Food Industry Solutions

Food Safety

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1 in 10 people are sickened by eating food processed or prepared by others and that 50 percent of cases of food borne illnesses are due to failures in the culture of organisations responsible for the safety of products1. There is therefore still improvement required to develop truly food safe cultures in modern food manufacturing, distribution and retailing businesses to improve consumer health and safety.

Consumers today expect high standards of food quality, consistency and safety and will quickly voice their concerns on social media when businesses get it wrong. For example, horsemeat scandals, inappropriate meat traces found in vegan and halal products, baby milk contamination and the presence of campylobacter bacteria and salmonella in meat and dairy products. It’s clear that compromising food safety and quality can have disastrous effects on the profitability of food manufacturers, brands and retailers.

SATO knows that consumer loyalty to food and beverage brands is built on quality and safety, with no compromise. SATO works tirelessly with its food industry customers to design integrated, flexible print systems to support safety and quality management processes.

Ensuring legislative compliance with SATO	Automating safety standards	Enabling the food safety business culture

Food Labelling

Today’s modern food manufacturing, distribution and retail organisations are fast-paced business environments subject to significant legislative control from a food safety and traceability perspective.

Needing to meet stringent guidelines on food safety, whilst at the same time driving operational efficiency, businesses require tailored, integrated auto identification, data collection and labelling technologies to support their business efficiency, management and compliance needs.

SATO food labelling solutions are designed to meet the needs of start up companies right through to large, multinational organisations.

With an expert team on hand to design bespoke systems tailored to each unique food business requirement, SATO understands the careful balance required in meeting food safety and compliance needs, alongside driving business operational efficiency and stand out label design for sales effectiveness.

Efficient automation of customised label printing, with barcode and RFID technology for track and trace capability, SATO is the partner of choice for the food industry.

Enabling consumer choice	Food labelling compliance	Labelling for the digital savvy consumer

Warehousing and Distribution Management

SATO seeks to ensure the smooth and efficient flow of products and information from goods receipt to inventory management and shipping, as well as effectively managing the returns process, where required. SATO saves business time, cost and waste through enhanced visibility, productivity and efficiency.

Continual monitoring and visibility of goods, integrated into each operational area and business function, supports businesses to drive efficiency, productivity and streamline operations. With customer compliance and profitability at the forefront of SATO solutions, SATO designs agile, flexible smart solutions to support businesses from goods receipt to inventory management and shipping, as well as effectively managing the returns process, where required.

SATO VISUAL WAREHOUSE

SATO developed Visual Warehouse™, the industry’s first wearable navigation system intended for use in logistics centers that combines barcodes and RFID with virtual 3D mapping and indoor locating technologies.

Visual Warehouse™ can locate objects with greater precision - within a 30 cm margin of error - than conventional locator systems, with the help of wearable devices that navigate the worker to items using three-dimensional maps and voice guidance. The system facilitates receiving operations at warehouses that manage inventory in random locations, to improve efficiency in inventory management, speed up shipments by instructing the shortest route, and realise inventory/shipping management suited to the characteristics of each product.

With a remote support feature that instructs the shortest route to a product with easy-to-understand voice guidance such as, "Two more metres to your desired product," "Turn right at the next aisle," or "Changes were made to the type and volume of products to ship," the system helps with labour savings for shipping and improves quality of operation independent of worker experience level.

INTELLIGENT WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT

SATO solutions integrate seamlessly with warehouse management systems, incorporating data collection and wireless functionality to facilitate real-time awareness of locations, quantities, conditions, origins and destinations of products. Automation of the entire process flow eliminates manual, inconsistent human intervention from receipt to shipping and delivers best in class compliance and safety for optimum business performance.

Receipt of goods	Storage and replenishment	Inventory management	Real time location management	Product picking and assortment

Packing and preparation	Cross docking	Shipping control	Reverse logistics management

Manufacturing Efficiency

The food-manufacturing sector is highly competitive. Dealing with both large raw materials suppliers and powerful retailers, in an environment where speed to market for new brand launches is critical, controlling costs and efficiency for the food manufacturer is the key to sustainable profits and success.

To ensure overall operational efficiency is maximised and costs kept low, managing the flow of goods in food factories, from receiving raw materials to the shipping of finished products, demands accurate and efficient data management.

SATO, as a supply partner to the food industry, provides a range of services and solutions to streamline factory operations, increase accuracy of product management and minimise waste.

With networked, intelligent desktop, industrial and mobile print systems, food manufacturers can enable inventory control by type, lot, and expiry date via barcode and RFID technologies.

Eliminating manual recording, SATO data collection and labelling technologies can eradicate waste, prevent process errors and streamline factory processes to enhance operational accuracy and efficiency. Similarly human errors are prevented in selecting the wrong, expired or insufficient ingredients in formulations and recipes.

SATO supports food manufacturers to drive efficiency in legislative compliance management enabling forward and backward tracking and tracing of products through the supply chain with precision and speed. SATO supports customers to optimise processes, maximise efficiency and capitalise on resources and time to drive profitability.

Raw material management	Manufacturing - control of preparations	Production management - inventory and shipping