Producing frozen, par-bake, baked goods or inclusion products is a specialized business. Few ERP solutions fit.

With commercial bakeries increasingly demanding more and better performance metrics, running a profitable business gets more challenging. You need accurate order profitability by the day – not three weeks following month-end.

That was the challenge facing The Original Cakerie, which sells frozen cakes to food service and retail markets in the U.S. and Canada. Before expanding to include frozen cake production facilities in two locations, they got ahead of these challenges by investing in a fully integrated ERP system. That helped them optimize and link their production, warehousing, supply chain, finance, and other aspects of their business, with great results.

The Original Cakerie has worked with JustFoodERP for almost a decade, building on the original system to extend the software’s capabilities even further. The benefits have been far reaching, says Eric Murphy, Director of IT at The Original Cakerie.  “Real-time visibility of our shop floor has been a big win from what we had before JustFoodERP was implemented.”

Other benefits have included:

  • Greater overall efficiency through better cost visibility;
  • More confidence and reduced risk owing to more accurate forecasting and planning;
  • Leaner operation with real-time inventory management tools;
  • Fewer headaches, mistakes and delays with consolidated logistics and freight;
  • Greater campaign effectiveness built on more accurate promotion pricing and metrics;
  • Improved efficiency and throughput on the shop floor thanks to smarter production scheduling and tracking;
  • Superior flexibility and usability with multiple ways of processing a sales order;
  • Reduced risk and waste through tools that make food safety compliance easy (The Original Cakerie is certified to the BRC Food Standard.)

Like many larger-scale bakeries, The Original Cakerie supplies national chains, so they need web-based ordered management and integrated EDI. Daily repeat customers who process up to thousands of orders per day benefit from several order processing options including standing and shadow orders.

The Original Cakerie is now better able to respond to fluctuating commodity and freight costs, which helps them maintain healthy margins. They can adapt quickly to pricing changes and use a variety of costing methods, even comparing multiple methods side-by-side, to make optimum decisions. Whether it’s freight surcharge, commission calculations, rebate tracking or discounts, JustFoodERP is ready with automatic item charges on sales invoices.

Other features of the bakery software system include:

  • Demand Forecasting: Customer forecasts are integrated into firmed sales orders. Demand is forecasted daily, comparing day-over-day, week-over-week, or month-over-month demand, or item by item.
  • Inventory Control: Real-time inventory provides key metrics such as inventory turns and expiry analysis. Stales reporting provides immediate feedback on over-production.
  • Production and Shop Floor Reporting: Capture consumption and production output in real-time on the bakery floor. Analyze shift or line efficiency with integration to PLCs at the mixing station or right off the packaging line to reduce paper and improve traceability.
  • Purchasing and Planning: A full MPS and MRP engine takes the guesswork out of purchasing decisions. Intermediate bills of materials will consolidate demand for common dough. Production scheduling accounts for starters and proofing.
  • Dynamic Route Management: Plan shipments by full truckloads, or for route-based environments. Route management planning supports dynamic route changes based on order demand.

What bottlenecks and constraints at your bakery keep you up at night? Tweet us @JustFoodERP.

 

Ready for a specialized food ERP? Learn more about Aptean Food & Beverage ERP JustFood Edition — a solution purpose-built to solve your challenges and propel your food business and digital transformation to the next level.