The Hovis Division of Premier Foods, the UK's largest food producer, is targeting improved customer service and reduced waste following a transformation of its supply chain carried out in collaboration with Capgemini UK plc. The new solution, which is currently being rolled out across all 23 Hovis bakery sites, will provide traceability for every batch of bread baked across the entire end-to-end manufacturing and distribution supply chain .

According to Trading Markets, Premier Foods says that key benefits of the new solution, which will be fully implemented by the end of 2010, include better customer service, with improved accuracy of order fulfillment, and an improved visibility of supply chain performance.

The nationwide rollout of the new solution has now started following a successful pilot program involving three Hovis sites.

The project to develop and prove the new supply chain solution was led by a team of Capgemini SAP and supply chain specialists working closely with Premier Foods' staff, with SAP, who provide the core technology underpinning the solution, and with barcode scanning specialists Zetes.

Phil McCallum, Director of IT and Infrastructure at Premier Foods, said: