Meet Bob, a plant manager who was looking to update his industrial food production plant's manufacturing execution software.

Bob did his research and found CAT Squared in the MOMi Institute's annual product survey. With over 20 years experience in providing MES software, CAT Squared was the only provider focused solely on the food industry. That was important to Bob. He wanted a provider that understood the unique processes, challenges, and regulatory requirements of his industry.

Bob was impressed with CAT Squared from his very first contact. Their project scoping exercise and ROI study provided a detailed project scope, budget and expected ROI showing how Bob would recover his investment in less than a year. It was all Bob needed to gain approval for the capital expenditure required to fund the project.

And CAT Squared’s software provided full traceability of his product from receipt of all raw materials (including live animals, ingredients, and packing materials), through production, into warehouse inventory, all the way to shipment and delivery of his finished goods. A simple scan let Bob or his final customer trace the product from 'farm to fork.' This provided Bob with a huge improvement in his recall capabilities and ultimately significantly improved his customer's confidence in his product allowing him to improve customer satisfaction and even gain new customers.

This, together with the process improvements Bob experienced in his plant’s productivity, yield, efficiencies, and food quality allowed bob to significantly improve his profitability and even exceed his ROI expectations.

And Bob really liked that CAT Squared's plant floor scoreboard kept his entire team aware of critical manufacturing, quality and safety data, including executive dashboards that could be viewed from any management PC. And CAT Squared's real-time production reporting wasn't compromised by network bobbles, due to their Store-and-Forward technology.

CAT Squared software also worked with his existing weighing and labeling hardware, and there weren’t any issues with his existing handheld scanners, printers, or any other plant-floor devices. Things just worked.

Bob was sure the deal-breaker would be trying to interface to their ERP, but CAT Squared had extensive experience with widely standardized ERPs like SAP. They could even interface with home-grown ERPs.

Because of CAT Squared's modular design, Bob could pick just the right mix of tools for his facility, or phase in additional capabilities with time.

Now Bob is one happy camper, and so are his employees. With CAT Squared's alerts for potential problems and the ability to create and enforce new rules for product movement and shipments, CAT Squared's software lets him manage quality and safety datacontrol his yields and giveaways, and manage his warehouse and cold storage inventory—all while maintaining traceability reporting for regulatory compliance.

Calling CAT Squared was a smart move on Bob's part. He's built a relationship with an award-winning team, the kind that resolves issues quickly, the first time. Be like Bob! Call today and find out what CAT Squared can do for YOUR company.

Kathy Barbeire

Written by Kathy Barbeire

Kathy Barbeire is a seasoned professional with a strong track record in leveraging new technology, data analysis, and storytelling to drive organizational success. As the marketing manager at CAT Squared since 2015, Kathy stays updated on industry trends to ensure our products remain adaptable to evolving standards and prepares our customers for disruptive technologies. She actively participates in a blockchain learning group associated with Blockchain for Arkansas (BC4AR), an initiative led by Governor Asa Hutchinson. Kathy's expanding knowledge and expertise enable her to create informative content that educates our supply chain partners and helps them navigate upcoming transitions. Kathy's educational background includes graduating magna cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in professional and technical writing, along with double minors in sociology and information technology. She later completed the MBA program at UALR. Prior to joining CAT Squared, Kathy applied her passion for data-driven storytelling to assist nonprofits in defining goals, tracking program metrics, and engaging donors and community stakeholders. She served as a program manager at the Our House Homeless Shelter in Little Rock and later at The Salvation Army Central Arkansas Area Command.