iba.TOPIC: DIGITALISATION

Bäckerei Geiping, with its 49 branches, around 700 employees and central bakery in Lüdinghausen, has decided to switch from gut-based to data-based decisions for its personnel planning. The company is not only known for its speciality baked goods, but also as a good employer. It is important to Geiping that everyone feels comfortable. ‘Clear communication is essential for this: everyone must always know what is relevant to them. Working and clock-in times are always transparent for everyone via our HR planning tool. The team receives the duty rota well in advance and therefore benefits from better planning, including for their private lives,’ says Managing Director Michael Geiping.

Sales-supported, forward-looking personnel planning
Modern HR software solutions for the baking industry can manage 3,000 employees, coordinate 30 or more branches, create precise production plans and automatically place orders. And access is very simple: all information can be entered and retrieved quickly, live and independently from a tablet, smartphone or laptop. ‘Our software knows all working and sick times. They are sent directly to payroll accounting at the touch of a button,’ explains Simon Mohr, one of three managing directors at software provider E2N GmbH.

With the help of digital time recording, the administrative workload can be simplified and significantly reduced. It also enables revenue-based, forward-looking personnel planning, whereby extra rules can be defined for peak times, for example. And even during the day, it is easy to keep an eye on sales and productivity. How customer behaviour changes is also visible based on data. While cakes were particularly popular in times of coronavirus, customers are currently more price-conscious. At the same time, the desire for healthy and sustainable products is increasing.

Optimising hygiene and quality management
Digitalisation can also ‘give wings’ to day-to-day business, for example by mapping the entire quality management processes in each individual branch. ‘Documentation with modern software is no less important, as the data ultimately has to be stored,’ says Jens-Dieter Zühlsdorf, Head of Administration at the traditional Steiskal bakery. ‘But it works without paper, is transparent and therefore very easy to understand.’ The entire organisational structure of the Schleswig-Holstein-based family business, including all employee master data for each of the 64 branches and production, is mapped via ready-made interfaces to the existing systems.

If, for example, an employee changes branch, the system adjusts the assignment directly from the time management system without any further maintenance work. ‘This is a great advantage, because you only need one programme on site to make documents or circulars available to all users and, for example, to record inventories directly,’ says a satisfied Zühldorf.

He relies on the AwenkoBack system. It is suitable for businesses with up to 650 shops and supports the hygiene management of the individual shop via sensors that can detect temperature fluctuations. It communicates with the merchandise management system and automatically processes orders and incoming and outgoing goods.

‘What's new is that everything can be processed via smartphone or tablet. The digital delivery note can now be sent directly by email with the company's own logo,’ says Heinz-Dieter Polfers, IT Consultant at Awenko GmbH & Co. KG. Whether cleaning schedules or stocktaking, everything runs digitally on an app, no more paperwork, no more error-prone transferring.

Increasing sales through product range optimisation
Other applications that promise major efficiency gains are AI planning solutions that enable demand forecasts for individual points of sale and make order suggestions. The relevant store assistants can even tell you during the day what should be baked and when. At ‘Förch der Bäcker’ in Erlenbach, they are delighted with the time savings of 90 per cent. ‘The AI relieves us of the tedious day-to-day business. And you can concentrate on why you became a baker,’ says Felix Gosch, who works as a master baker at Förch. ‘Returns have been reduced and sales have increased. The AI also provides a detailed baking list and delivery notes for the individual branches.’

The Armbruster bakery, based in Schutterwald near Freiburg, is similarly enthusiastic. It uses its AI application to manage its self-service shelves at discount stores. The software solution not only automates orders, but also helps the company to keep an eye on all key figures with easy-to-understand data preparation and visualisation. This simplifies the management of the self-service stations enormously.

Detailed customisation to individual needs
AI-based software solutions provide templates for decisions that could be made in the same way with a wealth of experience. But in times of skills shortages, this is becoming rarer. Owners, bosses and store managers are under increasing pressure. To ensure that the introduction of AI is a success, providers offer advice and support. They facilitate test phases and show how the software can be used in the best possible way so that the AI is precisely tailored to the needs of the respective company.

(Author: Kirsten Rein)

Innovative, AI-based software solutions are an integral part of the day-to-day work of modern and success-orientated bakeries.

iba.DIGITALISATION AREA

On around 450 square metres, everything here revolves around digitalisation. Together with Shop-IQ, a company for digital store management, shopfitter AHA 360° will be showcasing various customised digital strategies. These range from marketing with digital menu boards or infotainment to temperature monitoring in accordance with HACCP and controlling the right quantity of goods at the right time to ensure a consistently fresh product range.

An AI-based shop is presented that is self-explanatory. An AI bot specially developed by AHA 360° answers any questions the staff may have. The shopfitting specialist also makes

Light can be experienced and explained.

More informations: https://www.iba-tradefair.com/en/discover/highlights/iba-digitalisation-area