Fancy Farm Popcorn: Scaling Up with IoT for Enhanced Inventory Control and Lot Management
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
- Sensors - Barcode Readers
Applicable Industries
- Agriculture
- Packaging
Applicable Functions
- Maintenance
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Farm Monitoring & Precision Farming
- Intelligent Packaging
Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Fancy Farm Popcorn is a 100% family-owned and operated business located in Bernie, Missouri. The company was founded by two brothers, Fred and Chris Tanner, and the team consists of the Tanner family, dedicated long-time employees, and neighboring grower cooperators who contract popcorn production. Since 1987, they have been growing, harvesting, storing, processing, and packaging corn on their Southeast Missouri farm. They are proud to be the first in the industry to provide their customers with kits that include everything needed for a delicious batch of popcorn. In 2015, Fancy Farm pursued new client opportunities, aiming to expand their market and offer private label packages for larger customers.
The Challenge
Fancy Farm Popcorn, a family-owned business in Bernie, Missouri, was looking to scale up and expand their market by offering private label packages for larger customers. However, they realized that to be competitive, they needed to become a food-safe certified facility and implement formal and auditable lot traceability. Initially, this was managed manually with handwritten logs documenting production events and related lot numbers as they moved through the plant. The process started when the truck came off the field and rolled across the scale, with many truckloads combined into bins for storage and aging. Tests were performed routinely, and lot numbers for both ingredients and finished cases were required and tracked. However, as customer opportunities and production volume increased, manual lot tracking became burdensome. They needed a better system to ensure success.
The Solution
Fancy Farm worked with a consultant to determine their options and propose a solution. The initial requirement was a food manufacturing software package with strong lot traceability, lot-testing traceability, warehouse ease of use with barcode readers and mini tablets, integrated with QuickBooks, and deployed on a hosted environment. They chose Mar-Kov, a software that met all their requirements. The implementation phase lasted several months, with the system going live on July 1, 2015. The project trainer and solution designer helped set up and customize the system based on the processes and reporting needs that were already in place. The transition was challenging as the production and warehouse staff were transitioning from paper to a digital system. However, with time, the team grew accustomed to the system and began to see it as their tool for efficiency.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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