More efficiency for Bakery Fuite

Automation makes processes on the factory floor more efficient. Through more insight into goods flows and stock, for example, as Bakery Fuite from Apeldoorn now experiences. The chance of mistakes is reduced and the baker never misses out again.

Like many other family businesses, Bakery Fuite has expanded considerably through the generations. Bread and pastries find their way to customers at home and abroad in large quantities, as was already reported in the June 2020 issue of Vakblad Voedingsindustrie. Smooth business processes are a must for this production, including the million soft buns that leave the factory every week. A good reason to automate the registration and issue of raw materials to production this year. Not an illogical choice, for those who consider that Fuite works with around 500 recipes, each consisting of several ingredients and therefore requiring a complex stock of raw materials.

Quality registration

Automation supports the food industry in complying with food safety requirements and increases transparency in the chain. With the automation of the raw material registration, with FOBIS software, the stock for Bakery Fuite is now visible in real time at any time. In doing so, there is more control over purchasing and stock management becomes more efficient. "We now know what's in stock all the time. Never too much, which prevents waste and never too little, so that the baker never misses out", says director Klaas Fuite. Automation is not limited to recording the raw materials, he immediately emphasises. Other goods such as packaging are also digitally recorded in the system upon arrival. The quality registration in which bakers check the incoming raw materials is also digitised. "Previously, a baker would answer these quality questions manually. Now he does this digitally and this information is stored directly in the new FOBIS system," explains Bernie Schlepers, Fuite's supply chain manager, who helped implement the automation. The fact that this information can be viewed at the touch of a button is useful for control purposes, among other things. The supplier invoice, for example, which was also done by hand before the automation.

Klaas Fuite (left) en Roy Meenderink

Scanning 

Automation makes this part of the bakery's processes paperless. Since the implementation, the bakers have been equipped with scanning equipment to scan articles upon receipt. Goods they take out of stock for production are also registered again with a scanner; in contrast to the situation in the past where raw materials for consumption were recorded on lists. Thanks to the new system, bakers will also no longer have to monitor the expiry date of raw materials themselves. "It used to be a case of searching for the right pallet. Now FOBIS automatically indicates where the raw material in question is located. The administrative burden is lighter for our employees now that we work paperless, and the chance of mistakes is smaller," says Klaas. 

The system of automated registration and issuing makes it exactly clear who took care of the receipt of goods, took care of the quality control and at what time a product was taken from stock. This information enables the bakery to make targeted improvements to the processes where necessary.

RBK Automation 

For the automation, Bakery Fuite contracted the RBK Group. The company from Deventer has been working in the food industry for more than 40 years. References from other bakeries played a major role in the choice. An absolute must for Klaas was that the software could be linked one-on-one with the financial software the bakery had been using for some time. FOBIS is the name of the automation system that RBK developed for the food industry. "For Fuite, working in this system means that the quality controls are covered and that there is more insight into the flow of goods," says Roy Meenderink, Commercial Director of RBK Automatisering. "Our automation system has a modular structure. It is suitable for both smaller and larger companies".

In the making

Bakery Fuite has been working with the new system for six months now. And there's more in store, according to Klaas. With the support of RBK, all data from the now automated raw materials registration and issue is expected to be linked to production data next year. This has considerable advantages in terms of tracking and tracing. Klaas: "With the recent automation, we now know exactly when and who consumed which raw material. In the future, we will be able to see at the touch of a button what raw materials have ended up in which end product. Up to the level of the type of dough in a specific bag of buns".

www.bakkerijfuite.nl 
www.rbk.nl

Main photo: Bernie Schlepers
Photos: © Koos Groenewold