MANUFACTURING · FOOD & BEVERAGE · BAKERY & SNACKS

AI Automation for Bakery & Snacks.

Harmony digitizes pen-and-paper batch sheets and oven logs, streams the ovens and enrobers live, schedules around allergens and changeovers, and puts AI on giveaway and deductions. One AI-native operating system over everything: your floor, your machines, and the software you already run. No rip-and-replace.

Start with a pilot ROI Calculators & Tools

THE PROCESS

First a digital transformation. Then an AI transformation.

FIG. 01 · THE TWO ARCS

ARC 1 · DIGITAL

ARC 2 · AI

Data engineering is the work.AI is what it unlocks.

THE PHASED ROLLOUT

Three phases of a digital and AI transformation.

PHASE 01

PHASE 1

Lay the Data Foundation · Digitization

Every pen-and-paper record digitized at the station, every software system connected, and all of the data unified into one live layer. The digital transformation starts here.

PHASE 02

PHASE 2

Production & Operations Scale

Factory operations turn proactive: live sensors and machine data, the AI scheduling board, predictive maintenance before failure.

PHASE 03

PHASE 3

AI-Native Operations

Agents across the floor and the back office act on the live layer: quality signals, reports, copilots. Humans approve.

AI USE CASES

Twelve ways the AI layer earns its keep.

Index · 11 use cases

U1

Paperwork Digitization

Use case 01 · PEN, PAPER & EXCEL

Problem. Batch sheets, oven temp logs, quality checks, sanitation rounds, and waste tallies live on clipboards, keyed into Excel a day later or filed in a binder unread.

Harmony AI Solution. Captured once at the station on tablets. AI flags out-of-range entries the moment they are written, while the batch is still in the oven, not after it ships.

U2

Live Machine Data

Use case 02 · LIVE MACHINE DATA

Problem. Zone temps live on the oven HMI, belt speeds in a logbook, weights per lane inside the checkweigher. Nobody sees them next to each other, or next to the batch that was running.

Harmony AI Solution. Direct PLC and sensor connections, Allen-Bradley/Rockwell, Siemens, Omron, Mitsubishi, any brand, via OPC UA or whatever the machine speaks, stream zone temps, belt speeds, and weights per lane in real time.

U3

In-Line Quality Intelligence

Use case 03 · IN-LINE QUALITY

Problem. Weights, moisture, and coating coverage are checked as product exits, but the results get reviewed after the shift. By then hours of production carry the same drift.

Harmony AI Solution. Captured as product exits the line. ML shows the pattern within minutes and signals the mixer, the oven, or the enrober upstream, while the cause is still running.

U4

AI Search Across All Data

Use case 04 · AI SEARCH

Problem. "Which lots used that flour receipt?" or "What did line 2 record before the coating spike?" means binders, phone calls, and an Excel export.

Harmony AI Solution. Answered in seconds with the source shown, across the ERP, HACCP logs, batch sheets, machine data, and inboxes.

U5

AI Production Scheduling

Use case 05 · AI SCHEDULING

Problem. Allergen sequences, changeovers, and pack targets juggled by hand every morning, and one late ingredient reshuffles the whole board.

Harmony AI Solution. AI production scheduling models allergens, changeovers, and pack targets and proposes the plan. The planner stays in charge and approves.

U6

Yield Optimization

Use case 06 · YIELD + GIVEAWAY

Problem. Checkweigher data stays in the machine and giveaway gets totaled in the weekly yield report. A heavy lane runs for a full shift before anyone knows.

Harmony AI Solution. Checkweighers stream into the AI layer. Overfill is tracked live per lane and per shift, so a heavy lane shows in minutes, not weeks.

U7

AI Workflow Automation

Use case 07 · CHANGEOVERS + SANITATION

Problem. Changeover and sanitation windows are sequenced by habit. Allergen washdowns land mid-shift, stretch past plan, and the capacity quietly disappears.

Harmony AI Solution. AI sequences the run order so like allergens run together and washdown windows land where they cost the least. The plan proposes, the planner approves.

U8

RFID + Serial Genealogy

Use case 08 · INCIDENT TRACING

Problem. Tracing a complaint backward means pulling the pack records, then the enrober log, then the bake log, then the batch sheet, then the receiving log. Days, if the paper is even findable.

Harmony AI Solution. Pack to enrobe to bake to mix to receiving, traced backward in minutes, each step with its source shown.

U9

Inventory + Shortage Intelligence

Use case 09 · INVENTORY

Problem. Ingredient counts drift, film and cartons stock out mid-run, and short-dated ingredients get discovered when the batch is already staged.

Harmony AI Solution. An AI-maintained true-stock layer for ingredients and packaging. Short-shelf-life alerts before the date bites, and material readiness confirmed before a batch releases.

U10

Lot Traceability

Use case 10 · LOT TRACEABILITY

Problem. One-up/one-back is a binder exercise. A customer or auditor question turns into a conference room full of paper.

Harmony AI Solution. Lot serialization from receiving to pallet. One-up/one-back in seconds, recall-ready whenever the question comes.

U11

Back-Office AI Automations

Use case 11 · FULL-SCOPE AI AGENTS · FINANCE, SALES, PROCUREMENT, LOGISTICS

Problem. Paper batch records and supplier COAs live in filing cabinets. Finding one means knowing which drawer, and hoping.

Harmony AI Solution. Full-scope AI agents run the workflows across financial, sales, procurement, and logistics: deductions and AR worked automatically, POs parsed from the inbox, and reports written before the morning meeting.

Scope. Financials, sales, procurement, and logistics automations, in the same platform.

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YOUR LIKELY STACK

The systems and machines we meet on your floor.

SYSTEMS

SAPInfor CloudSuite F&BAptean/RossSage X3IgnitionRedzoneSafetyChainExcelCustom appsLocal servers

MACHINES

Peerless and Shaffer mixersAMF and Baker Perkins linesRademaker sheetingSollich enrobersSyntegon flow wrappersMettler-Toledo and Ishida checkweighersColumbia palletizers

You might run any of these. Or none of them. Harmony is software and hardware agnostic, and we connect live machine data from any PLC brand and any software or custom app.

AI AGENTS

Agents that watch, flag, and act. Humans decide.

Giveaway Watch

Lot Trace Agent

Oven Zone Drift Watch

Retailer Deduction Agent

Allergen Changeover Sequencer

Ingredient Readiness Agent

Short-Dated Stock Agent

COA Intake Agent

Morning Report Writer

Custom Agents, built for your floor and back office

THE PATTERN WE SEE

The problems we see on every bakery & snacks floor, and why they happen.

Disconnected systems, disconnected data

The ERP, the food-safety system, and the line each hold a piece of the plant, and none of them talk.

Batch records live on paper, so problems surface late

Batch sheets, oven temp logs, quality checks, sanitation rounds, and waste tallies are filled in by hand.

Giveaway is totaled after the shift

The checkweigher sees every package, but the data stays inside the machine.

Traceability lives in binders, so lot questions take days

One-up/one-back means pulling paper batch records, receiving logs, and pack records by hand, stage by stage.

The back office runs on manual work

POs are typed in from emails, invoices keyed into the ERP, deductions and AR worked from spreadsheets, and reports built by hand before the morning meeting.

THE PILOT

$15–20K. 4–6 weeks. One painful problem.

We pick one specific pain point, send engineers to live in your factory for 4–6 weeks, and solve it. One-time payment, working software by week 3, and no obligation to go further. If you do, you choose the modules that you like.

FIRST CALLSECOND CALLCHOOSE PILOTDATA ACCESS FROM ITON-SITEBUILDTESTROIREVIEW

Start with a pilot →Book a Demo →

QUESTIONS, ANSWERED

Do you replace our ERP or our MES?

Additive by default. The AI layer sits on top of what you already run, and when a system deserves to be replaced, we replace it. Sometimes we're the layer on top of your MES. Sometimes we are the MES: station capture, live line boards, quality, traceability, and scheduling on one AI-native layer.

Can you get live data off our ovens, enrobers, and checkweighers?

Yes. Direct PLC and sensor connections, Allen-Bradley/Rockwell, Siemens, Omron, Mitsubishi, or any other brand, via OPC UA or whatever the machine speaks. Zone temps, belt speeds, and weights per lane streamed into the AI layer in real time. Software and hardware agnostic.

How does the AI handle allergen changeovers in the schedule?

Allergen sequencing is modeled as a constraint, not a note in the margin. The AI proposes a run order that groups like allergens and places washdown windows where they cost the least. The planner approves every plan before it runs.

Can it really do one-up/one-back fast enough for a recall?

Yes. With lots serialized from receiving to pallet, one-up/one-back runs in seconds: which receipts fed which batches, which batches filled which cases, which cases went on which pallets. The answer comes with sources shown, ready for the auditor or the customer.

How does the AI get our data?

Read-only connections, scheduled exports, or on-prem. Security is reviewed together in scoping. Read-only pilots: every agent proposes, a person approves. Data engineering is the work. AI is what it unlocks.

What does it cost after the pilot?

A per-plant annual platform: unlimited seats, no user fees, hardware at cost. The pilot itself is $15-20K over 4-6 weeks against one painful problem, with working software by week 3.

Do you work remotely?

No. We always start a pilot in person and on-site, with forward-deployed engineers on your floor. Very rarely do we do anything remotely.

Harmony AI puts batch records, machine data, giveaway, and lot traceability on one live layer, so the plant finds the drift before the product ships.

Start a scoping conversation →

ADJACENT FLOORS WE RUN

Meat & Poultry →Dairy →Beverage & Bottling →Frozen & Prepared Foods →