Industry: Brot- und Backwaren I Software: CSB INDUSTRY ERP
HUG AG, a traditional bakery business based in Switzerland, has long been one of the leading companies in the country’s bakery products sector, the enablers of its success being innovation, quality, and productivity. HUG pursues a straight digitalization approach, where an integrated ERP system is the technological basis for its ambitious goals.
“Let’s move to Malters”: the Swiss bakery business known for its extremely popular bakery products has concentrated its production facilities in one location. HUG expects substantial synergies from this move and invested around 60 million Swiss Francs in this forward-looking project. By relocating its production facilities to Malters, HUG has built one of the most advanced bakery production centers in Switzerland. “Balancing benefits and technology is a key priority for us,” says Thomas Gisler, director of Supply Chain Management.
Optimize processes with ERP
One of the foundations for HUG’s strong competitive position is the high level of digitalization in its organization. The ERP system plays a vital role: “We have used CSB since 1998, and we recently added many more applications. In this way, we aim to advance the integration and to further optimize our processes,” as Gisler explains HUG’s IT strategy. As a manufacturer of a broad range of bakery products like biscuits and crackers, you need to be able to steer all aspects of the operation: from entering the orders and purchasing raw materials from your suppliers to planning the material flow and controlling the automated warehouse logistics, all the while ensuring quality control and traceability. The current data on orders, raw material deliveries, recipe, and product calculations are joined in the ERP system. Following the harmonization of the bills of materials, the most important details are also incorporated in the production planning, which has improved the precision of planning results.
In-process control via touchscreen
HUGs annual production volume in 2020 was approx. 9,300 tons of bakery products, and strict quality tests for all products have always been part of the manufacturing process. Unlike in the past, the entire testing process is now digital. At every line, software-aided in-process controls are performed at IT stations equipped with touchscreens. The solutions in use have eliminated the need for hand-written line sheets and keying data into the system. The measurements are directly linked with the batch so they can be evaluated in the QM module. “The digital in-process controls are a huge step forward compared to the previously paper-based processes. Everything is immediately available in the system for further processing,” reports Reto Himmelberger, ERP Process Manager.
Efficiency in logistics
Additionally, HUG has considerably optimized its logistical areas. Order picking has been changed to cutting-edge mobile technology based on Android, and SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code) has been introduced. The use of scanners not only reduced the infrastructure costs, but also accelerated the processes. From the beginning, the new technology was widely accepted at HUG, according to Reto Himmelberger. “Today, our staff can process the orders much quicker and more efficiently. Also in stocktaking, we have completely eliminated the use of paper.”
Integrating the CSB-System via standard interfaces into the high-bay storage facility from SSI Schäffer has enabled end-to-end digitalization of the flow of goods. Inventory management is controlled with SSCCs, which has made the communication with carriers and customers more efficient and reduced the costs. The database in the CSB-System today establishes the basis for HUG to work with a dynamic inventory in the future and to further improve the efficiency.
Partners for business development
HUG and its ERP partner have ambitious plans: the latest CSB-System version 6.21 should bring about a far-reaching harmonization of the processes, leading to an overall advancement of the operational workflows. CSB’s consultants play an important role in this. “Given their practical experience, we expect relevant and implementable proposals for the targeted process improvements,” says Gisler. People and technology should continue to make an important contribution in the growth of HUG.
