Schiltz Foods, located in Sisseton, SD, is the largest provider of geese and capons in North America. The company grew from just five geese in 1945 to about 100,000 per year today. Year-round, the company employs 30 to 40 people full-time and up to 140 seasonally – processing as many as 7,000 birds per day.
The business has adapted from selling only whole young geese, to meeting market demands by providing additional products such as pre-roasted goose, smoked goose products, and delicacies such as goose breast, confit legs, liver, and rendered fat for cooking.
The Challenge
- Barcode scanners automate inventory control and transfers to storage, eliminating manual record keeping.
- Random weight products serialized for accurate tracking.
- A simple interface made for easy training and a quick, smooth transition.
Schiltz’s inventory management and materials control were entirely manual before implementing ParityFactory. As a high value product, all Schiltz finished goods are tracked with random weights and given GS1 barcode labels as they come off the line. Once labeled, those details (product type, date, and weight) were previously handwritten and passed off for entry into Excel. Manifests and bills of lading were also handwritten as products were transferred to a third-party cold storage. This outdated system was not only time consuming, it was susceptible to human error. Tracking, manifesting, and billing for each random weight case manually was a burden on the plant and office team.
A crucial level of detail was lost using their manual inventory management. Although products were given barcodes, they were not serialized or accurately tracked on a case level. Once inventory was transferred to cold storage, there was no visibility as to what product was still in stock and what product needed to be shipped.
The system was so easy to implement on the shop floor, the staff was trained in less than one afternoon and we received excellent support from the project team at Parity.
The Solution
ParityFactory was implemented to automate inventory and lot-level materials control from finished goods through transfer to third party storage and shipping to customers. GS1 labels were upgraded to include a unique serial number to track product at the case level. Employees were equipped with barcode scanners to quickly and easily scan products into inventory for precise, real-time tracking.
Products are not only scanned into inventory after production, they are also easily scanned out as they are transferred to cold storage. Accurate, computer generated manifests and bills of lading replaced the cumbersome handwritten method. Shipping manifests returned to Schiltz after products have left storage are now quickly and easily reconciled by scanning a list of barcodes back into the system. No more manual data entry.
The simple interface of the barcode scanner is so straightforward, plant floor workers were trained in less than an hour. The new scanning system aligned with their current production process offering a smooth transition to an immediately live system.
The Results and Benefits
As a result of implementing ParityFactory, Schiltz achieved accurate, real-time inventory without adjusting their existing production processes or back-office procedures, creating a positive effect on the entire operation.
- Inventory levels updated in real-time provide the sales team with a clear view of available product both onsite and in third party storage.
- The ability to scan product cases with the correct weight led to more accurate yields, as well as streamlined shipping procedures.
- With automated generation of warehouse releases, they are able to allocate specific boxes, send a pick list to the warehouse, and have an immediate record of which boxes went out to which customers. As a result, invoicing is always accurate.
- The implementation of ParityFactory and employee training was all done remotely and the new system was up and running quickly.
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