method for the company. At the
time, Halenda’s did not have any
means of assessing costs at the
various stages of meat production. This was of particular concern
because all of Halenda’s products
received as raw materials are subject to shrinkage. Meat processors
need to track the condition and
weight of meat through the entire
manufacturing process.
Halenda’s needed to know exactly
what was being received as raw
materials and what was being
sold as final product.
Starting Point
Halenda’s Meats began its
operation in 1979 out of Oshawa,
Ontario. In 2004, the company decided to expand its business by
starting a distribution division.
CEO, Richard Halenda knew that
in order to successfully implement
this growth, the company would
need to improve several areas of
their business.
Halenda’s’ first challenge
would be to increase the efficiency of order processing. While expansion was on Richard’s radar,
he knew that the manual handling of inventory was holding the
company back. Halenda’s was
utilizing two full time employees to
manually enter orders into QuickBooks. This process was slow, labour intensive and prone to error.
The only way Halenda’s could imagine keeping up with incoming
orders was by hiring more data
entry clerks, which was an unattractive option.
Finally, Halenda’s needed
to develop a means of product
traceability. Government inspectors and retailers mandate that
processors adopt a method of
tracking precisely where raw materials come from and where finished goods go to, in order to pass
‘recall audits’ and be ready in the
event of a recall. Halenda’s needed to prepare for this by implementing an automated traceability system.
Halenda’s also needed to
develop a standardized costing
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