Industry: Bread and Bakery Products
Digitization creates new opportunities for medium-sized enterprises to optimize their processes and become even more efficient. This is illustrated by the new logistics center of GoodMills, Austria. The ERP system by CSB is the central software.
When the flour manufactured at GoodMills starts its journey to the customers, it has passed quite a few stations: grinding, filling, stock entry, stock removal, and finally loading onto the trucks. The entire process has been automated to a great extent, because CSB’s software has largely interconnected production, logistics, and business partners at GoodMills. “We are managing ERP, logistical processes and the service areas like accounting with the CSB-System. We do not have any stand-alone solutions, and all employees work with the same software. By now the integration has reached a degree so we can even control our machines and equipment with the software,” says Managing Director Gregor Trieb.
This is the workflow at GoodMills: As soon as the different types of flour have been filled into packages or sacks, the installed conveyors transport them to the next stages of processing. Every single packaging unit is labeled, scanned and thus entered in the information system without requiring manual intervention of the staff. On goes the conveyor, forwarding the units a short distance to the automatic palletizer, which stacks them on pallets according to a defined pattern. At the end, the pallets are wrapped, marked with pallet labels and moved to the warehouse via roller tracks – and all of this happens in a fully automated manner.
This level of productivity can only be achieved as machines, systems and robot units exchange data with the ERP software in real time by means of MES applications. For example, palletizer and wrapper choose the appropriate programs for every product group based on the item master data from the CSB-System. The labeling units, too, are connected to the software system. They receive any relevant data automatically, as for instance item number, ordered units, batch number, production date and sell-by date as well the Serial Shipping Container Code for unambiguous tracing of the products.
More flexibility for customers
Moreover, the business has become more flexible with regard to customer requirements. For example, retailers order so-called “Düsseldorf pallets”. These are half Euro pool pallets that can be used for displaying the products. First, the pallets are wrapped and labeled one by one. After that, they are entered in pairs and moved to the wrapper again so they can be wrapped together, and a common pallet label is attached. “Today we are even more flexible in meeting the requirements of the market and of our customers, as we can process many different types of pallets in an efficient and economical manner,” says Trieb.
Minimal scheduling work
GoodMills has also digitalized the processes in Route Scheduling. Today, carrier information is no longer exchanged on the phone, but via a web portal. Carriers log on to the system, distribute the assigned orders to their vehicles and choose an open time slot for loading. Order picking is completed shortly before the trucks arrive and the ordered products are placed at the ramp. As soon as the truck arrives in Schwechat, the loading list for the route is handed over to the driver and the appropriate loading gate opens. The roller tracks installed on the ground can be locked and unlocked by means of the IT system to prevent carriers from loading wrong items. This is concluded by printing the delivery documents and posting the delivery quantities. “The work involved in communicating with our carriers is now reduced to a minimum. There are no more inconsistencies in the timing for loading the trucks at our premises, and the carriers do not have to put up with long waiting times anymore. We know exactly which carrier is coming when, and which goods have to be supplied to the ramp, and at what time.”
