Accuracy, Quality and Continued Growth Barcode Labeling and Scanning. Bassian Farms Inc. FOOD CONNEX SUCCESS STORY. Integrated Management Solutions

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1 Presented by: Integrated Management Solutions FOOD CONNEX SUCCESS STORY Bassian Farms Inc. Accuracy, Quality and Continued Growth Barcode Labeling and Scanning

2 BARCODE LABELING AND SCANNING Case Study and Benefits Overview Integrated Management Solutions Case Study prepared by: Casey Coyle 3503 York Road Furlong PA Phone Fax Some Photos Provided by Bassian Farms Inc South 10 th Street San Jose CA Phone Fax

3 Introducing Bassian Farms Inc. Dan Bassian For nearly twenty years, Bassian Farms has provided the Bay Area s finest restaurants and Food Service Companies with the highest quality beef, poultry, and seafood. Our sales team and buyers specialize in fresh natural poultry, Prime Angus corn fed beef, Local 100% Natural Grass Fed Beef, seafood, lamb, pork, and smoked meats.. ~ from bassianfarms.com THE GOALS Enable More Volume Reduce Runbacks Reduce Billing Errors Improve Traceability In 2011, after several years of steady growth, Bassian Farms was nearing their order volume limit. Everything, every weight, every number was going through one guy s fingertips. This was creating a bottleneck preventing the shipping department from going to the next level. ~ Dan Bassian Bassian Farms was facing the classic challenge companies face when a highly skilled veteran employee finally hits the physical limit of their capabilities. His choices: attempt to find, hire and groom another employee capable of performing at that level or invest in technology so that the workload can be distributed to existing employees. Also factoring into the decision was Dan s desire to see improvements in accurately filling the orders, correctly invoicing the shipped items, and improving on the existing traceability systems and recall readiness. When a mistake is made, we make it right. So for most of the mistakes that are made we need to run something else out. ~ Dan Bassian With Bassian Farms high level commitment to service a mistake in picking or shipping will be compounded with a rushed pick, ship and delivery. This puts additional pressure on the shipping team and reduces the order volume they can handle. Bassian opted to utilize the Food Connex barcode labeling and scanning system. This enabled the growth they were looking for by distributing shipping labor amongst multiple employees. Positive item identification and automated data capture for weights from the barcodes reduced errors and runbacks. Finally the serial number and lot capture enhanced existing traceability and recall programs. There were however some challenges that needed to be addressed 2

4 Bar Code Labeling Challenges THE CHALLENGES Non Bar Coded Product Broken Case Items High Traffic Warehouse Rugged Environment As part of the services Bassian Farms provides customers have the option of purchasing less than case sized quantities of product. Most product is not labeled with full traceability and bar coding on the individual piece in a cased product. This creates a hole where weights and traceability information can be lost. Bassian Farms also sources product from a number of specialty suppliers that do not use a standardized barcode labeling system. This means that the burden of recording the catch weight and any traceability information was falling on the shippers while they were trying to get the order out the door. The warehousing workflow at Bassian Farms was also challenging. They make the most out of every square foot with a configurable order staging area. This means that any solution would need to be mobile. 3

5 How It Was Done - A look at the technology and processes that made it possible. SOLUTION OUTLINE Touchscreen Label Station RF Handheld Scanning Integrated Scale Bassian Farms opted to move to a 100% bar coded environment. This means that they took on the burden of applying barcodes to all unlabeled incoming products and labeling any broken case products. This decision would distribute the workload that was causing the shipping bottleneck amongst the receiving and stocking teams. Bassian then chose to implement the Food Connex RF handheld based shipping system. This allowed the shippers to move about the staging area and scan in the orders. This permitted them to make the most of their configurable staging area. Sample labeling workstation (cart not shown) Finally the labeling workstation was made mobile so that cases could be opened and individual items labeled without the need to pull items from their assigned locations. This cut down on floor traffic and sped label application. The label above shows an example of one of Bassian s labels compared to a vendor s label. Bassian s labeling provides their internal item ID, description, the catch weight, and serial number and production date for recall. They can now generate and apply labels with that content for unlabeled boxes. For cases that are already properly labeled they simply scan the barcode into stock during the receive process. 4

6 THE BENEFITS Increased Capacity 80% Reduction in Errors Peace of Mind for Recall The Results and Benefits Order fulfillment has sped up. We are spending more time on the receiving end affixing labels so we re probably at break even on the hours, but we re now handling more volume and can continue to grow. ~ Dan Bassian Bassian Farms has successfully increased their ability to handle sales volume to continue pursuing additional growth. This is going to allow us to double, triple and quadruple our volume. Right now we could double where we are in volume. Before implementing the system we were maxing out, this system has allowed us to move forward. For most of the mistakes we would have had to run something else out. We ve seen an 80% reduction in mistakes so we have about an 80% reduction in runbacks. Bassian Farms also had the unfortunate opportunity to test the improvements they made to their traceability and recall readiness when a vendor issued a recall for ground beef that they carry. The recalled ground beef had been sold by the individual chub which would not normally have had a bar code label. Food Connex allowed us to positively identify items that went out that wouldn t have had labels in the past. The reality of it is before implementing the new system we would have had to run off a report of everyone that received loose pieces and recall them all. Now we have peace of mind that we can identify individual pieces of product. This particular item was something we sell at a low volume, but the next one might not be. We are in the process of bidding a contract with some major customers that require traceability so they need to see a recall program on any product we ll be offering to them. Now we can guarantee traceability for our entire product line. 5

7 Dan provided some additional advice for those who are looking at utilizing a solution of this type. Changing the workflow of an organization isn t an easy thing and here are some lessons learned. You need to understand that the implementation process will take time. This could be up to 6 months. You also will want to have your implementer onsite with you frequently to help push through stumbling blocks and identify the unique aspects of your business ahead of time. Encountering an issue then working through it while live is painful. Bassian Farms is reaping the benefits of their decision. They have improved accuracy, increased capacity, and already proven their recall readiness. We asked Dan for his opinion about a full return on his investment. Best estimate on seeing a full return on our investment is going to be 24 months. Dan, like many food business owners, takes the ultra-conservative approach when looking at returns. Take a moment to put a value on the following for your own company: 80% reduction in runbacks and errors Double your current capacity Enact full automated traceability and recall If you would like to calculate the expected return for your company call Paul H-C at (215) x18. He would be happy to review your company profile and develop an implementation plan with pricing for you to consider. 6

8 ABOUT INTEGRATED 24+ years in food industry 75+ years food expertise 200+ nationwide customers Cost reduction specialists For Your Business While our corporate mission statement has not changed over the last 20 years, the world around us has. Business is more competitive, technology is more complicated, and those in the food processing and distribution businesses have to find ways to do more with less and drive profit to the bottom line ~Integrated Management Solutions President, Paul Hernandez-Cuebas Thoughts From Other Customers of Integrated Management Solutions Make the Most of Top Level Employees: by Steve Polcsan of Indian Ridge Provisions Realistically we ve saved 8 hours a day in labor. For the people processing entering variable weight items is much faster, entering standard weight items is a little slower so overall we re saving $40 to $45 thousand a year in fully loaded labor. But time savings aren t the real value, it s the time reallocation. Processors are entering information directly into the system so we no longer need the three managers to spend four hours a day chasing paperwork. This has allowed our top-level people to refocus on their top-level responsibilities. That s the real value, getting our problem-solvers back so they can concentrate on inventory management, purchasing, quality control and equipment maintenance rather than scrambling just to get product out the door. What s the dollar value in having our top-level people focused on their top level jobs? I can t put a number on it except to say it s high. Automate to Grow: by Kevin Adams of Hometown Provisions We could not have continued growing without automating management of our inventory. When I joined Hometown Provisions five years ago I was employee number ten, now we re up to twenty-seven employees. Call Paul H-C at (215) x18 to be the next success story 7