Baking&Snack - June 2011 - 105

105
selection system was still effective, but the selection device was holding them back.” The distributor converted from screen-based selection to voice picking. “Gone now are the big screen devices that are difficult to manage when wearing gloves in the cooler,” Mr. Mahoney said. “Gone is the hand-punching of items and quantities. Simply scan the label, and confirm the count. With a wearable computer, the selector’s hands are free, and their eyes are focused looking to the next location. Production is up. Errors are down. Product is better handled.” TRACK AND TRACE. Many of the bakers with whom Genesta has spoken lately are concerned about supply chain traceability, according to Mr. Mahoney. “The new Food Safety Modernization Act regulations have put a heavy burden on bakers to trace 1,000 ingredients to 10,000 customers with only hours to produce the report,” he said. “Our approach is to apply lot control from the receiving dock in the bakery to the display rack in the store and pull the report from anyone’s keyboard. We update system disciplines to baking procedures that are already there and let our shipping systems tie it all together. We’ve even applied this control to the racks, trays and dollies that the bakeries use to deliver product to the stores.” Traceability is one of the main features of RMT’s warehouse and distribution systems, according to Mr. Rickard. The systems take data from production such as lot numbers or machine numbers, and they keep that information through the entire supply chain. “One of the things that I think happens in manual systems is that once the product gets dropped off in a pick location, all of the data associated with that product is lost, so they don’t have the traceability that an automated system can have,” he said. While Distrib WMS is Pcdata’s core module, the company offers several add-ons such as a dock load management solution that automatically scans products being loaded or unloaded from trucks, enabling bakeries to track and trace products. Many bakeries have not made changes to their distribution systems for decades, and now may be the time to investigate the latest automated systems that can provide labor savings while at the same time improving accuracy and traceability. ◾

Path-to-Market for Hostess Brands
Over the years, the direct-store delivery (DSD) business has become increasingly more demanding. Consumer’s fast-paced lives translate to retailers requiring enhanced, accurate and reliable service from vendors. To provide the best possible service to its customers, Hostess Brands, Irving, TX, is rolling out a new way to operate its distribution system called Path-to-Market. Hostess’ reason for adopting a new distribution method is to leverage an improved DSD system to achieve superior customer service and volume growth. This allows it to manage service more professionally at large-volume stores seven days a week, reducing in-store out-of-stocks by 50% at supermarkets, but still use its own sales force. “Hourly delivery drivers now deliver to the backrooms of these stores, and the sales force focuses on in-store execution and customer service,” said Steve Olsen, vice-president of warehouse solutions, Hostess Brands. The company’s Path-to-Market strategy relies on a new route segmentation system, with traditional, pre-sell and direct routes. Besides addressing megastores, its new strategy uses a similar DSD format to serve smaller stops where route salespeople deliver, merchandize and sell. In addition, Hostess continues to deliver to institutions such as prisons and schools, leveraging a call center and Web portal for orders. Another crucial component of the company’s Path-to-Market initiative is the warehouse management system (WMS). Hostess needed a method to pick customers’ orders to each level prior to delivery. This is where the company’s new WMS began. Hostess partnered with Pcdata, Inc., East Granby, CT, to execute the WMS. The company chose three distinct operational environments to pilot the system. For its first pilot site, Hostess selected its Jacksonville, FL, bread bakery, where it both manufactures product and assembles deliveries within the plant for routes to deliver to depots or customers. Next, it instituted WMS at a Memphis, TN, mixing center, a stand-alone warehouse that receives product from multiple locations. “The final model we piloted was a large cake plant,” Mr. Olsen said. “We chose Columbus, GA, and developed a method where we could distribute our cake products from that facility using WMS. The system knows what the order is, and if we are producing that item that day, we can ship it directly versus putting it into storage.” Although WMS is still in its beginning implementation at Hostess facilities, the goal is a 24-month return on investment for the project. “Some sites are doing it in a lot less time,” Mr. Olsen said. “We have one site where the return is going to be less than a year.” WMS permits Hostess to better track its product inventory on a daily or weekly basis; therefore, unaccounted inventory is substantially reduced. This

Hostess Brands’ new operations strategy makes for better customer service.

www.bakingbusiness.com

June 2011 / BAKING & SNACK

http://www.bakingbusiness.com

Baking&Snack - June 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking&Snack - June 2011