‘An end-to-end traceability solution was needed so Piroto provided label printers and printer ribbons, as well as custom manufactured labels and tags. We helped with printer set up and provide ongoing support too, ensuring a smooth running operation for our customer.’
New traceability system crucial to customer’s expansion plans
The Customer
Our customer was the first retailer to sell individually-wrapped sushi in the UK. Their aim is simply to offer customers an authentic and affordable taste of Japanese food using fresh ingredients every day.
With over 50 branches across the UK, they have become a leading player in the food retail sector with Japanese-style stores instantly recognisable throughout UK high streets, shopping centres and transport hubs.
The Customer’s Challenge
Our customer has ambitious growth plans in the UK and intends to double their branch network. To support their growth targets they have built a 65,000 square metre, state of the art facility big enough to cope with the increasing demand forecast over the next few years.
To meet their objectives, the new factory needed to work to the highest of standards of efficiency and hygiene; gaining BRCGS accreditation is crucial to their growth plans. In turn, this meant their food traceability system needed to be second to none.
Our customer wanted to deal with an expert in total food traceability systems, rather than source hardware and labels from separate suppliers. Piroto was an obvious choice as we could offer one package; saving time, effort and cost.
Our Approach
Having worked with some of the operations team previously, we were delighted to get a call from the technical manager asking for our help. We discussed the need for a robust traceability solution that would track ingredients from low care through to despatch. The system would need to be operationally efficient and stand up to the BRCGS scrutiny.
What we delivered
Following discussions, we put forward a stand-alone tag printing package solution which we felt met all the criteria. It was agreed that this presented a vastly superior solution than handwritten labels or tags and we delivered the printers, including set up, training and printer ribbons, as well as customised labels and tags to do the job.
The package included three stand-alone printers, one each for use in high care, despatch and delivery departments.
We programmed each printer to cover all three tag formats to offer a backup in case any printer should break down. We trained staff on operating the printers and will give ongoing support throughout the life of the printer too.
In addition to the hardware provided, we customised appropriate labels and tags:
- Metal detectable tags for the high care area
- Metal detectable labels for the low care area
- Thermal coated synthetic tags in the delivery and despatch department.
We introduced a colour coding system which visually identifies days of the week and areas of the operation making the whole system quick and easy for operatives. In addition, the adhesive labels in the low care area are cleverly designed to reduce the risk of backing paper becoming a potential contaminate.
The impact on the customer’s business
Our customer gained the following benefits from the complete traceability system:
- Time saving – Multiple labels/tags can be produced using a stand-alone printer many times faster than hand writing individual tags.
- Increased accuracy – Using a printer eliminates illegible hand writing which can lead to loss of traceability with numbers or text being misinterpreted
- Reduced human error – Printers are pre-programmed to automatically print some data, such as use by dates, thus reducing the chances of incorrect information
- Reduced label/tag wastage – Each stand-alone printer is positioned at the point of application so that only the required number of tags needs to be printed
- One-stop-shop – Piroto delivered a full traceability package including printers, ribbons, labels & tags and ongoing support, giving our customer an easy and effective total solution.