Plaidypus

Work

Food Manufacturing Traceability And Process WMS

A large batch food manufacturer needed to move USDA traceability and pre-finished-goods warehouse processes out of paper files and into a custom system that cut recall traceability from 4-5 days to 15-30 minutes.

Paper traceability converted into a custom raw ingredient and process WMSPAPER TRACEABILITYCUSTOM RAW + PROCESS WMSFIFOMixCookPackagePalletizeZebra scannersRework flowAllergen racking rulesFINISHEDGOODS WMSexisting

The Process Problem

The client had two plants and a large warehouse. Their finished goods warehouse management system was already working well, but the upstream production process before that handoff was still heavily paper-based.

USDA traceability lived in forms and filing cabinets. Raw ingredient movement, production steps, allergen concerns, rework, packaging line activity, and palletizing all needed stronger structure before product reached the finished goods WMS.

On paper, recall traceability could take 4-5 days. After the custom system was built, that same traceability work could be completed in roughly 15-30 minutes, well inside the 2-hour USDA expectation.

What We Built

Plaidypus built a custom raw ingredient and process warehouse management system from the ground up. The application supported Zebra scanner workflows and followed the actual production path from raw ingredient FIFO through mixing, cooking, packaging, and palletizing.

The system also supported allergen tracking, intelligent allergen racking rules, rework flow, and packaging line flow.

What Made It Different

This was not a replacement for the finished goods WMS. That system was already doing its job.

The custom application filled the operational gap before finished goods, creating a digital process layer where the business had previously depended on paper, tribal knowledge, and physical records.

One important control was intelligent allergen racking: pallets could only be placed above other pallets when the upper product contained only allergens already present in the products below it.

Why It Mattered

The value was in connecting production reality to traceable software. The team could keep its existing finished goods system while gaining a purpose-built upstream workflow for food safety, warehouse control, production visibility, and process discipline.

Most importantly, traceability became operational instead of archival. The business no longer had to dig through paper records for days to answer a question the system could now answer in minutes.