In food manufacturing environments, yield refers to the amount of product you get from your raw material input. Yield management starts at goods intake and your percentage of output will depend on how accurately you formulate, process, and track the ingredients required in your recipes.
To calculate the percentage, you have to divide your As Purchased (AP) material weight against the Edible Product (EP) weight. Although it sounds simple in theory, it becomes much more difficult in practice.
Each processing stage has to account for how well they utilize and optimize the material flow to keep your production percentage within profitable margins. In this blog, we’ll explain how MARCO’s Recipe Formulation Module (RFM) can assist with increasing your profits by managing your margins precisely - from raw material intake to shipping your final products.
Which Industries Will Benefit from Precise Recipe Formulation Control
Whenever you have to purchase ingredients in bulk for processing purposes, knowing how much you are using for each production run is vital to maintaining your profitability. This applies to a range of different industries, especially where you have to mix raw materials at precise volumes to create quality products.
The industries where precise recipe formulation provides the most benefits are:
- Ready to Eat Meal / Prepared Food Manufacturers - Ensuring the exact portion amounts end up in the final containers
- Industrial Bakeries - Preparing everything from the pastry to the filling for baked goods
- Food Flavoring Companies - Combining spices and flavor mixes for home or industrial use
- Fragrance & Chemical Producers - Creating anything from colognes to creams or cleaning products
Controlling stock in these industries ensures that you can predict how much product you can produce and determine where unaccountable losses are occurring. By implementing MARCO’s RFM solution, you can control all material flow and generate accurate records about your plant’s processing efficiency.
Implementing RFM (Recipe Formulation Module) at Your Production Facility
As part of MARCO’s productivity suite of tools, RFM keeps track of all your stock through the different processing stages. After implementing the solution, you can reduce giveaway to less than 2%, increase control over all of your processing stages, and ensure you are producing the required amount of edible product during every production run.
Here are the processing stages where RFM will help you tighten up your margins and increase your profitability.
Reception Area and Goods Intake
At goods intake, you need to record the weight of all incoming materials and assign them to a storage area. RFM combined with a MARCO floor scale makes this process efficient, with new inventory being added to the overall stock levels and keeping track of each batch received.
If there is already an existing stock intake system, MARCO can integrate your solution with RFM using our Data Exchange Module (DEM). For record-keeping, we can provide a Data Master display with a printer, allowing you to speed up the entire intake and stock control process.
With a MARCO RFM solution, you can also optimize stock control by implementing First In, First Out (FIFO) for improved product quality and reduced waste.
Kitting Room and Material Prep
Transforming raw material stock into usable ingredients is done in the kitting room. Operators will record the weights before and after kitting different categories of products. The new, post-transformation weight is used to calculate how much product can be produced and also generate new labels to keep track of batches of produce.
For fresh produce or perishables, the system can set an expiration date and assign a new storage location. Because you have accurate records of the weights before and after kitting, you can identify where waste is occurring and implement corrective actions to increase your yield.
With accurate date and weight labels, operators can prioritize batches to prevent spoilage if materials are approaching their expiration date.
Premix and Ingredient Staging
After transformation, operators can premix ingredients according to the product’s recipe. Here, RFM will guide operators to select the correct types and weights of ingredients to use, while also displaying any health and safety messages required when handling any hazardous substances.
MARCO has a range of hardware solutions to assist in this step. Depending on the application, you may stage mixed ingredients at the required weights to streamline the next phase of processing.
Operators can measure out doses of the amount of ingredients and if they make a mistake, RFM can adjust the batch size to accommodate the increased weights. MARCO’s LED indicators fitted on the scales will help prevent errors, but because you are in the premixing stage any incorrect weights added to the mix can be corrected by reformulating the recipe.
Mixing and Cooking Ingredients
When ready to mix and cook the ingredients into the product, a Data Master display with a barcode scanner will control the standard recipe formulation procedure. Using the premixed weights will ensure no unwanted ingredients make it into the product while the Data Master will record all activities according to the mixing procedure.
After mixing is completed, RFM will generate a label with accurate information that includes the ingredients, product weight, and processed date. Supervisors can generate reports to track the mixing procedures' speed, efficiency, and accuracy.
Portioning and Packing
Finally, operators portion the products according to the specifications. This may mean adding toppings to pizza, measuring out mixed and cooked products, or filling trays with different ingredients according to the required product weights.
Workers use scales to portion products accurately, while a Yield Control Module (YCM) keeps track of the mass balance. Once a batch is complete, supervisors can generate reports to see where any waste occurred.
YCM combined with a barcode scanner will record each item that comes off the production line and calculate the total weight of EP you produced. With the production run completed, you can calculate your yield margin and implement corrective actions to improve the process for the next batch.
Minimize Giveaway and Establish Precise Control with RFM from MARCO
In food manufacturing facilities, controlling your raw materials through processing until final product packing is a complex process. RFM allows you to guide your workers through each stage of processing and keep them operating within tighter margins.
MARCO helps manufacturers to control, measure, and optimize processes with accurate information about each batch produced. Using our solutions allows you to deskill your labor force, speed up processing, and minimize waste with accurate data about your production runs.
To learn more about MARCO’s solutions and how we can help you maintain your profit margins, contact our North American office today.
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