For Fredy’s AG, the end-to-end tracking of all goods movements in the warehouse and production is essential for optimizing its inventories of raw materials, semi-finished goods, and finished products. Furthermore, this is the only way to ensure the highest level of delivery reliability and on-time performance for customers. To guarantee the highest quality standards, Fredy’s also relies on complete traceability of all ingredients used—from the grain, which is freshly ground into flour just before processing, to the finished baked goods: By linking the batch number and best-by date from the raw material suppliers to the respective end product in the ERP system, absolute traceability is ensured. The Comarch ERP Enterprise system used at Fredy’s already met these requirements. However, there was still room for improvement in the recording and processing of data on inventory levels and goods movements, as all goods movements in the warehouses and production areas previously had to be entered manually into the ERP system by employees. For example, order data was manually transferred from paper printouts into the ERP system. The goods movements were then manually posted in the system. Such a process took several minutes, and the data in the ERP system was not up to date. The Swiss company Fredy’s AG has broken new ground in its warehouse management: To post goods movements in the warehouse and production, the large-scale bakery uses a mobile app based on engomo. This has eliminated manual posting processes, improved the timeliness of inventory data in the ERP system, and significantly simplified daily work for employees in the warehouse and production. The company, which supplies its baked goods to well-known customers in the restaurant and hotel industries throughout Switzerland and employs 110 people at its production site in Baden, has thus been able to significantly increase the efficiency of its warehouse processes. The data was not always up to date, as employees typically did not record every goods movement individually; instead, they first completed their actual work in the warehouse—namely, receiving and shipping goods—before later recording the accumulated orders for the day. This method was not immune to errors or accidental data entry mistakes, and entries were often overlooked. In addition, warehouse employees viewed this task as a tedious extra burden.

Although the Comarch ERP Enterprise system used offers a web client for mobile devices, it could not fully meet Fredy’s requirements for a solution to streamline warehouse processes. This is because such a solution needed to specifically integrate the transactions for posting goods movements into a native app for touchscreen terminals in the warehouse and production areas and seamlessly connect with scanners for data capture. Ultimately, engomo’s Mobility Platform met these requirements: Warehouse employees record goods movements directly using a scanner. This data is immediately transferred to the ERP system. The data entry screens required by Fredy’s were customized, and the app was then easily installed on mobile devices equipped with a scanning function or connected to wireless scanners via Bluetooth. Touch terminals running the Android operating system were set up at central locations in the warehouse and production areas, where employees now record every goods movement directly. They do not need to navigate through the ERP system; instead, they can simply select the desired function via the touchscreen in a clear and easy-to-use app interface. They then scan the barcode of the goods to be posted and confirm the transaction by tapping the screen. Receiving, issuing, and stock transfer transactions for raw materials, semi-finished, and finished goods are carried out in this way simply by scanning the item number or the handling unit, such as a box or pallet. The pre-populated fields in the app—for example, based on the device’s location in production or the warehouse—further reduce the need for manual data entry at the terminal to a minimum, and once the transaction is complete, the data is immediately available in the ERP system. For example, employees now process receipt entries for finished goods from production via the touchscreen. Using the bill of materials stored in the ERP system, the inventory of the dough pieces used—as well as the raw materials such as grain, flour, and salt—is automatically debited retroactively across the entire production process and in the correct quantities. When recording incoming goods via engomo, loading units and packaging are automatically created, and at the touchscreen terminal, employees receive real-time inventory information about the product that was scanned or accessed via the app, including batch information such as the supplier batch of the ingredients, best-by date, and use-by date. In addition, the newly introduced touchscreen devices enable continuous inventory tracking and zero-pass inventory—that is, inventory adjustments when actual stock levels differ from system records.

With the help of engomo, the effort required to manually enter order data was reduced to a minimum. This also eliminated all sources of error. In addition, the availability and accuracy of information in warehouse management were significantly improved. At Fredy’s, they can now say with certainty that the data in the system is truly 100% up to date. Setting up the app platform, which runs on Android and iOS devices at Fredy’s, was very straightforward. It took just one day to set up the app platform for both platforms, meaning engomo was up and running faster than it took for the touchscreens and scanners Fredy’s had ordered to arrive.

In particular, the fact that engomo maps the parts of the ERP system that were specifically programmed for Fredy’s as part of ERP customization just as well as the standard system ensured that Fredy’s was able to keep the IT investment for the solution very manageable and achieve a precise mapping of Fredy’s warehouse processes. engomo’s flexibility, the solution’s attractive price-performance ratio, its rapid deployment, and the extremely high level of employee acceptance have led to a dramatic simplification and optimization of processes at Fredy’s.