Oven Station Assistant Case Study
Vision AI-Integrated Oven Eliminates Baking Errors, Leading to 24% Sales Increase
AT A GLANCE
A large grocery chain with an in-store bakery came
to PreciTaste with the goal of creating more
quality baked goods to increase store sales. The
challenge was the amount of baking process
inconsistencies they continued to see due to lack
of skilled labor and attention-to-detail. With this,
PreciTaste partnered with a premier oven brand to
develop an integrated Vision AI solution – the
Oven Station Assistant – to detect process errors
and assist crews in baking products to perfection.
The results were undeniable, leading to a mass
adoption of the proprietary solution across stores.
CHALLENGES
The baking process errors started with the lack of employee training
and baking knowledge. For instance, mixing bread rolls with pretzels
would lead to an imbalance in the baking of each product, which then
had negative effects on the quality, taste, texture – and ultimately the
customer experience. Lack of training came from the common industry
issue of labor shortages and employee turnover, so the cycle continued
to repeat itself. Besides knowing that training was an issue, the
customer had no real visibility into what specifically was causing a
decrease in baked good sales… until PreciTaste.
SOLUTION
The core of the Oven Station Assistant is optimal baking process automation with the support of vision sensing. This system of Vision AI was integrated into the oven to first recognize what is being put in and where it went, and then use the power of AI to prevent or reject incorrect trays through screens on the oven in real-time. Other error detections included preventing the opening of the oven door if the baking process was incomplete and automatically adapting energy intake and bake times based on the number of trays placed in the oven.
Reduced Process Errors
Increase Quality
Better Customer Experience
Sales Boost
BENEFITS
1. Minimal Employee Training While Eliminating Error
The Oven Station Assistant was easy-to-use and significantly reduced the cognitive load of the entire team. Employees simply followed the screens and could trust that errors would be eliminated through instant notifications, allowing managers to spend more time creating a positive customer experience.
2. Scalability, Visibility & Immediate Impact
With the robust infrastructure, the customer was able to widely scale the Oven Station Assistant across stores. Reliable real-time guidance provided instant visibility into the common errors that were previously decreasing sales and thus increased sales through a combination of error reduction and actionable insights.
3. Food Quality & Safety Focus
By baking each product through a precise, automated process, the quality of every baked good improved in every aspect. What was sufficient before turned into products that customers came back for and recommended to others. The automation also lent to food safety in ensuring every product was baked to the highest standard.
RESULTS
PreciTaste measured performance of X stores implementing the Oven Station Assistant. These are the results:
65%
of baking processes had some error (prior to PreciTaste)
51%
Reduction of total process errors with the Oven Station Assistant
24%
Sales increase within X months of installation