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Viau Foods
Implementation of a Food Traceability System
Productivity-Boosting System Leads Quebec Food Processing Industry
Challenge
Viau Foods of Laval, Quebec, is the largest independent producer of pepperoni in Canada. It has experienced rapid growth and until recently was having trouble keeping track of all of its production batches and where they went. Its paper-based traceability system was not adequate to meet the standards of its quality-control program.
Implementing an electronic traceability system, however, would have to overcome environmental challenges including a cold and humid production area and refrigerated warehouses at -40șC. Information challenges included multi-ingredient recipes requiring multiple production stages. The change-management challenge was coordinating a variety of people with very different skills, some with little knowledge of technologies and with different goals in using a traceability system.
Solution
The company found a solution that solved its traceability problems and much more - it has improved the efficiency of all operations in three production sites and two warehouses.
Viau's approach was not to implement electronic tracing functions as an add-on to its manufacturing. Rather, management decided to collect information as an integral part of all of the company's business processes. The approach was to implement tools to optimize logistics, manufacturing and quality-management practices, achieving gains in efficiency while simultaneously collecting the traceability information - effectively with no additional cost.
The system Viau implemented is called Solotrace, developed by Sologlobe Inc. of Montreal. It is deployed on all sites and used by more than 60 of the company's 250 employees every day.
The Web-based system manages Viau's inventories across the entire supply chain in real time. All material is barcoded and tracked with a high level of precision according to various criteria including lot number, serial number and expiration date. The system uses radio-frequency devices connected to the Internet to track all material through the different production stages from raw material to finished product. It includes complete recall mechanisms and ingredients tracking.
Solotrace records and logs more than 350,000 events every month, -- four million a year -- generated by material movement activities such as receiving, shipping, transformation processes and transfers.
All information is centrally managed. Workstation terminals embedded on the production floor provide work instructions to the operators in real time. On-screen planning tools help the supervisors modify work-order scheduling. Warehouse managers can predict ingredient usage directly online.
Results
Viau Foods now has a state-of-the-art traceability system that has become a competitive advantage and a product differentiator. The company has won several new accounts with the new system being a key decision element.
All logistics and manufacturing/processing functions have been optimized. Workers use the application to monitor all processes on the production floor, enabling better execution and better material and information accuracy.
Inventory accuracy has climbed to 99.8 per cent from the former 80 per cent. The exact location of any material can be viewed instantly on computer screens. Time previously wasted in manually tracking and searching for inventory has been eliminated.
Quality control has improved through monitoring and verification performed directly at the critical control points. If a product recall is necessary, what used to be an arduous search and a paper-gathering chore is now as easy as a mouse click. Within seconds, information about quantities and ingredient lot numbers used for a specific product, or a list of products for which a specific ingredient/lot has been used, is available via the Internet.
Viau Foods is prepared to face impending regulations. In the U.S., the Bioterrorism Act requires that all food processors keep information about all suppliers and customers at all times. The information has to be available within 24 hours on demand. Viau can demonstrate compliance with this regulation, keeping access to a wider market.
Innovative Use of Technology
Viau Foods' implementation of a traceability system to manage logistics and manufacturing operations was the first project of its kind in Quebec's food-production industry.
Real-time visibility of all materials and data collection are accomplished using a distributed system: workstation terminals on the production floor, forklift mounted computers designed for -40șC, fixed barcode scanning stations and handheld computers.
A 2007 CIPA Winner!
For its excellent application of information technology to transform processes and bring benefits to its stakeholders, Viau Foods has been awarded a 2007 CIPA Silver Award of Excellence in the Efficiency & Operational Improvements, For Profit category.
Technology partners
Sologlobe Inc.
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