Paperless production planning

A COMPANY making ketchup- and mustard-based products in a variety of flavors has implemented paperless production and a consistently harmonized information flow. Burkhardt Feinkostwerke GmbH has installed a production planning system from raw-materials receipt all the way through to transport planning for the finished goods in its newly built plant at Schm鰈ln in Thuringia, Germany. Whereas electronic warehouse management for both the raw materials and the finished goods stores is common practice, with operating-data documentation providing good results, production planning systems are rather less widely used in the food industry. Burkhardt, however, depends on Krones?IPP production planning system that combines process engineering with a seamless transition to the filling and packaging operations. This automated planning meets the requirement for ultra-accurate planning right down to minutes and even seconds while taking a multitude of different parameters into account. The basis for the IPP production planning system is the ERP system installed at Burkhardt headquarters in Albaching, which manages the firm's orders and transmits data to the production facility. Plant manager Daniel Schr鰀er and Sven Jacob, one of the production managers, demonstrate on the spot how things proceed from there: “We use the mask to enter the period we want to plan for ?14 days, for example ?and the computer then compiles the production planning data based on all the framework conditions involved.? The defined maximum stock of finished goods and the inventories of raw materials are incorporated in this computation. Further stipulations: which product sequence is actually the most suitable for cutting changeover and cleaning times? Which production sequence achieves optimum top-up levels for the stocks while simultaneously meeting all the customers?orders on hand? In this way, an occupancy plan is created for all stations along the production process. The hour-based display for each day and for all areas of production shows when what product is to be made in a predefined quantity. Precisely referenced to the individual production, filling and packaging areas concerned, bar charts provide the requisite information. When it comes to process engineering ?meaning ketchup production ?the three preparation lines are given a meticulous production specification for each of the products to be made. After that, the filling lines for glass bottles, PET containers, buckets or other containers are shown in the overview, together with the requisite product data. Cooling, sorting, finished goods store are the next stations through which the product passes. When the merchandise is booked into the finished goods store, the warehouse management system (WMS) takes over inventory control, plus dispatch and order picking plans for the loading ramps.

Product plan right on target

The final item on the agenda for production manager Sven Jacob at the end of a working day is to compile production-planning data for the next day. He receives the ideal situation for optimum line utilization. “Here can you see exactly that the system is combining everything correctly: all 800-ml formats are processed one after the other so as to avoid change-over times. The determinant factor here is always the filler, because production capacity is measured in terms of filling capacity.? There is of course always scope left for the production managers?expertise. “When we抳e got to produce 100 pallets to reach a certain product's maximum stock, the computer will suggest this. But our experience might tell us that we抮e going to need more of this particular variety over the days ahead. So if we could in fact make 130 pallets during this day's production run, we correct the computer's suggestion and enter the higher quantity.?Shop Women's Sneakers by Brand