One of Scotland’s most iconic heritage brands, the Walker family has been baking top quality, delicious shortbread since 1898. Now a global, multi-channel business with annual revenues in excess of £164.6m, family owned Walker’s Shortbread has built up a worldwide customer base that expects the very best. Walker’s Shortbread is Scotland’s biggest exporter of branded food with nearly 50% of its sales coming from its export division and although traditional retail distribution channels remain as strong as ever, e-commerce is becoming an increasingly important sales channel.
Today, the company still uses its original product recipes and bakes its biscuits in small batches, using just four ingredients. Traditional values of quality and natural goodness remain central to everything the company does, with technology now also playing a central, facilitating role. Top quality ingredients and packaging materials need to be carefully managed to minimise wastage, guarantee traceability and ensure excellent customer satisfaction.
Improved stock management
“Shortbread is a highly seasonal business and we simply couldn’t have sustained the levels of global growth we’ve managed to achieve in recent years without Indigo’s software to help us improve stock management, visibility and traceability.”
John Taubman, Head of IT, Walker’s Shortbread
Manages tracking & movement of ingredients & finished goods
Using the latest Honeywell mobility edge CK65 mobile computers, all product components and ingredients are actively managed by warehouse operatives upon arrival on site, by booking raw materials into the system and attaching the relevant Quality Assurance paperwork. The QA department at Walker’s Shortbread maintains strict internal control procedures, whereby items are either released for production in small batches, or remain held in the warehouse for future use. Ingredients can be stored in different locations and Indigo ensures full visibility of stock throughout the raw material warehouses, which in turn, allows for the timely transfer of items between sites and onto the relevant production line for maximum efficiency. Through the use of Batch/Lot numbers and/or GRN Walker’s Shortbread ensures full traceability is maintained for all stock movements at all times, including returns of surplus material from production lines.
Indigo’s software also manages the tracking and movement of finished goods from the point that freshly baked shortbread leaves the production line to be stored in the warehouse before shipment to customers. In-built checks ensure that all orders are correctly packed and labelled as specified by each customer, which is especially important for export orders. The solution offers operatives the flexibility to switch between normal order picking using pick faces, as well as full ‘trailer’ despatches. This feature has had a significant impact on efficiency levels.
Walker’s Shortbread boosts stock visibility and traceability with Indigo’s Warehouse Management System
Walker’s Shortbread has invested in Indigo’s Warehouse Management System software to boost stock visibility and traceability in its business operations.
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