Norfisk
Mobile applications reduce stock buffers and error rates in picking and sell-by dates
Download the story
In Wismar, Norfisk has bundled its sales and logistics for the German-speaking region. The annual turnover of 40,000 pallets would be unthinkable without the information technology by CSB-System. The IT system ensures traceability and compliance with the requirements of the EU regulation on the provision of food information to consumers, and it reduces the buffer storage as well as the error rates in picking.
The Norfisk fish processing company is part of Suempol, one of the ten leading salmon smokehouses in Europe. Since 2008, Norfisk has bundled sales and logistics for the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and the Czech Republic in Wismar, Mecklenburg. A cold storage warehouse for about 800 pallets, 400 of which are stored in a zero-degree zone, and 400 in a freezer zone, a picking platform and administration offices are located here.
Turnover of 40,000 pallets
2In 2015, the turnover was some 40,000 pallets. Data management is intrinsically tied to the material flow, that is, the actual handling of the products. Since its start-up in Wismar ten years ago, Norfisk has cooperated with the industry specialist CSB-System when it comes to information technology. Norfisk portrays all material flows electronically, starting at receiving, inventory entry andinventory transfer, followed by packaging and labeling and finally by shipping including accounting and reporting, for example on gross margins.
At present, the Suempol smokehouse in Poland still has its own IT system which has grown over the years. This system registers the farm number, slaughter date, vendor and arrival date for the salmon raw materials purchased by Suempol Norge in Norway. Throughout the entire production process, every single step is then added to these product details. The lot number assigned by goods receiving in Poland, which is visible on the packaging as barcode, enables tracing of the goods in case of a product recall, for example from Germany via Poland to Norway.
Picking – unthinkable without scanners
At Norfisk, picking without scanner technology is unthinkable. The number of picking errors, that is, errors in the customer specific compilation of items, has been considerably reduced and is now virtually zero. In the past, it occasionally happened that a customer received boxes that were intended for someone else, but which were placed on the wrong pallet, or that a customer did not receive the ordered goods at all. Today the electronic delivery note indicates if something is still missing. Also, incidents of loading goods with an incorrect sell by date are a thing of the past now.
Purchasing planning to reduce stock buffers
The system also supports a differentiated purchasing strategy. Managing Director Günter Rees creates sales statistics relating to items, periods and customers, and optionally to a segment or product range. With these empirical values, the company can take a look into the “crystal ball”: Quantity planning varying by calendar weeks.
“I want to know what we needed on Monday last week, and I may also have a look at the beginning of the month, when people got their salaries. And I want these data in a format that is quick and easy to read,” says Rees. The positive result: “In the past, we had a stock buffer of 30 to 40 percent. By now, we have reduced the buffer to 5 percent. Thanks to the CSB System, 90 percent of the products are just in-time goods that were produced no more than 24 hours ago.”
Easy data exchange with food retailers
Via interface converters, the IT system of Norfisk is connected to the IT systems of the retail chains they supply. Converters can be realized for incoming orders, outgoing invoices, delivery notices of the sender (DESADV) and goods receipt notifications (RECADV). This simplifies the workflows, and it is a major benefit for the customers.
The communication with logistician Kraftverkehr Nagel has been set up accordingly: In the evening before the delivery day, the delivery data is exported to the system of the logistics company. The relevant subsidiaries then retrieve the data for the final distribution. The drivers receive a paper-based delivery note, even though strictly speaking, they don’t need it anymore: The incoming goods inspection at the customers is also performed electronically using scanners.
