallet of scrap before anyone tastes a chip. Packing lines feed a multihead weigher into a bagger, flush the bag with nitrogen and seal it, all within a few seconds per bag. Checkweighers and metal detectors catch faults, and bags go into cartons by flavour.

Distributors and modern retail order cartons by flavour and pack size, often with promotional packs. Sales and planning must match each order with what the lines can run that week, allowing for clean-down between flavours and for the film and cartons that have to be printed. Waste is high. Yield per tonne of potato or per bag of pellets matters to the owner. With no line records, yield is estimated once a month from purchase bills, a rough stock count and whatever the shift leader remembers about the week.