Industrial Division Production Manufacturing: International



Industrial Division Production Manufacturing: International Update

Current US Industrial Dessert Customer Matrix:

| |Batch |Partially Auto |Fully Auto |

|Crème Pie Manufacturer | | |Schwann’s, Edwards |

|Cake Decorating/Manufacturing | |Creative Occasions |Country Oven Bakery |

|Dessert Manufacturing | | | |

|Salad Manufacturing | | | |

|Other | | | |

Explanation of Scale:

Within the US ingredients segment our customers currently fit three levels of production and automation, as per below.

- Batch Manufacturing – In Non-Dairy terms, multiple use of Hobart or Kitchen Aid whipping machines.

- Partially Automated – Building off the above and may have some form of filling/dispensing automation but is still basically a “batch system”

- Fully Automated – will incorporate an Oakes continuous mix system or similar for high volume production.

US Ingredients Division Capabilities

➢ Resources:

o Rick Werkheiser (coming over from Flavor Right) – Oakes, f industrial account experience with FR, ND Plant GM for FR

o David Bluemke – manufacturing (mostly dairy), Oakes and Unifiller

o Jack Joseph – formula & equipment application (oakes, Unifiller and other similar Equipment

o Andy

➢ Where do we add value?

We are able to add value through evaluating the capabilities of the customer’s current operation and assessing where there is room to take them to the next level of automation. Understanding the types of equipment that are available to our customers and how they are different is an important element in this relationship. We have to be more than a supplier of ingredients, we need to add efficiency and value to the customer’s operation though experience and expertise.

Of course not every customer is financially ready to move up the automation chain. With those customers we provide the most appropriate format of product and offer great service on those products. We also like to help these accounts plan for their future in laying out the automation options that may fit their business once they are ready to take that step.

Offering product solutions that fit the types of manufacturing our customers use is another value Cremes Unlimited offers. Totes and bag in box add the most value to our US customers today because the ratio of packaging to product is efficient for the customer’s needs.

➢ How do we move from BATCH ( PARTIAL?

Moving from a batch manufacturing operation to a partially automated manufacturing operation greatly depends on the business itself. For cake manufacturing it could be as simple as taking a manufacturer that is using multiple Kitchen Aid mixers to using an industrial size stand mixer, allowing for greater whip consistency across batches and the ability to ice more cakes with a single whip.

It is crucial to build trust with these customers as it tends to not be the classic buyer situation we encounter in other segments. Many times the buyer in the ingredients segment is the president of the company or the VP, who is looking for relationship building with suppliers so that they may partner in the success of their business. To build this relationship it is important to be a partner to the customer in every way ensuring you maintain complete confidentiality between accounts if servicing customer who could be potential competitors. Also important to the relationship is presenting ways to improve the capability and efficiency of the customer through new technologies and solutions. If we can guide the customer to use a type of equipment we know works well with our products and also will enable the customer’s operation to be more cost effective or efficient and by doing so we build loyalty with that operation. It is however extremely important that we are experts in the types of equipment our products run on. We need to always be the first call for any type of issue that could be related to our product even if it is a mechanical / equipment issue.

Historically with US accounts we always assist the customer during the transition to the new equipment and always try to be their first call for everything that has to do with your product or the equipment they are running your product on.

When looking to do a large project with industrial customers it is important to have Rich’s R&D, operations and compliance support on premise. Many times these customers have to outsource that type of support. Bringing our resources to the table for a project involving our products will add a great amount of value to the customer.

➢ What are the packaging capabilities that we have today?

Currently our most popular products are bag in box (#30 bladder bags) and Crèmes Unlimited 275 gallon Totes which are shipped one tote per pallet (8 totes per truck) and they have a spigot at an angle at the base of the tote for easy hook up to Oakes equipment without having to tilt the tote for complete product evacuation. An important difference to note with these products is that they are all refrigerated. This is because it would be too timely and costly to freeze a 275 gallon tote and then for the customer to thaw it on premise. Therefore we provide multiple deliveries per week for large scale customers that have the ability to handle the totes.

[pic][pic]

Country Oven Bakery: Kroger (Bowling Green, KY)

This is a fully automated operation that produces products for Kroger. They are required to market themselves to Kroger to maintain honest pricing, quality and efficiency but the bulk of what they produce will be sold off of Kroger shelves nation wide. They also co-pack for companies like Rich’s and Dawn when capacity permits.

Cake finishing utilizes two Unifiller lines. One line is for round cakes and it runs the Crèmes Unlimited tote hooked up to an Oakes machine, it is a double sided line that produces approx 19 finished cakes per minute. The Unifiller lays a base ice around the cake which people working the line then smooth. Even though this process is very automated, 25 people are still required on the line while it is running (finishing the icing, wiping icing off cake boards, monitoring Oakes pressure, placing cake layers on spikes, adding dome to cakes, adding decoration to cakes, etc…)

[pic][pic]

[pic][pic]

The second Unifiller line runs in a 90 degree angle to ice sheet cakes. The cake layer is placed on the line where is receives a deposit of icing on two sides and the top of the sheet, it then drops onto another conveyor causing it to switch direction 90° where it receives the final two sides of icing deposit. From here the icing is smoothed by people working the line and it is then packaged. This line is more batch oriented as they use large stand mixers of butter cream icing and add the icing to the Unifiller as needed. There are approximately 10 people working this line and throughput is about 9 cakes per minute.

[pic][pic][pic][pic]

The team at Country Oven Bakery was able to wash down and switch from a fudge icing to our vanilla whipped icing in a tote within an hour of our arriving (which is very efficient). The plant has a very clean and efficient set up, everything is installed in a permanent location; they have very strict quality and safety standards. They also have a clear footprint of production lines and machinery.

Noted inefficiencies: they produce their own cake layers and their own butter cream. The cake layers are packaged into finished cases for shipment to Kroger stores or for use on the cake line. Therefore the cases must be broken down for use on the Unifiller line and the packaging is then recycled.

[pic]

Creative Occasions (Nashville, TN):

Creative Occasions is a semi automated batch manufacturer of specialty cakes. They are very specialized and speak to a niche market for more premium level cakes that are hand finished with unique and/or upscale flavor profiles. Their code turn from quarter to quarter is approximately 80%. They specialize in seasonal and LTO type products. The minimum run out of their facility is 2,000 cakes. All of the lines and work stations are on wheels and can be configured for the production schedule for that particular day.

Creative Occasions uses industrial sized stand mixers and have a dedicated employee who has the job of feeling the topping or icing with his hands to determine when it is at the correct gravity or overrun. Creative Occasions has some Unifiller equipment for base icing cakes but the remainder of the process is very manual. They train junior employees to decorate cakes and those decorators are then graded on their level of work so that they constantly strive to improve.

In order to reduce the likelihood of repetitive action injuries, Creative Occasions has ten DecoMate Unifiller machines used to ice borders onto the cakes.

[pic]

[pic][pic]

The operation is currently run by approximately150 people who work the cake baking and icing lines. Very recently the operation has hired a full time QA person, a regulatory/compliance person and an operations resource. Up until hiring these employees, the president of the company had fulfilled these duties when possible and outsourced the responsibilities he could not manage. The president told us that his facility is much more efficient and flexible now but that he had to go across the nation to find the talent he needed to fill those roles.

-----------------------

Needs To Be Further Updated

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download