Logisolve recently completed a two-and-a-half-year project for a national food manufacturer, focusing on enhancing a custom-built labeling application that plays a crucial role in the production process. This application, which runs on each production line after products are packaged, controls the label content, the number of labels applied, and their placement on the box—whether on the front, side, or corner. It’s a vital system; if it goes down, so does the production line.

In addition to improving the labeling application, we were responsible for enhancing and supporting the system that creates product label templates and distributes them to production plants. These templates, built using the .NET Framework and SQL Server, are tokenized to allow real-time customization, with details like expiration dates and net weights added during printing.

The Logisolve team, led by Ann O’Donnell as Scrum Master and Kent Dicke as Technical Lead, included Development Center Developers Andrew Zinke, Brandon Davis, and Sam Martorana. The team size adjusted as needed throughout the project, maintaining an Agile approach from start to finish. We used Jira to manage two-week sprints, focused on the highest-priority features. The initial goal was to deliver the minimal viable product (MVP) to a pilot plant, after which we continued to implement and pilot enhancements based on business needs.

Here are some of the key efforts completed during the project:

• Google Cloud Integration: We successfully integrated the application with master data hosted on Google Cloud. While the technical integration was straightforward, identifying and sourcing the necessary data elements required collaboration across various client groups.
• SAP Integration: We established a new integration to receive key data elements managed in SAP, replacing manual data entry processes on the production line. This change eliminated training requirements and ongoing issues related to manual data handling.
• 2D Barcoding & RFID Tags: The team incorporated 2-dimensional barcoding into the solution and adapted the system to meet a customer’s requirement for RFID tags on box labels. This involved updating the application to encode RFID antennas within labels at print time and storing the encoding information in inventory. We also developed backend processes to send essential product attributes to the customer, ensuring compliance with their standards.
• Copy Equipment Feature: We implemented a feature that allows the equipment setup from one production line workstation to be copied to another, saving hours of setup time, especially in plants with multiple production lines. This feature also makes it easier to replace workstations with minimal downtime.
• Enterprise-wide Product Number Change: We managed the significant effort of implementing a product number change across the enterprise, maintaining both old and new product numbers in the system and enabling searches using either.
• Hierarchy Management: To streamline the maintenance of product attributes, we introduced a Hierarchy feature that allows attributes to be managed at three levels: Master Data (Enterprise) Level, Plant Level, and Production Line Level. This change made it easier to update attributes, reducing the time and effort required to make changes across multiple production lines. For example, correcting an expiration date now only requires a change at the Plant Level, which then applies to all relevant production lines.

To support these changes, we built a website using REACT, NodeJS, and JavaScript. This site displays product attributes across the hierarchy and provides tools for setting attributes at the Plant Level. We also included features to make life easier for plant managers, product line managers, quality control, and administrative staff. Each release included stability and performance improvements, as well as updates to the .NET Framework and SQL Server.

This project demonstrates the technical expertise and dedication of the Logisolve team, and we’re proud to have delivered a solution that meets the evolving needs of our client.