The food industry is undergoing a constant digital transformation in which competitiveness is essential, focusing on cost reduction and manufacturing efficiency. The market is increasingly demanding and changing, making the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies fundamental to achieve more flexible and efficient processes.
Since 2016, De Paauw, a Dutch SME specializing in industrial bread and pastry manufacturing, has strategically invested in process digitalization through the integration of the MES and WMS Objective systems. Today, the system is the company’s central platform from which all operations and processes are managed and controlled.
De Paauw, with more than 100 employees, manages 4 production lines, warehouses, and its own truck fleet. Its daily production of industrial bread and pastries reaches 300,000 loaves and 1.8 million sandwiches, supplying traditional and online supermarkets.
Technological challenge
De Paauw sought a technological solution for the following production aspects:
- Traceability of raw materials and consumption in the production process.
- Real-time supervision and management of operations between departments, people, and processes.
- Real-time monitoring of production.
- Management of work orders.
- Automatic generation of tasks and replenishment orders.
- Digitalization and paperless production.
- Compliance with legal and audit requirements of control systems.
- Real-time reporting.
- Determination and control of the factory OEE.
The solution
To achieve its goals, De Paauw first implemented the Objective WMS system, and later incorporated the MES system to achieve full traceability control. The application of both integrated systems has enabled real-time traceability from raw material to final product, resulting in:
- Production order planning with start, stop, and progress tracking.
- Assignment of raw materials based on production planning through the manufacturing logistics engine.
- WIP-In locations in HotWired.
- LPN buffer functionality in the external raw materials warehouse.
- Consumption records.
- Replenishment managed and controlled by the system.
Results
By implementing the Objective MES and WMS system, De Paauw achieved its efficiency, traceability, quality, and competitiveness goals. The benefits include:
- Real-time traceability to meet high audit and regulatory requirements. De Paauw scored 96.29% in the International Food Standard audit, earning a “top-level” rating.
- Automatic OEE determination.
- Complete visibility of the production process.
- Optimal use of available space through task management and the manufacturing logistics engine.
- Full reliability of data generated in processes.
Company background
De Paauw Industrial Bakery was founded in 1973 in southern Netherlands. With a vision based on innovation, it quickly evolved from a small bakery to one of the most important manufacturers in the Netherlands. Its current production includes, among others, daily fresh bread, pastries, baked goods, and instant products.
Objective International, with over 23 years of experience, provides standard software solutions for production optimization (MES) and logistics operations (WMS), ensuring that all factory processes are completely transparent and under control from door to door. Objective International is now one of Europe’s leading suppliers of supply chain execution systems for manufacturing and semi-processing industries. Objective has been part of Germanedge since late 2018, an international group of German technology companies implementing innovative Industry 4.0 solutions worldwide.
Geprom Connecting Industries is an innovative and dynamic engineering company, headquartered in Spain and Mexico, dedicated to developing and integrating high-value technological solutions in Industry 4.0 and industrial automation. In a highly collaborative environment, Geprom works with Objective to guide clients toward the Smart Factory, strategically developing new skills on Objective’s technology.