HK Ruokatalo plans and guides its poultry production with IBS software

IBS has provided HK Ruokatalos poultry division with a tailor-made centralised ERP system for the entire process from primary production to finished products.

The ERP system covers production planning, management and forecasting as well as reporting. IBS software is also used for raw material settlements and invoicing.

The system extends from planning the raising of chickens and turkeys to shipping fillet strips to grocery stores. The process from ordering in a parent chick to a finished good spans eleven months. Production processes a total of 120,000 birds each day.

We have been developing and expanding the system for several years. Centralisation has made things easier to manage, while also improving cost effectiveness. There is now less risk of error, says Marko Mkinen, Technical Manager of HK Ruokatalo Poultry Business.

The ERP system now covers the entire production chain of HK Ruokatalos poultry division. The groundwork has been laid now, but we will continue to develop the software further, says Project Manager Mari Saarinen from IBS.

IBS software helps manage raw material supply to meet demand, settlements and invoicing. The planning software covers the long term planning of brood hen generations as well as short term hatching and slaughter planning. Settlements and invoicing are also managed by IBS software. The ERP system is integrated with HK Ruokatalos main system.

The poultry division consists of primary production, slaughtering, production control as well as cutting and packaging. In the first stage of primary production, contract suppliers raise chicks which are then delivered for laying to other farm partners. Eggs are hatched in HK Ruokatalos own facilities. Newly hatched chicks are taken to breeding partners and finally to slaughter.

The production planning software is used to draw up a production plan based on a daily sales estimate. It is also used for follow-up. With the help of the production control system, the production plan is converted into production orders which automatically control production. Production figures are forwarded to the sales unit.

Early this year Lnsi-Kalkkuna Oy, a joint venture of HK Ruokatalo and Atria, started operation. The new company also uses some of the software tailor-made for HK Ruokatalo, e.g. poultry planning, egg and farm accounting as well as production control. Some modifications were made in the software. As a new feature, software supporting operations control and follow-up in the air-cooling system, cutting house, intermediate storage and shipping department was implemented.