The German Schönecke GmbH has recently been working with Winweb – after managing director Henner Schönecke initially chose other software companies in 2001 and 2010. And today regrets it: “If I had chosen Winweb right away, we would have been spared a lot of effort.”
He can rely on his chickens: Egg sales are the focus of Henner Schönecke's family business.
A consolation for Schönecke: “The switch to winweb-food went almost smoothly.” He knew things very differently from the last changeover in 2010 and only remembers it reluctantly. “All the more pleasing that we started planning with Winweb in May 2022 and were already able to start in October.” The first week with the new system was a little bumpy, but all in all it was “a dream changeover”, Schönecke is pleased to say. “For this project, we broke new ground”, says Winweb Managing Director Willi von Berg. “We integrated the specific features of the egg trade into our standard software winweb-food, which until now has mainly been used in the meat industry.”
Eggs are sorted automatically
The poultry company Schönecke sorts and packs eggs from its own production and from a small circle of selected suppliers. For this purpose, the eggs are automatically sorted by size and quality in the egg sorting system and booked in winweb- food. Origin information such as farming method, farm of origin and laying date is stored directly in the batch and recorded as information in the merchandise management system. In addition, all crates and cartons used for transporting the eggs receive labels with the relevant information - printed directly from the system. “All of this helps significantly to make relevant data available”, says Winweb project manager Michael Hermanns. Complete inventory management and the associated traceability are therefore guaranteed. In this way, data transfer from winweb-food to the KAT database for controlled alternative animal husbandry can also be completed with one click of the mouse. The fact that this works well in practice was shown by the last organic inspection at the beginning of June: “In the past, we often had deviations in the ton range”, recalls Schönecke. “After the introduction of winweb- food, traceability only took a quick half hour and in the end we had a deviation of only a few kilos.”
“After the introduction of winweb-food, traceability only took a quick half hour.”
In the egg sorting facility, information such as housing type, farm of origin and laying date is stored directly in the batch.
Reliable labeling
Another major area at Schönecke is the trade in fresh poultry and sausage as well as selected meat specialties. Here, the prerequisite for seamless inventory management is the reliable labeling of the goods. Therefore, since the introduction of winweb-food, all items in goods receipt have been recorded in the ERP system: “We scan the barcodes of the incoming products and the system reads the relevant data for inventory management from the information provided by the various suppliers”, says Schönecke. If the labels on the goods are illegible or not present at all, stickers can be generated directly with winweb-food. This guarantees that all items in inventory are labeled. “Through consistent labeling, we always have an exact overview of our inventory”, says Schönecke. “And less work, since the recording of incoming products has been firmly integrated into the workflow.” The use of mobile data capture devices further optimizes workflows and significantly shortens the distances employees have to walk. “We also use the scanners for order picking and for inventories”, says Schönecke. This reduces errors and ensures faster order picking.
“Thanks to consistent labeling, we always have an exact overview of our inventory and less work, since the recording of incoming products has been firmly integrated into the workflow.”
Henner Schönecke checks the current receipt of the eggs at the sorting machine in winweb-food.
Complex analyses
winweb-food also ensures the EDI connection to suppliers and major customers. To simplify collaboration with the Schönecke trading partners, the recording of orders, electronic delivery order notifications as well as invoice transmission was implemented with Winweb's own EDI converter – which is significantly more efficient and less prone to errors. “Because the delivery notes are sent by the system, they now reach our partners faster than the goods themselves”, explains Schönecke. “The number of EDI messages with the different requirements of the various partners was a small challenge”, says Hermanns. “But with our routine and our prior knowledge from other projects, we were able to implement the connection quickly.” Managing Director Schönecke is pleased that many things are much easier and faster with winweb-food: “Even complex analyses are created with just a few clicks and, if desired, executed and sent automatically.” But there is still quite a lot to do on both sides: Soon documents are to be collected in the document management system: incoming invoices that are posted via winweb food, cost invoices, proofs or delivery notes. Everything will then be automatically assigned to the appropriate process via barcode recognition. The delivery staff at Schönecke could use the Winweb empty goods app, which simplifies empty goods returns and delivery note processing. And Winweb could consider how the value chain of eggs can be mapped in the ERP system. “An interesting task”, says Hermanns. “So far, we have had nothing to do with eggs, but that has changed since Schönecke. We are now continuing to expand our expertise in everything related to chickens”, says the Winweb project manager, who is looking forward to the new topic.
Images: Schönecke, Melahn
Published in Fleisch & Co
Winweb Content Team
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