Food & Beverage
3 min read

Integrated MES as final piece of the puzzle in digitization

Kim’s Chocolates, a world-renowned producer of Belgian chocolate, has been strongly committed to digitizing their logistics, ERP, business intelligence and printing automation in recent years. But the last piece of the puzzle, the nerve center of their operations, was still missing. By choosing an integrated MES solution by Agidens, all different building blocks now come together.

 

An established value

Since its founding in 1987, the chocolate-producing company with its headquarters in Tienen and 170 employees has become an established value. Kim’s Chocolates produces more than 10,000 tons of chocolate every year and has North America, the Benelux and Asia as main export regions. In addition to investments in logistics and production, their focus in recent years has been strongly on digitization.

Bob Van Rompuy, Chief Information Officer at Kim’s Chocolates: “At the moment, we don’t have a digital insight of what we are doing on the production line. That is of course a limitation in our further automatization. That’s why we went looking for a partner who could implement a system to which we could link our other functionalities, and who could also ensure a standardized way of working when producing our chocolate.”

After an earlier collaboration in 2013, Kim’s Chocolates approached Agidens once more for this project. Bob Van Rompuy: “After a positive exploratory talk, we were very pleased with the approach with which Agidens wanted to tackle such a large-scale project. From the beginning it was clear that Agidens would carefully examine all possible options. That is a match with Kim’s Chocolates, because we don’t believe in starting something and just waiting to see what happens.”

Agidens MES Project at Kim's Chocolate

MES by Agidens

Under the guidance of the Agidens business analysts, a thorough analysis of the existing processes was carried out and a plan was drawn up together with the operational managers to digitize the production process.

All aspects of the production process were examined:

  • Advanced scheduling
  • Automated quality checks
  • Digital work instructions
  • Optimization of logistic flows
  • Registration of process parameters

In order to meet all these wishes, Agidens decided to implement MOMENTUM® at Kim’s Chocolates.

Ready for the future

After working closely with Agidens consultants for over a year, Bob Van Rompuy is very satisfied with the approach. “Their flexibility is a major asset. Just like us, they realize that no, that is not possible should never be an answer to a question. We always believe that there is a comprehensive solution for every obstacle. This sometimes requires a little extra time, but I am convinced that we have a suitable solution for every challenge, and that the final result will be five times better.”

Good cooperation is also a must for Agidens. The input from the ERP specialists and the quality and production staff contribute to the smooth execution of the project. With a MOMS implementation we not only bring information together, but also people.

With the MES solution, Kim’s Chocolates is armed for the future. If new business opportunities arise, flows or products change or new regulations are introduced, there is a basis that enables a quick response.

“Ultimately, our people are going to be freed of the paper on the floor so they can be even more focused on their expertise and production quality. This makes a big difference for Kim’s Chocolates. With MOMENTUM®, Agidens will ensure that the lives of our employees on the production lines become a lot easier.”

Bob Van Rompuy Chief Information Officer

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