Cybake has added a new traceability module to its bakery management software system that enables fast product recalls and audits.
It is said to have been developed at the request of Cybake customers who needed a user-friendly, affordable, and comprehensive traceability solution.
Due to the complex nature of the requirement, the firm’s in-house programming team was given the opportunity to completely redesign the way its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is used in the baking production environment. The new module now relays information around the production area to colleagues on tablets, with data being faster, easier to understand, more accurate, and up to date. This helps reduce errors, food waste, and time spent on repetitive paperwork.
Bakeries require traceability that goes one step forward and one step back, said Cybake. In the case of a food safety recall, they need to trace the suppliers of the ingredients that went into any batch of products, as well as identify the businesses they sold those products to. Instead of using error-prone paper systems or spreadsheets, workers enter the vendor lot codes of ingredients that come into the bakery, with the new module then generating internal lot codes and printing out new bar codes to be attached to them.
Individual ingredients are reliably tracked all the way through production, picking and deliveries in an auditable way. This helps bakeries to meet BRC, SALSA, and ISO accreditation standards, noted Cybake.
In addition to lot tracking and traceability, the new module also includes a new paperless manufacturing execution system. Rather than using paper prep sheets, the ERP system can now tell colleagues in the production area which products to make and what amounts to make in a user-friendly way with images on a tablet or mobile phone screen.
“Our new module delivers a reliable, modern and mobile traceability solution for bakeries that replaces the endless paper trails they currently follow,” commented Cybake managing director Jane Tyler. “At the same time, its aim is to usher in a new age of paperless production for Cybake users, whatever the size or type of their baking business.”
Instructions are fully customised to a bakery’s equipment. For example, the software will divide up quantities to match a 140lb mixer in its instructions – this is particularly useful for bakeries that do not use intelligent mixers or scales.
Colleagues can also see exactly where ingredients lots are in the bakery, their stock levels, and when they expire. Users can use the ERP system to schedule production in advance too, with suggestions given based on historic customer orders.
Gloucestershire-based retailer and wholesaler Hobbs House Bakery – which recently revealed a mission to source all ingredients from within 50 miles of its production site in Chipping Sodbury – was one of a select group of businesses that helped Cybake’s developers create the new module.
“As Hobbs House Bakery grows, the requirement to demonstrate end-to-end traceability has become a must to meet both the needs of our customers, and higher standards of auditing and accreditation,” said Hobbs House Bakery’s business analyst Ed Taylor. “We have used Cybake across our bakery processes for many years, and, so far, the elements of the traceability module we’ve previewed have surpassed those of other systems our teams have used before.”
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