Case Study xTrack WMS: The digital transformation of a food warehouse

Digitalizing a food warehouse may seem like a straightforward step. However, the real challenge in this type of operation comes primarily from handling weighable products, followed closely by maintaining accurate lot‑level traceability. Once the business requirements are clearly defined, data stops being a simple record‑keeping tool and becomes an active resource, one that guides daily decisions, reduces waste, and streamlines workflows. A fully digital warehouse means complete traceability, real‑time temperature monitoring, and logistics that can respond instantly to market demands.

The purpose of digitalization in the food industry is to bring transparency to the supply chain, ensure clear traceability, eliminate errors caused by variable weights, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and ultimately increase customer satisfaction.

Main areas of digital transformation

Digitalization in the food industry focuses on four key directions:

🔹 Supply chain management: coordinating procurement, production, inventory, and logistics for an efficient end‑to‑end flow.

🔹 Food safety and quality control: continuous monitoring of products to reduce risks and maintain standards.

🔹 E‑commerce and delivery: integrating online platforms and digital payments for fast access to products.

🔹 Traceability: tracking food from farm to table through sensors and modern technologies.

Challenges faced by food warehouses before digitalization

🔵 Manual processes: paper‑based tracking, human errors, slow reporting. Manual data collection in the field and later processing often lead to errors, from weighing mistakes to incorrect lot or expiration‑date entries. Any data‑entry error can mean lost time and money to fix it. Automated processing, on the other hand, significantly reduces the time needed to collect and interpret operational data.

🔵 Inventory inaccuracies: stockouts, overstocking, waste, and discrepancies caused by weighing variations. These inaccuracies also stem from manual data handling. Stock quantities can be distorted by entry errors, creating gaps between what was actually shipped and what was recorded. These discrepancies can be quantitative – especially for weighable items – or related to lot tracking.

🔵 Compliance issues: food‑safety regulations and gaps in traceability. There are multiple types of traceability across a logistics flow. In production, traceability refers to information about product composition, the lots used, and the moment of manufacturing. In a warehouse, traceability means tracking all movements, picking, storage, and delivery activities, with special attention to expiration dates. Throughout the logistics chain, respecting storage norms, especially temperature, is essential for food products. Monitoring storage and transport conditions represents another critical layer of traceability.

🔵 Operational inefficiencies: delays in picking, packing, and shipping. Time is the most important factor in reducing logistics costs. Goods must reach their destination on time. Every operation along the logistics flow must be optimized, and operators need clear guidance on the exact steps to follow at any moment for maximum efficiency. Digitalization supports this through MES, WMS, or TMS systems, which can deliver major operational improvements.

🔵 Limited supply‑chain visibility: lack of digital traceability makes it difficult to track products from farm to consumer – a major issue during product recalls. Recalls bring significant operational costs. They must be prevented through real‑time monitoring of the logistics chain. If a recall does occur, decisions and communication must happen quickly and efficiently to minimize consumer impact. Advanced digital systems can generate reports and support fast decision‑making across all parties involved.

Case Study: xTrack WMS – The Axes Software Solution

A modern food warehouse can no longer operate solely on manual processes. xTrack WMS has proven in real‑world implementations how digitalization can redefine daily operations.

Through workflow automation and real‑time monitoring, the system shifts warehouse activity from a reactive approach to a proactive one, where quality and compliance are ensured at every step.

At Axes Software, our goal is always to identify every stage of the logistics process that can be optimized and provide the most effective solutions. Not all food warehouses are the same, and from project to project we encounter different workflows that can be improved. In some cases, for specific stages, we’ve managed to reduce processing time by over 80% while bringing errors down to zero.

It’s also important to consider that in food warehouses, staff turnover can be quite high—especially in areas with low temperatures, such as refrigerated or frozen zones. In these situations, the system must be designed so that new operators can learn the application quickly and become just as efficient as experienced warehouse users.

Stock optimization and waste reduction

Through its real‑time monitoring and tracking capabilities, xTrack WMS provides complete visibility over inventory, from receiving to dispatch. For perishable products, proper stock rotation — using methods such as FEFO (First Expired, First Out) or FIFO (First In, First Out) — is handled automatically. These are the classic delivery methods in any warehouse.

However, large retailers often impose special requirements regarding the lots delivered to them. These rules vary from one client to another. A common example is that the remaining shelf life of an item must not fall below 30% of its total shelf life, or, for other items, the remaining shelf life must be at least 60 days.

Warehouse operators must pay close attention during every picking and preparation activity, depending on each client’s rules. With xTrack WMS, we organize both the workflow and the physical stock in the warehouse so that these requirements are met without any delivery errors.

A clear view of inventory enables accurate calculation of replenishment or production needs, helping optimize stock levels and reduce losses caused by product expiration. Based on recent and annual sales history, current stock, and procurement/production lead times, we generate requirement reports. These reports form the basis for confirming procurement or production orders.

Impact for our client was clear:

• Waste was reduced by up to 90%, by removing products before expiration.
• Inventory accuracy exceeded 98%, far above what manual processes can achieve.

Operational efficiency and customer satisfaction

Errors in picking, packing, and shipping are costly. Customer satisfaction is difficult to measure in real time – it becomes visible only through the long‑term increase in processed order volumes. By guiding staff step by step, xTrack WMS significantly reduced errors, increased transparency in collaboration with clients, and improved the perceived quality of service.

Operational efficiency is achieved across all warehouse stages: from receiving goods, storing them, preparing items for picking, collecting and packing them for delivery, all the way to loading them into transport vehicles. Automating these stages increases delivery predictability and ensures goods reach the customer on time.

There are also specific warehouse operations, such as kitting and labeling, which are time‑consuming and therefore highly important to automate. As with replenishment, the picking area must always have the required quantities available. For example, an item cannot be shipped without the correct translated label. Stock levels for labeled/unlabeled items are essential, as is planning the transformation activities – moving items from one state to another.

Efficiency is not driven by the application alone. Labeling operations are partly independent of the system, but several factors contribute to higher performance:

• Availability of goods in the labeling area
• Recording labeling and kitting activities per operator, enabling performance measurement and proper bonuses
• Moving finished goods to their designated shelves, so picking can proceed without requiring operator decisions

Impact for the client:

• Average delivery processing time reduced by 30%
• Receiving and storage time reduced by 15%
• Delivery clarity resulted in a 0% return rate caused by delivery errors
• Lead time from receiving to delivery reduced by 50% for out‑of‑stock orders, thanks to sorting at receiving and cross‑docking, while maintaining 100% traceability — especially temperature conditions
• Some processes saw an 80% reduction in processing time
• Training time dropped to 1 hour, after which new operators reached 70% of the average efficiency of experienced staff

Other Benefits

🟦 Automatic generation of delivery documents, including warranty certificates, quality certificates, packing lists, and standard documents such as delivery notes and CMRs.

🟦 Automatic UIT code generation for each delivery note that requires it.

🟦 A practical warehouse example supports these efficiency gains: The terminal application that sends tasks to warehouse operators is intuitive and can be used by anyone, even without knowing the language selected for the instructions. We use a color‑coding system which, combined with warehouse organization, builds operator confidence. They only need to identify the correct shelf and the required quantity to pick.

Traceability and Food Safety

In the food industry, traceability is non‑negotiable. xTrack WMS provides a detailed log for every lot — down to pallet and location level.

In the warehouse context, traceability means tracking all activities performed on any item, lot, or pallet, from receiving to shipping, including moves, picking, packing, labeling, and more. In production, traceability refers to the composition of the finished product, the equipment used, and the operator and moment associated with each stage of the production order.

Benefits for the Client

Meeting strict food‑safety standards strengthens customer trust. Quality standards, often higher than those required by law, reinforce confidence among existing clients, who place more orders, and open opportunities for new markets. Clients know they can rely on quality checks and audits, with results that meet the most demanding expectations.

How xTrack WMS contributes to food safety:

• Improves hygiene: automated tasks reduce manual handling and the risk of cross‑contamination.
• Enhances traceability: real‑time data on product movement enables fast, accurate recalls.
• Manages freshness: applies FEFO protocols or other delivery rules, alerts staff, and prioritizes items nearing expiration.
• Ensures compliance: automatic reports support audits and adherence to international regulations.

The digital ecosystem that complements the WMS

Smart management of food‑logistics flows relies on a set of technologies working together. The WMS becomes the core of this ecosystem, connecting to:

• ERP systems for alignment between logistics and financial processes
• Weighing scales for automatic weight capture
• Temperature sensors for monitoring storage conditions
• RFID for full control of returnable packaging

These integrations enable true digital transformation: they reduce errors, provide real‑time data, and ensure end‑to‑end traceability from receiving to delivery.

Next, we’ll look at how each integration contributes to the efficiency and safety of a food warehouse, showing how xTrack WMS becomes the center of an intelligent digital ecosystem.

xTrack WMS Integration with ERP

A food warehouse cannot operate efficiently without synchronizing logistics processes with financial ones. The integration between WMS and ERP ensures a bidirectional flow of information: The ERP launches new products, sends purchase orders, and generates invoices, while the WMS sends back data on receipts, shipments, and inventory.

xTrack WMS offers a key advantage: flexibility. Our system connects to any ERP, regardless of brand or architecture, ensuring a transparent and optimized supply chain.

Integration can be achieved through various methods:

• XML/EDI files
• Shared databases
• Web services
• Dedicated SAP connectors

The application uses clear statuses for each stage (receiving, preparation, shipping), preventing errors and data duplication. As a result, the bidirectional flow of information between ERP and xTrack WMS provides full visibility over inventory and orders, with real‑time updates and significantly improved accuracy.

Integration of xTrack WMS with industrial scales

Industrial scales are indispensable measurement tools in warehouses, laboratories, and industrial environments, supporting inventory control, weight verification, and safe storage. A critical aspect of these devices is their precision: some models can measure with sub‑gram resolution, which is essential in the food and pharmaceutical industries, where even minimal deviations can affect product quality or regulatory compliance.

xTrack WMS connects directly to these scales, automatically capturing and centralizing data in the system. This eliminates manual handling and human error, ensuring every receiving or shipping operation is documented accurately. The integration supports regulatory compliance and quality verification for pallets, containers, or individual units. In addition, real‑time weight transmission makes operations faster and safer, while optimizing transport costs.

Temperature monitoring through sensors integrated with xTrack WMS

For food warehouses, maintaining optimal storage conditions is vital. xTrack WMS connects to temperature sensors, including Zebra devices, to transmit real‑time data and generate automatic alerts when deviations occur. This intelligent ecosystem enables rapid detection of failures, prevents inventory loss, and documents compliance for audits and international regulations.

By integrating Zebra temperature sensors, designed for precise monitoring and wireless connectivity, the system provides full visibility across ambient, refrigerated, and frozen zones. The collected data is centralized in xTrack WMS and can be accessed instantly, reducing customer complaints and strengthening safety across the logistics chain. The result is continuous, scalable, and reliable control that helps warehouses meet strict food‑safety standards while optimizing operational costs.

Plastic Crate Management through RFID integrated with xTrack WMS

RFID applied to returnable crates and containers solves one of the most costly issues: loss of packaging. RFID tags withstand wear and can be read simultaneously, even through materials like plastic or metal.

xTrack WMS uses RFID to monitor all inbound and outbound movements. RFID gates installed along warehouse aisles automatically send information to the WMS and ERP, eliminating manual checks. Every pallet or container movement is documented, giving managers real‑time visibility over packaging inventory. This integration enables 100% traceability, reduces inventory time by up to 50%, and increases operator productivity.

By implementing RFID in xTrack WMS, economic losses caused by unreturned packaging are reduced by up to 99%, and productivity in flow control increases by 80%. In many cases, the investment pays for itself in less than a year. Complete traceability and 99.8% stock accuracy further strengthen the logistics chain.

A Future‑Ready WMS

Our solution, xTrack WMS, is built for the future. It aligns with the latest technological trends in the industry:

• AI and machine‑learning integrations for more accurate forecasting
• Blockchain‑based traceability
• Robotic automation for increased efficiency in picking and packing

Our clients benefit from a future‑ready platform capable of evolving alongside market demands.

Agility, safety, and efficiency – all become possible through the digitalization of your food warehouse.

The Axes Software team can guide you through this transformation. Contact us!