See how we work with our customers…
Pin-It Pastry
We were delighted to work with this leading pastry manufacturer, supporting them with their goal of a paperless factory.
Read all about how we helped them below…
Background
Established in 1972, Pin-It Pastry is an expert pastry manufacturer that provides pastry products where size, shape, and recipe, can be created specifically for their food manufacturer or wholesale customers. The BRC EFSIS A grade approved manufacturer, based in South Wales, also boasts RSPO certification and SEDEX membership and prides itself in producing high-quality pastry products.
Challenge
Pin-It Pastry wanted to create a paperless factory and improve its traceability processes. They plan to achieve this over several months by having a phased rollout, initially starting with the goods-in and weigh-up zones in their factory, moving through to processing, and the final phase being packaging and despatch.
Solution
After a full consultation and site visit, Stevens has provided a solution that will provide paperless stock control, recipe management, and end-to-end traceability at the Pin-It Pastry factory deploying this over several phases in line with their timescales.
For this case study, we will focus on the implementation of paperless traceability at goods-in and weigh-up.
Goods-In / Stock Control
In Stores, we have installed a Stevens Vantage terminal and printer for booking in stock, as well as hosted Stevens’ stock software on an office PC for additional stock control and management.
When raw ingredients arrive on site, they are input into the Stevens System, Pin-It Pastry can cross reference these against Supplier Purchase Orders.
Once the raw ingredients are booked in, a unique lot number is assigned to each batch of raw materials, and a label is printed and attached to these commodities for traceability when the raw ingredients are used in later processes.
Weigh-Up / Recipe Management
Ingredients are taken from stores and scanned into the Batch terminal using a barcode scanner. This brings up the unique lot number for the ingredient and then when it’s weighed out for recipes pre-programmed into the Stevens System, the stock is automatically deducted from the system, and the unique lot number is also recorded as being used in the relevant recipes, providing traceability records and data about where raw ingredients have been used and in what batches.
The Batch terminal is located on a Stevens Vantage Twin Scale which enables the operator to weigh out the raw materials accurately to their target weights and within tolerance. The Stevens software will dictate which scale to use (major or minor) per ingredient which is also pre-programmed into the system and will not allow the operator to move on to the next step unless the target weight is achieved.
Once the recipe ingredients have been weighed out for a batch, a batch label will be printed containing the relevant batch information and barcode, which will be scanned at the Mixing terminal when the ingredients are collated.
Results
Paper has been eliminated from Pin-It Pastry’s Goods-in and Weigh-up areas. All data is captured digitally via barcode scanners and within the Stevens software, meaning products are consistent and waste is reduced because the software will only allow operators to carry out steps in the process based on stringent rules set up in the system. As a result, there is no inaccurate weighing or product giveaway.
Data and reports are accessible at the click of a button, including stock lot (mass balance) reports showing the use and movement of stock, meaning the management team has better visibility of processes, as well as more control by utilising the software and it’s the ability to manage and control what does or doesn’t happen on the factory floor.