(1888PressRelease)
December 14, 2008 - Snow Ball Foods processes and packages fresh and frozen poultry products, including Executive Chef turkey, Snow Ball Chicken Nuggets, and Frank & Teressa's Anchor Bar Original Buffalo Style Chicken Wings. After Meat is processed and packaged in the Kryovak section of the facility, it is then re-located into a temperature controlled warehouse, where it is stored until it is ready to be shipped out to Snow Ball’s customers. Because Snow Ball has a wide variety of products, their customer base is very large. Therefore, it is necessary for them to have extreme accountability on order accuracy. The streamlined shipping operation is essential to Snow Ball’s success.
Once the meat products are processed in the Kryovak Facility, there is no record of what was completed and packaged other than a hand written clipboard, which would later have to be entered manually into an Excel Spreadsheet. This was clearly a very inefficient solution to tracking orders, simply for the fact that there is a large margin of human error at stake, at the hand written recording level, as well as at the data entry stage. In addition, if the paper trail was ever misplaced, damaged, or discarded, orders were often misplaced, or duplicated, which ties into the second phase of Snow Ball’s operation; storing & shipping. Products were relocated to the warehouse with no layout or organization. The company relied simply on the operator’s memory to determine where orders were placed in the facility, leaving no verification of where products were stored. At the time, Snow Ball had a similar transit solution to processing, using nothing but a hand written pick list, and a clipboard to verify orders, with a designated associate to do nothing but data entry throughout an entire work day.
Idhasoft Mobility Division created a custom software solution that tracked the orders from start to finish. As soon as the packaged products came out of processing, a barcode label was applied to the exterior of the packaging. These labels were created by a SATO M84Pro Printer. The layout was designed and controlled by Label Matrix, an application created by Teklynx. The barcode labels are then scanned by a fixed mount Motorola scanner as they pass down the conveyor. Once the designated amount of packages have been the barcode printer then prints a Pallet Label that is applied to the outside of a Pallet to be used for storing and shipping purposes.
The pallet ID Tag is scanned by a Motorola MC9090 Terminal, running an Idhasoft custom software application. This application is a complete solution for Snow Ball’s logistics. Once initially scanned, the pallet is assigned a list of critical information including a location, production date, lot number, etc. Particularly important is the pallets location. If the product was created for a specific order, it is also assigned an order number. The shipping & logistics department can now pull orders with ease, as products have been placed in an environment with bay/aisle locations that are specified on the mobile handheld for every product & order.
Once items are pulled and awaiting shipment, they are verified by the handheld computers, by scanning the packages assigned to the pallet tag and corresponding order. The package labels are placed in such a way that every carton can be scanned even after a pallet has been assembled, making the verification quick and efficient. After orders have been verified they are ready for shipment, managed by Idhasoft’s custom software, that monitors all open orders pending shipment, and generating various reports based on productivity, order accuracy, shipment status, and much more. In closing, the solution created for Snow Ball Foods eliminated all human error, and paper recording/reporting, making the workplace much more efficient.
About Snow Ball Foods:
The company processes and packages fresh and frozen poultry products, including Executive Chef turkey breasts, Snow Ball chicken nuggets, and Frank & Teressa's Anchor Bar original Buffalo-style chicken wings. Its products are sold in retail packages for consumers and in bulk quantities for foodservice customers. Snow Ball Foods was founded in 1964 by Henry Colt. For more information, please visit www.snowballfoods.com
About Idhasoft:
Idhasoft is a software products and IT services provider serving enterprise customers in the United States, Europe and Asia. Idhasoft provide services to industry segments including BFSI, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Public sector, retail and Telecommunication. With a reputation for high quality and reliability, Idhasoft, one of the fastest growing company with revenue of over $150 million provides a range of IT services, from Software Application Development and Strategic IT Consulting to Recruitment Process Outsourcing, and Implementation of Third Party Enterprise-wide products including Oracle, SAP, Cognos and TIBCO. For more information, please visit www.idhasoft.com
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