5 Million product checks for Budelpack!

Ten years ago, HSEQ Manager Wilco Krijnsen took the first steps with Cierpa Quality. He shares with us what the software means for the company, in everyday practice.

What does Budelpack do?

“Budelpack is a co-packager for the European food industry. It means we don’t produce anything ourselves, but we pack different food products for others. From sausages to lactobacilli, we package everything.

Our product lines are entirely customized to the brand owner’s wishes. We have 32 spaces that are adaptable, which makes it quite dynamic.”

Does it mean Budelpack works with many different lines and customers?

“In practice, we like to have a long-term collaboration with a customer. For example, we’re still working with our very first customer, since our founding in 1971! It does vary wildly how long a production line is installed, anywhere from six weeks to eighteen years. It all depends on the customer.”

How did Cierpa Quality get implemented at Budelpack?

“We’ve been working together for about ten years. It started when we wanted to go from paper-based quality control to digital quality control and do away with all the paper hassle. Digital, of course, was faster and quicker, also when you need to retrieve information.”

How does Cierpa Quality work in practice?

“It provides oversight and speed in quality control, both at the workplace and towards the customer. The operator is well guided in quality control. At first, you could add a forgotten mark on paper if you had missed the control. Cierpa Quality warns you that you need to do a check within five minutes. If you don’t and you miss a check, you have to do an extensive check before you can continue. So quality is always secured.”

“If you miss a check with Cierpa Quality, you have to do an extensive check before you can continue. So quality is always secured.”

"Traceability is quite elaborate too. You can monitor the quality process from A to Z, and with a simple click, you can show the customer the results. The customer wants to see the audits from up to six months ago? No problem. Customers often don’t know the software yet, but with our help, we can offer great insight into traceability, at any moment.”

What are Cierpa Quality’s most significant successes at Budelpack?

“We initially started using Cierpa Quality as a digital version of our paper-based quality control. But when we got together almost every week to solve coding issues, we began to investigate whether Cierpa Quality could resolve those issues too.

We managed to install the software in such a way that coding is checked beforehand in Cierpa Quality. When an error occurs, different people are notified. We went from fifty coding errors per year to zero!

Excluding coding errors is truly one of our biggest successes. Those errors could have enormous consequences. When would they have been discovered: after a day of production? That could have resulted in having to destroy or unpack a whole day of production. Those losses would have been huge.”

“The biggest success? Eliminating coding errors. From fifty times a year to zero!”

“Another success is excluding labeling errors. Our pallets are labeled, and each label contains a code. The forklift driver had to input the code manually. So mistakes were made on occasion, with significant consequences!

Now the label is ready in Cierpa Quality. The operator prints out the label, the warehouse scans it – and the problem is eliminated. Yet another way to further reduce the error rate.”

“Cierpa Quality is not a static software package. What we need can be customized and inserted into the software. That keeps it interesting to work with.”

After five million quality checks you must know the system by heart.

"More than this: the software moves along with us. That’s what makes Cierpa Quality great software. It’s not a static software package, what we need as a company can be customized and implemented. This way, it’s interesting for both parties to work with the software.

Do you use Cierpa Software and would you like to share your experiences here? Then contact us.