Baking & Snack - February 2018 - 122

ROUTE ACCOUNTING

ing and complicated system documentation, according
to Mark Maraj, vice-president, sales and marketing,
MiT Systems. Application databases, he added, must
easily adapt to a host of process changes over time while
providing the necessary performance.
"It's important to choose software packages that
have the ability to meet the needs of companies as their
business models change and evolve," Mr. Maraj said.
"Specifically, companies can be faced with the lack of
real-time information that can be vital to production
scheduling and product availability."

Leaving legacies behind
In recent years, the gap between information technology
that drives a business and outdated distribution systems
has grown larger. However, despite that great and growing divide, it is not insurmountable. In fact, many of today's platforms easily bridge that gap between RSRs and

Warehouses offer a more
cost-effective distribution
model and the ability to
ship products over
greater distances.

Upgrading distribution
centers with the latest
in data management
software improves
a bakery's overall
performance, including
quality and freshness of
its baked goods.
Sosland Publishing Company

Josh Beam, Harvest's director of technology, added
that bakers need to balance out the pros and cons of
each system. "With DSD, orders are processed with
short lead times with flexibility between delivery days,
creating a complex matrix for scheduling and transportation," he said. "In a true warehouse distribution model,
manufacturing produces to inventory levels or to large
purchase orders with greater lead times. This is typically
less complex logistically but adds lead time planning to
maximize freshness."
Often regional bakers find themselves shifting from
DSD to warehouses as their retail and foodservice
customers expand into new geographic markets, or
even nationally. In many cases, investments in technology must be accommodated by significant train-

122 Baking & Snack February 2018 / www.bakingandsnack.com

real-time data management. As a result, shifting from
DSD to warehouse - or operating a hybrid of the two
- sometimes just requires an integrated inquiry that orchestrates a synchronized solution between the old and
new without too much time and labor.
"At its essence, the question becomes: What technologies and processes have been put in place to help with
the transition?" said Bob Saucedo, Harvest's director of
sales and marketing. "We've developed a sophisticated
strategy enabled by what we call Harvest Exchange that
provides integration with legacy systems, an advanced
transition engine that translates and deposits the data
elements needed by each of the connected systems and,
ultimately, allows a bakery to run parallel systems during the transition."
Harvest recently partnered with Honeywell and other
providers to leverage the stability of a legacy Fortune
75 company to develop the next generation technology
that is scalable and adaptable. The company's interconnected services include HarvestDSD for route delivery;
HarvestERP for costing, manufacturing and warehousing; and HarvestBI that provides business intelligence
capabilities for harnessing data from every business user
as well as gathering from legacy data sources.

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Baking & Snack - February 2018

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