Web-based dairy supply chain solutions and market intelligence leader Dairy.com today announced the acquisition of QA Studio, a quality assurance and food traceability software provider to the dairy industry.

Since 1988, QA Studio has helped processing plants manage and monitor quality throughout the manufacturing process. The addition of Lab Information Management Systems (LIMS) to its family of software products greatly enhances the Dairy.com technology footprint.

"We are thrilled to add QA Studio and its team to our company," said Dairy.com CEO Scott Sexton. "Today, nearly 50 dairy plants across the industry use QA Studio from the point of raw milk intake through creation of finished goods. At these plants, QA Studio gives quality assurance, food safety, and other industry professionals real-time laboratory and plant floor information. Adding QA Studio's capabilities builds on an already strong set of Dairy.com solutions that improve customer operations, efficiency and, ultimately, profitability."

The acquisition reinforces the dairy industry's focus on gaining greater insight into food quality and safety. Craig Nelson, a respected regulatory consultant and contributor to the dairy food industry's voluntary traceability guidelines (published by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy), acknowledged QA Studio's ability to provide alignment with current food safety initiatives.

"Out of the box, QA Studio handles the traceability best practices outlined in the 'Guidance for Dairy Product Enhanced Traceability' standard," said Nelson of Food Automation, LLC. "As we've seen, plant shutdowns can cost millions of dollars. The best way for plants to avoid a shutdown--not to mention a recall--is to have the right technology and the right processes in place."

With more than 25 years of industry experience, QA Studio President Paul Jonson will join the Dairy.com team and continue developing and supporting the product. Jonson has seen first-hand how technology can help improve daily plant operations and product quality, as well as emergency response.

"QA Studio helps plant managers track what's coming in and follows products as they move through production to finished goods," said Jonson. "Because it equips plant managers with information that's immediate and actionable, QA Studio makes it possible to improve operations, quickly identify quality issues, and be ready to mitigate risks as they arise."

For more information on this acquisition or to learn more about QA Studio's new spot in the Dairy.com suite of products, visit http://www.dairy.com/technology/qa-studio/.

About Dairy.com

Dairy.com helps the dairy industry manage, trade, and move bulk dairy commodities through its Internet-based business solutions and services. As the industry's premier Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, Dairy.com delivers bulk commodity trading, raw milk management, and transportation solutions for cooperatives, processors, manufacturers and haulers. The industry also looks to Dairy.com for market intelligence through publications, consulting, risk management, and more. Dairy.com has delivered cost-effective supply chain solutions and services to the dairy industry since 2000, and customers represent a majority of annual U.S. dairy sales.

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Dairy.com
Paul Neale, 214-360-0061 ext. 238
paul.neale@dairy.com