KATHRINE ANDERSEN CHOCOLATE
Denmark’s oldest chocolate workshop from 1898 has been fully digitized
Kathrine Andersen Chokolade has moved into brand new and modern premises in Søften, northwest of Aarhus. The production facilities have been seriously upgraded, and production planning has been fully digitized with barcodes, production numbers, digital overview and registration of all processes.
Since 2007, CEO and business owner Jakob Skovsgaard has been at the helm of the East Jutland chocolate manufacturer, Kathrine Andersen Chocolate, whose name dates back to 1877, when Kathrine Andersen was born. The chocolate workshop was established in 1898, when Kathrine Andersen started selling confectionery and cakes from her private home.
With more than 120 years under his belt, Jakob Skovsgaard is not only in charge of Denmark’s oldest chocolate workshop, but also brand new premises and modern production facilities with an attached chocolate shop.
From the very beginning, Jakob Skovsgaard had traditional craftsmanship ingrained in him when he deliberately started as a foal under the wings of the former owner, Henrik Larsen. Henrik Larsen had many of the old recipes in his head. In this way, Jakob Skovsgaard was able to maintain respect for the craft.
"We can manage all processes down to the personal level via tablets, where we can also start and pause tasks. Digitization helps to make our processes visible and gives employees the necessary overview in their everyday work."
A REAL BUSINESSMAN
Today, there is also a respect for the craftsmanship and the story of Kathrine Andersen Chocolate, which the chocolate workshop’s new logo symbolizes with a woman looking back in time.
But Jakob Skovsgaard is first and foremost a very good businessman, so it doesn’t affect him emotionally if a type of chocolate no longer sells and has to be removed from the range. In addition to good craftsmanship, the focus has always been on creating organic growth, ensuring product development and, most recently, digitizing the entire planning process from purchasing to production and order system.
– “Good planning is important. It’s about creating an overview and highlighting what the employees come in for in the morning,” says Jakob Skovsgaard.
FROM PHYSICAL TO DIGITAL PRODUCTION CARDS
Many of the processes at Kathrine Andersen Chokolade are based on the basic principles of lean. Therefore, they have previously worked with whiteboards and card systems, which have now been digitized through a collaboration with ERP supplier Scanditek and IT company Delfi Technologies.
– We have digitized our entire production planning by implementing a digital dashboard, a kind of dashboard that is constantly updated and shows how far we are in the processes when it comes to production and packaging, explains Jakob Skovsgaard.
To make the tasks visible to the employees, two screens have been installed in production and packing, which present the most important information to the employees with a digital overview of tasks and work processes on a daily basis. In addition, tablets, scanners and printers have been connected to the solution, all fed with data from the company’s ERP system.
– We can manage all processes down to the individual level via tablets, where we can also start and pause tasks. Digitization helps to make our processes visible and gives employees the necessary overview in everyday life,” concludes Jakob Skovsgaard.
REGISTRATION OF ALL PROCESSES WITH BARCODES
As an extra step in the digital production, Kathrine Andersen Chokolade also records raw material purchases and consumption using scanners (model: Delfi PM66) and can also print labels for the warehouse with a label printer (model: Citizen CL-S521 label printer).
When raw materials are removed from the warehouse for production, the item’s barcode is scanned to register the specific item consumption. The scan is done again when a production is finished and ready to be registered to the finished goods warehouse. A final scan is done when the chocolate is to be registered on a sales order.
For more than 12 years, Kathrine Andersen Chokolade has worked closely with Scanditek on the ERP side and most recently with the digitalization project in collaboration with Delfi Technologies.
ABOUT SCANDITEK
Scanditek is a full-service IT partner that helps companies and public institutions with the right IT solutions. Scanditek has more than 20 years of experience and specializes in ERP/financial systems and network solutions. For many customers, Scanditek acts as their external IT department.
ABOUT KATHRINE ANDERSEN CHOCOLATE
Kathrine Andersen Chokolade is Denmark’s oldest chocolate workshop, established in Aarhus in 1898 by Kathrine Andersen, who started selling confectionery and cakes from her private home. In 2007, Jakob Skovsgaard took over the company and started the work of making Kathrine Andersen Chokolade into what it is today, a chocolate workshop with respect for the old traditions.
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