Case study
Clif Bar & Company
Growing food manufacturer rapidly adds mobile inventory solution to Oracle’s JD Edwards to harmonize business systems and enhance productivity, traceability, and sustainability.
Results
- 100% paperless processes, driving sustainability goals
- Real-time, accurate inventory
- 20% increase in productivity
- 25% reduction in supply chain costs
- End-to-end traceability at lot-level, enhancing compliance
- Seamless integration with JD Edwards, WonderWare MES, SafetyChain for food safety, and SOMAX predictive maintenance software
- Scalable solution for rapid growth and maximum agility
Challenge
Clif Bar & Company relied on co-manufacturers to produce its wide range of healthy products. When its largest co-manufacturer, Conagra Foods, suddenly exited the co-branded bakery business, Clif Bar decided to bring production in-house. This required rapid transition of all ERP, warehouse, manufacturing, and related business systems within six months while simultaneously bringing a new bakery online.
Clif Bar also needed to modernize inventory management for their JD Edwards ERP system. A mobile barcoding solution would ensure accurate, real-time information and traceability for food ingredients and finished products. The new solution would also have to be entirely paperless to support the company’s sustainability vision and rapid growth.
Results
- 100% paperless processes, driving sustainability goals
- Real-time, accurate inventory
- 20% increase in productivity
- 25% reduction in supply chain costs
- End-to-end traceability at lot-level, enhancing compliance
- Seamless integration with JD Edwards, WonderWare MES, SafetyChain for food safety, and SOMAX predictive maintenance software
- Scalable solution for rapid growth and maximum agility
Solution
Clif Bar found the ideal solution that checked all the boxes for their complex requirements: RFgen Mobile Foundations for JD Edwards, the premier mobile barcoding solution featuring suites of pre-built, pre-validated mobile apps.
The new RFgen solution delivered speed, flexibility, and cost-efficiency with seamless ERP integration. Real-time mobile inventory tracking and visibility became a reality, including lot- controlled inventory management that was 100% paperless.
Our dedicated RFgen sales manager went above and beyond. We provided our requirements and the RFgen team translated them into what we needed.
Dave Hartwell, Senior Director of Business Applications
Clif Bar & CompanyResults
RFgen enabled Clif Bar to replace manual inventory control methods with real-time automation. Their operation realized immediate and continuing benefits with mobile barcoding for Oracle’s JD Edwards.
Key results include:
- 100% paperless processes, driving sustainability goals
- Real-time, accurate inventory
- 20% increase in productivity
- 25% reduction in supply chain costs
- End-to-end traceability at lot-level, enhancing compliance
- Seamless integration with JD Edwards, WonderWare MES, SafetyChain for food safety, and SOMAX predictive maintenance software
- Scalable solution for rapid growth and maximum agility
RFgen provided the flexibility to design our transactions the way our bakeries actually operate while still honoring the critical JD Edwards integration. It gave us the best of both worlds.
Dave Hartwell, Senior Director of Business Applications
Clif Bar & CompanyAward-Winning Partnership
In addition to supporting Clif Bar’s strategic success, RFgen is proud to be one of the key technologies that contributed to Clif Bar receiving the 2017 Manufacturing Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan in the Enterprise Technology Leadership category.
“Our important suppliers are more than just suppliers; they are our partners. For us, RFgen has met that call,” said Hartwell. “Our dedicated RFgen sales manager went above and beyond. We provided our RFgen development consultant with our requirements, and he was able to translate those into the transactions we needed. His deep expertise in JDE—both functional knowledge and development experience—was critical to our success.”
Hartwell was happy with RFgen’s contribution to the successful rollout: “An amazing and talented team of internal IT professionals, suppliers including RFgen, consultants, and business leaders pulled off successful rollouts in both bakeries despite pretty tough challenges.”
Clif Bar & Company was experiencing rapid growth. After losing a key partner amidst their growth spurt, Clif Bar brought all manufacturing in-house. A key part of this transition included selecting RFgen Mobile Foundations for Oracle’s JD Edwards and mobile barcode scanners. With RFgen, the company quickly boosted accuracy, gained end-to-end traceability for compliance and supported key sustainability initiatives while lowering associated costs.