Product category:
Process Control: SCADA, ERP, MES and networks
News Release from: Marcam | Subject: ERP solution for Bahier
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 23 June 2004
Process control and traceability at the
Butchers
Protean, the process industry ERP solution from Marcam, became a key technology component of the strategy at Societe Bahier from 1999, particularly for operational control and planning performance
From its beginnings as a family village butchery in 1966, Societe Bahier has grown to be the industry leader it is today Under Regis Bahier's leadership, it successfully stepped into the industrial era, while continuing to cultivate its roots in the local flavours and gastronomy of the French region La Sarthe
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 14 May 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Since the beginning of 2000, its 400 employees have turned their focus to three strategic goals: continuing unmatched focus on food and service quality and security; improving price competitiveness; and lastly leveraging innovation to become the leading manufacturer of puddings, and rillettes snack food (potted mince).
The operational implementation of this strategy required an effective balance between human resources, business processes and technology.
Protean, the process industry ERP solution from Marcam, became a key technology component to this strategy.
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Deployed at Societe Bahier in 1999, Protean has enabled operational control to support these strategies.
Historically, Societe Bahier chose the Protean solution with a priority of optimising its planning performance.
At this time, planning faced at least three challenges: demand peaks on Mondays and Fridays; health regulations enforcement demanding lot controls which increased the production cycle by 51 hours; and the institution of the 35-hour workweek due to government legislation.
Pascal Barre, Production Director at Societe Bahier explains: "Without Protean, we could not have reached our customer service objectives.
Today, we have achieved an on time serve level for 99% of customer orders (versus 96.7% in 1999) while keeping our inventory at a more than acceptable level.
Our customers, who have a long memory, recognise and appreciate our efforts.
Protean enables us to manage our inventory in an optimal way, notably by giving us a good vision in terms of ATP ".
Planning optimisation was a priority when Protean started up on the 15th of November 1999.
But traceability management quickly overshadowed it, with the listeria crisis of January 2000, the most dramatic crisis the industry has known.
"The company lived through this traumatic episode.
In one day, our production volume dwindled by 80%! We consequently had to get through the crisis as quickly as possible.
The deployment of the Protean solution had been focused on modelling our business processes - and we could rely on Protean to show customers and public authorities how reliable our traceability system was," remembers Pascal Barre.
As of today, the rillettes market has lost 5% in volume but Societe Bahier has returned to its pre-crisis sales volume.
The remarkable traceability system is largely responsible for this.
Bahier's integral, reliable and real-time traceability encompasses all incoming material and resources (including packaging, labels and labour) at a granularity ranging from kilograms to tons, from carcass to truck.
It appropriately balances automatic data acquisition (50 acquisition points throughout manufacturing cycles) and manual data acquisition via digital screens.
Pascal Barre continues: "The traceability audits we go through always result in high ratings.
Distributors' specifications demand manufacturers to be able to perform a product recall within 4 hours.
Protean enables us to produce a lot genealogy reports in less than 2 minutes.
Overall, we can produce certificates, communicate them and perform our recalls in less than 90 minutes".
Societe Bahier meets all traceability requirements of the European General Food Law (EC 178-2002).
It is even well ahead of future regulation demands! Cost and process control translates to competitive pricing Societe Bahier has been using Protean to establish standard costs since 1999.
Today, they are extending the use of Protean to measure and control actual costs.
"As we establish our precise costs, we can confidently control price adjustments.
With reliable data, we do not hesitate on making informed decisions: either our customers accept the increase, or we stop the product line in question", explains Pascal Barre.
More generally, improving price competitiveness requires efforts in productivity.
By providing the flexibility to collect all relevant business data, Protean helps define appropriate business indicators (KPI's) and implement corrective action plans.
For instance, in one year, Societe Bahier has halved the number of product return, thanks to the process control and performance measurement abilities Protean provides.
A reactive information system to enable future growth Bahier's future strategy focuses on innovation and aims to create synergies between traditional pork butchery (pudding and rillettes) and the butchery-confectionery activities the company recently acquired.
With a 100% object oriented architecture, advanced APIs functionalities and technologies such as CWOM (Customisation With-Out Modification), Protean brings the required flexibility.
"Protean has one quality among others: it is a high-fit, flexible solution designed for the food industry.
In 1999, we wanted a tool which would enable us to evolve over a good number of years without having to be changed our ERP system.
At that time, we could not find limits to Protean! This is still the case." concludes Pascal Barre.
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