JAMIX System Keeps Procurement And Requisitions In Order In Mikkeli Food Services

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Mikkeli is a city located in eastern Finland with nearly 53,000 inhabitants. The city provides food services mainly in schools and kindergartens (K-12). There are 42 kitchens serving 8,000 meals daily. Mikkeli has been using JAMIX Kitchen Intelligence System for managing their food services since 2007. Since the beginning they have used the system extensively: For managing recipes, menus, inventory, procurement, and requisitions. In addition to this, the system is used for internal operational calculations.

Mikkeli Food Services Uses The System Comprehensively

Mikkeli has created shared recipes in the system, and the production kitchens use them in the daily work. They get shopping lists based on menus from the system, and take care of orders and deliveries with it. In addition they manage requisitions and billing with JAMIX, and take reports, lists Production Planner Marja Jussi-Pekka.

The usage of JAMIX System is not limited to production kitchens, as the service kitchens use it for requisitions. In addition to kitchens, the administration uses the system to support their operations. The financial key performance indicators in Mikkeli food services are based on internal operational calculations. JAMIX System provides the tools to register and monitor operative performance and costs. Menu planning together with versatile reports are also important tools in leading food production.

Contract Products Run In The System Reliably And Easily Into Menus And Orders

Mikkeli is a part of a food services procurement pool in the Mikkeli region. Contract products are linked to recipes in the JAMIX System. This way the contract products run reliably through the entire food production process. ”This is a really big benefit, as we can allocate procurement into just the right products”, Jussi-Pekka points out.

At present different suppliers have a huge product assortment. If you would not manage procurement with a kitchen system, purchases would easily start spreading around as the kitchens would order items of their choice from any suppliers. Mikkeli food services have worked systematically so that each production kitchen has the right products linked to recipes and orders. Large production kitchens use contract products of the procurement pool, and smaller kitchens follow their own contracts. For example, the kitchens might order the same bread from different suppliers depending on their contract.

JAMIX System Is A Priceless Tool In All Areas Of Food Production

The biggest benefit of the system for Mikkeli food services comes from requisitions management, tells Marja Jussi-Pekka. The service kitchens make requisitions to the commissary kitchens through the system. The system provides delivery and packing lists according to orders for the commissary. Different types of production sheets, as well as diet labels are quick to print from the system. Mikkeli food services cook and deliver 200-400 diet meals daily. The diet meals alone would keep one employee busy, if all information should be registered manually. ”I truly don’t know what we would do, if we would lose this feature”, Marja laughs.

”If we would do everything I mentioned manually – write menus by hand, and send them in between kitchens, or call orders to the suppliers by phone… Without up-to-date price information we get from the system, we wouldn’t be able to think of the meal costs when planning menus as we do now. And I couldn’t even imagine how we would manage requisitions from service kitchens without a system. Not to talk about calculating manually the amounts of food to be prepared based on requisitions. At least the amount of errors would grow”, Marja Jussi-Pekka reflects.

JAMIX Does Not Leave The Customer Alone

Mikkeli food services started the deployment of JAMIX Kitchen System in 2007 with getting computers into all kitchens, and learning how to use them. Only after that they started the actual training sessions for the JAMIX System. The deployment went well, as the staff was motivated and excited about the system. They were also committed to the new way of working. JAMIX System has developed over the years, and training sessions have been arranged whenever needed. For regional training sessions Mikkeli has asked a trainer from JAMIX. The admin user of Mikkeli has taken care of training sessions within own organization, for example for new employees.

Mikkeli food services uses JAMIX Admin Services, that takes care of admin tasks in JAMIX system. To manage the system comprehensively, Mikkeli would need to hire one person to do that. From financial, as well as from HR perspective it is more convenient to handle it with JAMIX Admin Services, tells Marja Jussi-Pekka. An external admin user also sees the system in a different way compared to a person that has used the system for years. Managing information is professional, and the systematic approach shows for example in managing basic data – compared to a situation, where several users would create groupings in the system, and would name items according to their own need or logic.

A big plus is also immediate support. ”A person you know answers the phone in the Admin Services, and you always get help.” Especially when there are more complex issues it is a big benefit that the Admin Services sorts them out and provides the finished answer to the customer. We contact JAMIX Helpdesk when needed, as well.

Kitchen Management Systems Are A Prerequisite For Operations In The Future

Systems include a risk for vulnerability but without these systems we could not operate at all, Marja Jussi-Pekka points out. Cloud services and web based systems aim at tackling the vulnerability challenge, so that technical interruptions could be minimized. IT skills are required of the staff in the food services already now. The customers require this, as well. So everyone has to be able to use a kitchen management system at least to some point. This requires a lot from the managers, as well. They need to ensure the skills for everybody, now and in the future, Marja points out.

IT Architecture Is Worthwhile When Deploying A Kitchen System

Marja’s tip to a new JAMIX customer is, that before deployment you should think carefully what you want from the system. In addition, you need to think which functions you will use, and how you will use them. You need to consider the resources you have, both with regards time and personnel, and define responsibilities for management. You should also plan well appropriate user levels for different user groups, and decide who manages your database. ”When you use the system, you need to remember that everything has effect on everything. If you change something in the basic data, you need to think where that change will affect BEFORE making it”, Marja points out.

”Co-operation with JAMIX has always worked well for us. JAMIX is a good partner, as they listen to the customer’s wishes, as well”, Marja concludes.

 

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