Industry: Food & Beverages
Hack AG supplies wholesalers, multiunit restaurants and hotels with fresh and frozen pastry and bakery products. In order to support the high quality level, the company builds on the latest production technologies. When it comes to IT, Hack relies on the CSB-System.
The expanding enterprise employs some 275 people at its facilities in Kurtscheid and Berlin. The sales volume of the entire group amounts to about 90 million euros. The company counts on high-grade products and guaranteed quality. Numerous renowned customers, as for instance Metro AG, Tank & Rast or Lufthansa, can rely on seamless controls and the best taste of Hack’s products.
Hack AG has been working with the industry-specifi c ERP software since 2001. “The CSB-System saves us a lot of time and expenses during our daily reporting with key indicators like sales, vendor statistics and gross margins. It thus prepares important decisions fast and in an optimal manner,” Chief Executive Offi cer Peter Hack explains. Thomas Hoppe, IT team leader, adds further benefits: “Given the modular structure and the high automation degree of the system, we can tailor the software exactly to our needs, like an assembly kit. The required administrative work is so low that operating the ERP software just takes a small team of two to three employees.”
Business Intelligence ensures maximum transparency
Hack AG attaches great importance to the areas of Business Intelligence and Management Information System. In many cases, central information as the basis for strategic decisions is scattered throughout a company, residing unused in various systems. “At our company, authorized employees can access relevant reports and analyses for their areas at the press of a button, without burdening the operational system. Moreover, time and cost-intensive preparation of data is not necessary,” Hoppe says. Management and the area leaders obtain an easy-to-use overview of the activities and processes at the company and control the area and business development on the basis of reliable information.
RFID reduces the process costs
At Hack AG, RFID is an important issue because trade customers like Metro demand that their suppliers are able to use this technology. RFID enables contactless identification of all products throughout the value chain in real time and thus creates complete transparency in the flows of goods. With this method, EU provisions concerning traceability and labeling can be implemented easily and with little effort.
“Further potential in our company results from reducing process costs in intralogistics, because processes in inventory management, receiving, shipping and picking are accelerated and become more reliable,” Thomas Hoppe explains.
In the entire value-adding process from receiving and production to picking and dispatch, all item details assuring traceability and quality-oriented shipment are captured directly at their origin. At the end of the manufacturing process, the produced goods are placed on pallets that are equipped with so-called RFID tags. The CSB-System couples the pallet ID with the data of the items it holds. This coupling enables precise inventory management while automating distribution management as preparation for reliable picking.
“For the operational process, such seamless information management does not involve any extra work as the RFID technology automatically handles the information management in the CSB-System,” Hoppe reports.
Cooperation brings multiple benefits
Hack AG is known for its innovation capacity and its sense for industry trends. In 2015, Hack acquired the Munich-based “DerGugl Manufaktur GmbH & Co. KG”, which specializes in small cakes. Production of the fine bakery products has now been centralized at the facility in Kurtscheid, of course also with support of the industry-specific software by CSBSystem. The IT system also links the other areas of the two companies in an optimal manner. “Our partnership with CSB-System SE is a good example for the positive impact that the ‘right’ industry-specific IT solution can have on the design of value-adding processes,” as the highly satisfied company director Peter Hack summarizes.
