Case studies / Food manufacturing
Case studyLot traceability and yield control for a food producer
A two-plant food manufacturer linked ingredient lots to finished lots in Odoo, measured yield by batch and turned days of audit preparation into on-demand reports.
Overview
A food manufacturer producing chilled and ambient prepared foods for national retailers and food service customers from two plants. It holds third-party food safety certification and is audited by its retail customers several times a year.
Scale. About 300 recipes, frequent specification changes from retail customers and strict allergen controls across shared production lines.
The challenge
A retail customer's auditor would typically ask for one finished product code and expect, within a few hours, every ingredient lot that went into it, every quality check that was performed and every customer who received it. For this producer, that request triggered days of record gathering.
Ingredient lots could not be linked to finished lots quickly. Goods-in records sat in one place, production sheets in another and despatch notes in a third, and the links between them depended on handwritten batch numbers being copied correctly at every step.
Yield was estimated. The plants knew roughly how much product came out of a given quantity of ingredients, but not batch by batch, so losses from overfill, trimming and rework were absorbed into general cost without anyone being able to point to their cause.
Allergen and specification control relied on printed recipe cards and careful people. When a retailer changed a specification, updating every card, line and label was a manual exercise with real risk attached.
Ingredient prices were moving fast, and recipe costs were updated once a year. Commercial teams were negotiating with retailers on costs that no longer reflected what the business was paying.
The solution
Recipes in Odoo define ingredients, quantities, processes and quality checks for every product. Operators on the line follow the recipe on a terminal, and quality checks are completed in the system at the points where they matter, with failed checks holding the batch.
Every ingredient lot is recorded at receipt and consumed against production orders, so the genealogy from ingredient to finished lot builds itself as the plant runs. A traceability report forwards or backwards takes minutes.
Yield and wastage are reported by batch, using actual weights from the scales and packing lines. Variances show which products, lines and shifts lose the most, and why.
Allergen and specification data is held against each recipe and ingredient. When a specification changes, the recipe is updated once and the change flows to production and labelling. Costs per recipe update as ingredient prices change in purchasing.
The engagement
- Six months
- Five specialists
- Recipe, quality and traceability design, Odoo manufacturing, lots, quality checks, allergen and specification control and recipe costing, integration with scales, packing lines and laboratory, and a line-by-line go-live.
Integrations
- Weighing and packing lines
- Retailer ordering feeds
- Laboratory results
- Warehouse scanners
- Accounting
How we delivered it
- 01
Map recipes and traceability
Five weeks
We mapped recipes, quality checks and traceability requirements with production and quality teams in both plants, including the evidence each major retail customer expects to see at audit.
- 02
Configure and connect
Nine weeks
We configured recipes, lots and quality checks in Odoo and connected the weighing scales and packing lines, so quantities and lot numbers are captured as product is made, not written down afterwards.
- 03
Load and drill
Five weeks
Recipes and specifications were loaded and checked against current cards. We then ran traceability drills, forward from an ingredient lot and backward from a finished pack, until both were complete and fast.
- 04
Line-by-line go-live
Seven weeks
Lines went live one at a time. During the rollout, the next scheduled customer audit pack was produced from the system, which gave the quality team a real test with real consequences.
Results
- Audit traceability produced on demand
- Yield and wastage variances visible by batch
- Recipe costs updated as ingredient prices change
- Allergen and specification changes controlled in one place
Traceability reports are now produced on demand for audits. Auditors receive complete forward and backward traces during their visit, and the quality team spends audit days discussing improvements rather than searching for paperwork.
Yield variances are visible by batch. Production managers now review the biggest variances each week and have reduced overfill on several high-volume lines.
Costs per recipe are updated as ingredient prices move. The commercial team goes into retailer negotiations with current costs and can show the effect of a specification change before agreeing to it.
Data entry quality improved because operators had helped design the checks. The checks fit the way the lines run, so they are completed at the right moment rather than filled in at the end of a shift.
The last audit, I printed the trace while the auditor was still taking off their coat.
What made the difference
Operators helped design the quality checks, which improved data entry.
