Products
Johnsonville has iconic status in the United States and far beyond when it comes to the sausage world. The late Ralph and Alice Stayer opened a butcher shop in 1945, naming it after their hometown in Wisconsin. In the following decades, the second-fourth generations of family members kept the company focused on sausage production, expanding the business in retail and food service areas. Johnsonville also has manufacturing facilities in Asia. Its products are available in 40+ countries through various channels, from supermarkets to restaurants and sports stadiums. Bestsellers in the U.S. include its brand of bratwurst or “brats,” Italian sausage, and fresh breakfast sausage.
The solution
“We chose BESTMIX because of the optimization possibilities during both the purchase and production phases. The overarching recipe integration across our production facilities was also a major advantage,” says Bob Meyers, IT Business Partner Operations at Johnsonville. “BESTMIX showed that it could tailor its software to our business needs, resulting in a custom BESTMIX add-on for our fresh meat production facilities. Highly variable incoming meat fat is being fat-corrected based on real-time data. What also convinced us to choose BESTMIX was how it complemented SAP and the development of specific solutions in BESTMIX. This allows us to combine different batches to achieve an end product with an unambiguous and uniform quality.”
The Implementation
Johnsonville and BESTMIX came up with a broad outline of the software implementation in 2019. Today, both partners are finalizing the third version of the BESTMIX add-on for fresh meat production, while linking production demand to ingredient prices is leading to further optimizations.
What benefits does BESTMIX offer Johnsonville?
Bob Meyers says, “Centralizing our recipe formulations results in a better overview for all stakeholders and more visibility in terms of food safety. BESTMIX creates a well-defined playing field in which we enjoy the necessary flexibility. Only formulations that meet the required parameters can go into production. In addition, BESTMIX offers us the necessary tools to monitor and verify recipes.” Meyers also sees several advantages to the purchasing process: “We are now identifying and seizing opportunities in cost reduction more quickly, buying the right meat at the right time, and our purchasing is now more future-oriented, too. BESTMIX also allows us to quantify the opportunity costs, whereby we weigh up the decisions made against the options we didn’t choose. That provides us with valuable insights for future purchase considerations.”
A story of collaboration and co-creation
Bob Meyers sees the relationship ongoing with the BESTMIX team. “BESTMIX consultants Jonatan and Filip helped us to see the big picture without losing sight of the details. I can safely say that BESTMIX has steered our formulation into the 21st century. Jumping from Excel spreadsheets in our factories to a central integration with SAP is not a small one. And we’re very pleased that BESTMIX is further adapting its software to the needs of its customers.”
Filip Snauwaert of BESTMIX praises Johnsonville’s input and its contribution to the BESTMIX knowledge bank. “We were introduced to the uniqueness of American sausage production for the first time. Johnsonville’s experts helped us better understand that market.”
