For years Kampol-Fruit has been one of the leading Polish companies in the fruit and vegetable processing industry. Established more than a quarter of a century ago, the company is one of the pioneers of modern logistics in the processing sector. It uses, among other things, logistics labels, which allows the entire supply chain to be traced from the moment the raw material enters the warehouse to the moment of its purchase by the customer (traceability).
Kampol-Fruit specializes in the production of frozen food from local seasonal fruits, vegetables, mushrooms and herbs. It also produces fruit and vegetable concentrates and purees. Annual production reaches 80,000 tons.
The company’s headquarters is located in Biała Rawska. The first production plant operated in Nasielsk, not far from Grójec. Another one, combined with a modern sorting plant, press shop and cold store, was built in Milejów, near Lublin.
New racks and terminals with barcode scanners
The aim of the implementation, which started a few years ago and aimed at a thorough upgrade of logistic processes, was to introduce barcodes for product identification and warehouse management, among other things. At the same time, the company wanted to ensure compliance with international distribution standards.
A specific excuse for the logistic revolution was the opening of a modern freezer room in Milejów. It is equipped with a new generation of mobile racks. The next stage was to implement improvements in warehouse operations, including the marking of goods.
Comprehensive SKK system includes:
– Smart software, recording the movement of raw materials and goods,
– a specialised printer for printing location labels for goods,
– portable terminals equipped with barcode scanners,
– wireless network enabling radio data transmission.
SKK Smart is an application operating on portable terminals equipped with barcode scanners. A relatively straightforward interface enables quick and easy work during such activities as goods receipt and release, warehouse movements, inventory. The use of Smart makes it possible to eliminate time-consuming documentation of operations with the use of paper lists, which then had to be entered into a computer system. The operator executes the document by scanning barcodes from the goods and entering additional information, e.g. about the number of pieces, from the portable terminal keypad. The data collected in this way is automatically transferred to the company’s computer system (ERP). Data transmission can be via wireless WiFi (or GPRS), or via a communication dock.
SKK Smart enables the creation of warehouse documents on the terminal (a document initiated by a warehouse operator and sent back to the ERP system), verification of ordered documents (a document initiated by e.g. a salesman in the ERP system, sent for verification in the warehouse and sent back to the ERP system).
Paper documentation is now a thing of the past
All stages of trade in goods are recorded. From the moment the raw material is brought in by the farmers, through sorting, classifying, entering and leaving the production line, placing the finished product in the freezer and release from the warehouse.
Individual operations at the production, storage and distribution levels are carried out by means of barcodes. Scanning the code from the goods by means of portable terminals replaced the paper documentation previously used, from which information was manually entered into the company’s IT system.
The software is equipped with a Web Transfer data exchange module, which enables communication between the terminals and the in-company IT system. In this way, data scanned from terminals is automatically sent by radio to this software tool. The reverse process is similarly implemented. Each order from the ERP level is displayed on the terminals in the warehouse.
Logistics labels give control over food products
The marking and release of goods are now much faster. The hosts of the facility also speak of a significant reduction in the number of errors previously encountered during the release and retrieval of goods.
All goods at each stage are marked with barcode labels. As part of the delivered solution, Kampol-Fruit can print location plates, indicating the place of storage in the warehouse and logistics labels, which identify individual products.
These labels use international standard GS1. On this basis, the entire supply chain can be traced from the moment the raw material enters the warehouse until its purchase by the customer (traceability). This is particularly important in the food industry and is regulated by relevant legislation. If one of the production batches is defective, thanks to the implementation, it is easy and quick to reach, and the supplier is able to react equally quickly, e.g. by withdrawing the entire batch from the market.
The list of benefits from the implemented solution is quite long. These include:
– faster receipt, marking and release of goods,
– reduction of the workload while operating the warehouse,
– control of the supply chain,
– reduction of human errors,
– precise identification of products,
– lower operating costs.
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