V5 ERP For Bakery Efficiency – 5 Generation Bakers

5 Generation Bakers needed a traceability software solution for their bustling bakery – they decided to invest in the V5 Traceability Software Solutions from Matrix Controls Corp. the ultimate in Bakery ERP.

The Baker family has been in the baking business for over 135 years. Their experience spans five generations and two continents from Germany to the United States. Family owned and operated since 1875 on the west side of Pittsburgh, 5 Generation Bakers uses the same traditional German methods to bake the best cinnamon bread in Pittsburgh. Although they’ve updated their delivery vehicles from horse drawn carriages, each cinnamon swirl loaf is still baked in old fashioned crimp style pans and hand rolled, a delicate process that technology just is not able to replicate.

To compliment their newly built factory and after searching the market for a suitable ERP for Bakery usage, and introduce electronic traceability and material control, 5 Generation Bakers made contact with Matrix Controls at the IBIE Baking Show in Las Vegas. They made a wise choice and purchased the V5 Formula System from Matrix Controls.

V5 Traceability System

With recent food traceability scares affecting thousands of food companies (all food processing facilities) – food companies like 5 Generation Bakers are faced with a choice as to how to address the traceability legislation from the incoming raw ingredients of products to their mixing, batching & blending process, through to the labeling of finished and repackaged goods. This can be an expensive and brand damaging problem to address if companies take the traditional and inadequate paper-trail route.

The traceability software solution is a combination of hardware and software designed to bridge the gap between the production floor weighing and labeling processes and the management team. All incoming raw materials are booked in at Goods Inwards onto the Inventory Control module and allocated to precise locations within the site giving real time inventory levels which highlights shortages before commencing production.

When the daily production requirements have been established, the pick list for daily inventory is generated and communicated with V5 Formula System Terminals. This schedule provides the V5 Formula System Terminals with information relating to production orders, items ordered and inventory lot numbers to deduct from.

ERP for bakery efficiency | traceability software solution

When the operator selects the relevant production order from the industrial touch screen display, the system details how many batches of a particular product have been scheduled. Each formula is then weighed to a target weight (forcing the Operator to weigh accurately and work to weight tolerances set by management). Only when each element of the formula is exactly within the management set weighing tolerances will the system allow the operator to progress to the next ingredient ensuring product consistency is always maintained.

All ingredient lot codes are validated and recorded for full traceability using the ERP for bakery applications. As many of the formulations have ‘blends within blends’ the system is configured to allow for a multi-level recipe structure providing traceability across the liquid yeast formulations which are combined to form the finished product.

After the mixing, batching and baking process the product is either frozen or sold fresh. 5 Generation Bakers has dozens of finished product SKU’s each with specific label formats descriptions, the latest GS128 Barcode Symbology, Ingredient Declaration and a Finished Batch Number which is fully traceability).

Finished products are scanned at the shipping dock using wireless tablet PC’s (Running Matrix Controls WMS Software) which allow the picking and shipping process to take place in a very efficient manner. FEFO is imposed to create automatic inventory rotation, ensuring scanned products transfer the order correctly while depleting inventory accurately.

Bakery Ingredient Control & Traceability

Being based on the well proven ERP for bakery efficiency / traceability software solution , the reporting package has the ability to pinpoint which Lot Numbers have been delivered to which customers and when – all in real time. Simply enter the Lot Number into the PC and it will generate an Ingredient Traceability Report providing shipping details in the event of a product recall.

The reports package in the traceability software solution also enables visibility of operator performance, production throughput, and production yield while generating no additional workload for the site staff. The system provides traceability to comply with the most stringent food safety legislation and enables our process to score highly with the retailers requiring traceability.