Bakery and confectionery, fresh to order every day.
Bread, biscuits, pastry and sweets, often made the night before delivery. Frontlink turns the day's orders into a production plan, separates allergens and records every batch.
The passport of one lot.
From the truck to the certificate at the customer: everything a lot goes through is recorded. Drag through the life of one lot of wheat flour.
- 1 / 6Received, first into quarantine
The lot arrives with lot number and expiry date. Materials that need checking go into quarantine first. Nobody can use them yet.
- 2 / 6Documents attached
Frontlink reads the supplier's PDFs and recognises what they are: certificate of analysis, allergen statement, specification. They go with the item and the lot.
- 3 / 6Released
Quality reviews and releases the lot. From now on it is available for production.
- 4 / 6First to expire, first
When picking, Frontlink steers to the lot that expires first and skips lots with too little shelf life.
- 5 / 6Allergens in planning
An allergen-free product only goes on a line certified for it. After a product with allergens, planning adds cleaning time.
- 6 / 6On the certificate
The lot is on the batch's release certificate, with the allergen statement. The customer finds it in the portal.
What is different in this industry.
- Orders in, production tonight
Orders come in until late afternoon and are baked that night. Frontlink totals the orders per product and turns them into a plan with dough batches per line.
- Allergens on one line
Nuts, gluten and sesame run on shared equipment. Frontlink plans the runs in a safe order and asks for the cleaning before the switch.
- Short shelf life
Fresh products last days, not months. Frontlink picks ingredients by shelf life and gives each batch the right best-before date.
What it looks like in practice.
At four in the afternoon a retailer adds 600 almond croissants. Frontlink adds the dough batches to tonight's plan, places them after the nut-free runs and shows how much extra almond paste is needed.
Example with fictional data.
- Nut-free runs first, 4 batches22:00
- Cleaning and allergen check01:30
- Almond croissants, 600 pieces in 3 batches02:00
Solutions that deliver the most here.
- PlanningA plan that knows what is really happening on the floor. Orders come from your ERP, progress comes from the line, and when something moves the warehouse, sales and the customer know straight away.
- Orders and customer contactRequests arrive by email, as PDF or Excel. Frontlink calculates the quote, prepares the order in your ERP and keeps the customer informed all the way to shipment.
- Warehouse and stockFrontlink knows per lot what is there, where it is and how long it is good for. The warehouse picks by shelf life, stock matches what was really used, and a lot can be traced in one click.
Problems we often see here.
- Spreadsheet scheduling can't keep up with realityThe plan changes constantly. Excel and whiteboards collapse under rush orders, constraint rules, and finite capacity.
- Changeovers and line clearance are unmanagedChangeovers take too long and nobody can prove the line was cleared properly.
- Expiry and FEFO discipline breaks down in productionFEFO works in the warehouse system, but at the line, the wrong lots get used and near-expiry materials get buried.
Frequently asked questions.
Can Frontlink plan from our daily orders?
Yes. Orders from the ERP or email are totalled per product and turned into a plan per line and shift.
Does it calculate dough batches?
Yes. Frontlink converts the ordered quantity into batches, based on the recipe and the size of the mixer.
Can we print labels with best-before dates?
Frontlink sends the batch number and best-before date to your label printer per batch, so the label matches what was made.
Which process takes you the most time?
Book a 30-minute call. We look at your own examples together.
Book a call