Avery Dennison improves traceability and productivity

Avery Dennison implemented its Traceability Manager technology to help French cheese manufacturer Domalait improve traceability and increase customer satisfaction. Carol Houghton reports on the benefits

‘Food Law’ – European Regulation No.178/2002 – requires traceability and the recording of information throughout the agri-business production process. Domalait wanted to comply with this legislation as well as meet customer expectations regarding origin and quality of its products. When it reviewed its traceability system there were no links between the raw materials used and production orders placed, making management of raw material stocks very complex. In addition, despite batch numbers on the product packaging, a significant amount of data was lost during the traceability process because of unsuitable data management equipment.

The subsidiary of the Les Maîtres Laitiers du Cotention group, buys wholesale cheese which it then cuts and packs it into portions, mainly destined for the catering industry. Its production site in Savigny le Temple, south-east of Paris, employs approximately 40 people and packs an estimated 100 million products each year, generating a turnover of 11 million euros.

Julien Lefranc, maintenance technician at Domalait says: ‘The use of the existing traceability system caused hours of lost production as a result of downtime due to failures in the system. We needed a more efficient solution that could bring improvements to our production processes and could also enable us to comply with Food Law.’

Making a change

Domalait approached Avery Dennison in 2009 to help it develop a new, improved traceability system. Having carried out an assessment of the production site’s needs, Avery Dennison proposed a tailored implementation of Traceability Manager – a complete and modular option based on software that includes ascending, internal and descending traceability as well as product labeling. The computer aided software engineering can be adapted to a customers need without any updating, meaning it can react quickly to fast changing demands of the food industry.

Pascal Wopperer, market segment manager, says ‘it is a real time software mode that also has marketing and communication benefits for end users. It elevates the brand.’

An additional challenge was presented as the changeover to the new system coincided with an increase in production at Domalait. This meant production could not be reduced or delivery schedules would not have been met. According to the cheese manufacturer, Avery Dennison’s experience and commitment meant it could benefit from the new, operational traceability technology in less than two months.

Of the successful implementation Lefanc says: ‘The management of commercial data through an Oracle database is required by our parent group for harmonization between the different divisions, so it was essential that our production data was compatible with this system. Achieving compatibility was not easy, but thanks to the responsiveness of all those involved and the commitment of Avery Dennison, this problem was resolved effectively.’

The technology

The Traceability Manager allows management of traceability data to be customized at all stages of production, optimizing deployments. It also means factory operations can be aligned with the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) method, to meet quality control requirements. In addition, software scripts can be customized to create simple interfaces for each operator, making daily operation quick and easy.

It includes an ETL (Extract Transform Load) module for real time communication and in both directions with business systems – such as ERP, MES, WMS – already used by customers. Today, Domalait uses Traceability Manager to manage traceability throughout its factory to directly monitor the entire output of its 11 production lines, as well as its stock of raw materials. The quality control department compiles daily statistics of production orders to help improve manufacturing processes. Accurate tracking history for each product, from goods inward to product dispatch can also now be maintained.

‘The reliability of Traceability Manager enables us to control each step of our production chain and improve our processes,’ says Lefranc. ‘This solution has solved our production downtime problems and enables us to be much more efficient in comparison to the previous system. It also enables us to comply with industrial food production laws.’‘The Avery Dennison team has been highly responsive in adapting this solution to our specific needs,’ concludes chief executive of Domalait. ’In addition to improving the processes in our factory, Traceability Manager ensures the quality of our products to customers. This solution is beneficial to our activity not only in terms of productivity, but for our business as a whole.’

The implementation of the Traceability Manager has resulted in automization, risk reduction and an overall increase in effectiveness, productivity and turnover for Domalait. Avery Dennison believes the traceability reliability gives the company a competitive edge, adding to its future prospects.

Pictured: French cheese manufacturer Domalait has improved traceability

This article was published in L&L issue 1, 2012