Knowing what gets shipped where is important to many companies. But in the case of Farmland Foods, it's essential.

This division of Farmland Industries, the largest farmer-owned coop in North America, operates seven plants from Nebraska to Massachusetts, shipping nearly 400,000 cases a day of fresh and frozen meat products. With safety and freshness a top priority, Farmland installed an automatic data capture (ADC) system to track product through all stages of processing and onto its grocery store and restaurant customers, explains Gary Markus, vice president of logistics. In addition to improving internal tracking capabilities, the system can also expedite quick and responsible action in the case of a product recall.

'Hopefully, we'll never need to retrieve inventory from our customers, but our ultimate requirement is to be safe and secure,' explains Markus.

Last year, Farmland installed an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that connects all seven plants, sharing information between them. To feed data to the ERP system, the company selected an ADC system (Intermec Technologies Corp. 800-934-3163, www.intermec.com). It consists of stationary terminals, handheld bar code scanners, vehicle-mounted devices, a wireless local area network (LAN) infrastructure and data capture software.

Today, operations are running smoothly at Farmland. The ADC system handles the company's 5,000 stock keeping units and ensures that all finished goods receive a UCC/EAN 128 bar code label - standard in the food industry. Farmland prints about 170,000 labels a day, allowing the company to retrieve detailed product information down to the case level when needed, says Markus.

As soon as raw materials are either produced or arrive at a plant, the containers of meat receive a work-in-process bar code label. Additional labels are used as batches of products go through the various stages of production (cutting, trimming, blending, smoking, etc.).

Data captured includes date/time of processing, production lines the unit passed through, quantities and batch numbers. Product weight is also collected automatically from scales at selected locations. At various stages in the process, the bar code is scanned and transmitted by radio frequency (RF) to the ERP system for real-time review as needed. The label media and adhesive are specially designed to withstand harsh temperatures in both freezers and smokehouses.

When food processing is complete, the meat is packaged and the case receives a UCC/EAN 128 label. After a full pallet of product is built, it receives a bar coded pallet label. Data about all cases on the pallet are linked to this label.

Finished goods are then taken to the warehouse and assigned storage locations by the warehouse management system (WMS) to await customer orders. The Farmland order cycle time is 48 hours, notes Markus. Orders received by noon today will ship the day after tomorrow. About 50% of orders are received via electronic data interchange (EDI) and the rest are called or faxed to the company's customer service department.

For the time being, Farmland relies on paper pick tickets, but plans to go paperless within the next year. Pick tickets instruct orderpickers where to go and what to pick. At large facilities, pick tickets provide specific storage locations. At small facilities, pick tickets provide a general geographic area. When orderpickers reach their pick destination, they scan the location bar code with a handheld scanner. They also scan each product label or pallet label.

After picking a complete pallet of products, orderpickers confirm that the pallet is complete by sending a message by RF to the ERP system. This also initiates printing of a bar coded pallet manifest detailing what is on the pallet, the customer, carrier, stop on the truck and the door number where the truck is being loaded. As a final verification, shipping crews loading trucks scan the dock door and the final pallet manifest to confirm the pallet was loaded on the correct trailer.

'The pallet manifest document has helped us work with customers and carriers on delivery claims,' says Markus. 'If a carrier or customer disputes an order, we and the carrier can check the pallet manifest and confirm if the product was scanned to that order,' he explains.

Markus continues to expand on the benefits of the ADC system. It significantly reduces delivery errors, and improves customer relations. Using wireless terminals, bar codes and an ERP system allows Farmland personnel in operations, sales, logistics, accounting and quality assurance to view order and inventory status information instantaneously. They can retrieve information on any step of the process from raw material receipt through customer delivery, detailing where and when the product was produced, down to the particular production line and specific time period.

Though quality and safety were Farmland's primary justification for the expense to install ADC, the food manufacturer confirms it is better linked to the ERP system and able to improve the management of costs by obtaining accurate weights and volumes throughout the product flow.