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MarkMagic,
Wireless Networking
Help Joyce Foods
Put 3,500
Different Foods on
Passover Tables Worldwide
What takes less than 18 minutes to manufacture, and has
a shelf life of eight days? Kosher for Passover
baked goods produced by CYBRA customer, Joyce Foods, one
of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of
kosher foods. Joyce, which produces or distributes more than 3,500 different kosher food items, relies on MarkMagic Bar Code Label Software and a wireless network from CYBRA Partner Teklogix to help them meet the ever growing demand of kosher consumers for certified kosher products. Time is of the Essence The challenges of producing Kosher for Passover products begins in Autumn, when the Newark, New Jersey-based plant begins production of Passover items. According to Jewish law, leavened bread, termed chometz, is forbidden. The traditional baked staple permitted and associated with Passover is matzah, which is baked from dough that does not rise. The dough used for matzah contains no yeast, just flour and water, and must be baked within a very short time span, usually 18 minutes. Understandably, it is very difficult to create a baked product that is Kosher for Passover.  The seasonal nature of Kosher for Passover products required Joyce to employ time-tested, industrial-strength tools for making sure their product is packed, picked, and shipped properly. With only eight days for the products to be served and eaten, there is no time in the Kosher for Passover supply chain to correct mistakes. To ensure that the right products are shipped to the right customer at the right time, Joyce developed a bar code carton, pallet, and shelf labeling system using MarkMagic Bar Code Label Software for iSeries, and a system of handheld terminals and wireless printers to reduce picking, packing, and shipping time. Before the system was installed, the company was having difficulties matching items to orders in a timely fashion. Now, as the company grows, the MarkMagic-based system helps Joyce keep track of an ever-increasing order flow. BPCS Enabled According to Joyce's Yossi Ostreicher, MarkMagic was easy to integrate into the company's BPCS production system from SSA Global. "We print shelf labels for each slot in our racking, and case labels are printed and applied as finished goods leave manufacturing for the warehouse." CYBRA supplied Wireless Zebra printers to make it easy to print labels at the point of application. Continues Ostreicher, "Orders are printed by slot number, and we use the 7035 Teklogix wireless terminals to confirm that the picker is at the correct slot, and the correct item has been picked." MarkMagic is also used to create raw material labels and is indispensable for physical inventory. "With so many different SKU's," concludes Ostreicher, MarkMagic makes it easy to label everything in our plant from raw materials, to finished goods, to containers and even plant maintenance supplies." Special Rules All baked goods contain flour and the process time of any cake or cookie far exceeds what is acceptable for Passover. The primary obstacle to certifying a baked product as kosher for Passover is the standard primary ingredient, flour. According to Joyce's Yossi Ostreicher, “The greatest challenge of baking kosher for Passover is not using flour.” The standard substitute raw materials used throughout the industry currently are potato starch or matzah meal. Matzah meal is ground matzah and is typically viewed as the preferred substitute, since it is flour already baked in an acceptable form. Due to the sensitivity of Passover certification, Joyce must ensure that many of the routine ingredients used year-round do not somehow find their way into a Passover certified product. It requires great ingenuity and creativity to manufacture a product similar in quality that meets strict Passover standards. Tools such as MarkMagic Bar Code Label Software help ensure the required certification. Do you have a MarkMagic success story that you would like to share? Let us know by writing to editor@cybra.com |
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