Temptee Specialty Foods started in 1962 as a small supplier of roast beef to mom and pop grocery stores and local diners in the Denver region. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s their product focus shifted to meet customer demands, first to deli products and then to products with more menu flexibility and a reliable convenience standard. This expanded their market more effectively into the food service division. With the rise of fast casual restaurants in the 90’s, more customers were demanding fresh not frozen products. Temptee was able to accommodate the new trend to become the protein supplier for the widely known Chipotle Mexican food restaurants, followed by Noodles and Company and Q’doba.
By the 2000’s, Temptee acquired Old Timer Brand of premium sausages and developed a partnership with Evol Foods/Boulder Brands (Pinnacle Foods) which increased production and sales. In 2016, Temptee grew again by completing the acquisition of Johnson’s Chili Brand.
The Challenge
- Plant operators are equipped with mobile scanners and label printers to easily record the flow of product.
- Tracing is now complete and reportable from receiving through shipping.
- Office staff and plant staff have the same accurate information at all times.
Temptee’s manual systems strained under the pressure of higher volumes and a faster paced operation. The team knew automation would be key to supporting them as they grew in the future. They initiated their project with ParityFactory to achieve greater accuracy and efficiency in inventory management and to improve their lot
Keeping everyone in the company on the same page, with access to real-time data cross-departmentally, was also very important. With the company growth, production planning became more difficult without the access of real-time inventory.
Labor savings was another key consideration for Temptee. Random weight cases were being recorded manually on clipboards, making the counts susceptible to human error. Without automation of capturing the data from case labels, lot tracing proved extremely difficult and time consuming on both the shop floor and in the office.
The Solution
ParityFactory is now integrated in all areas of production, from receiving through shipping, providing a comprehensive materials control solution. Plant operators are equipped with mobile scanners and label printers to easily record the flow of product. Random weight cases are now affixed with weight-encoded labels which automatically record in ParityFactory. With increased speed and accuracy, labor costs are reduced, and lot tracing is a breeze.
Keeping everyone on the same page is no longer an issue as ParityFactory’s real-time inventory information feeds directly into Quickbooks. The office staff and plant staff have the same accurate information at all times. This allows the team to better understand costs, improve visibility of critical plant metrics, view instant lot tracing, and eliminate pen and paper counting.
Operations are better supported after the implementation of ParityFactory. The jobs of accounting, purchasing, sales and lot-tracing are all made less complicated and more efficient by the accurate, real-time tracing. Time that was previously spent collecting, entering and verifying manual data for accounting, inventory control and tracing efforts can now be spent elsewhere. This reduces labor costs and creates a far more efficient and reliable process. Temptee can now confidently plan for current and future growth.
The Results and Benefits
Implementing ParityFactory allowed Temptee to eliminate their manual process and achieve accurate inventory levels visible in real-time to all areas of their operation. Automating their production process saves many hours of labor per day reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
- Tracing is complete and reportable from receiving through shipping—making it easy to adhere to strict food safety requirements.
- The ability to scan product cases with the precise weight leads to more accurate yields, as well as a streamlined shipping procedure.
- A paperless shop floor reduces human errors and allows everyone to access real-time data.
- Live reports of available product assure all team members of accurate inventory levels, making it faster and easier to make production decisions.
- Automated documentation for bills of lading and manifests replaced manual hand written documents, improving accuracy and saved time on a daily basis
The Experience
Temptee’s ParityFactory implementation began with a visit from Parity’s expert consultants. From consultation through implementation and beyond, the face to face collaboration ensured the project’s success and provided owners and plant managers the confidence that their goals would be met.
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