Sensors where the data says, not where the cable reaches

The problem

A monitoring system is only as good as where its sensors are. A probe fitted by the door because that's where the cable reached can miss the warm corner where stock actually sits, and an inspector will ask why it's there.

Pharmaceutical and high-risk food sites work under GDP and GMP, where the MHRA expects data integrity, a full audit trail and documented handling of every deviation. The sensor positions have to be defensible from the start.

What we did

The partnership began when Chris, a director at TeDaC, worked with Jake Farrow on fixed monitoring installations in the South West. When Jake founded JTF in 2012, the work carried on.

TeDaC carries out temperature mapping studies in cold rooms, freezers and ambient stores, finding hot and cold spots and airflow patterns, and recommends sensor positions from what it finds. JTF then:

• installs the fixed monitoring system and configures it to the mapped design;

• supports IQ and OQ qualification, so QA has the documents it needs;

• runs alarms, dashboards, excursion logs and reports on the Sematics platform, with alerts by SMS, email or the dashboard;

• provides calibration for every sensor we supply: traceable to national standards as standard, or UKAS accredited where you need it (temperature in our own UKAS accredited calibration laboratory No. 10723; other parameters through accredited partners);

• keeps the system maintained, updated and supported, with training for the people who use it.

The result

Sites get a monitoring set-up designed from how their own spaces behave, not guesswork, and a record that runs from sensor placement through qualification to the daily readings an auditor asks to see.

The same approach works for a single cold room or a network of sites, fixed stores or vehicles.