Ice cream producer’s journey from manual production tracking to data-driven insights highlighted at this month’s Ice Cream & Cultured Innovation Conference
MILWAUKEE, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation, and Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company shared at this month’s Ice Cream & Cultured Innovation Conference how the ice cream producer is positioning its manufacturing operations for continued growth with enhanced production, quality and inventory management.
Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream started as a family-owned ice cream shop in 1962 in Madison, Wisconsin. Today, the company supplies its ice cream to more than 800 scoop shops and restaurants nationwide, as well as private-label manufacturers. To better support its ongoing growth, the company recently adopted the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform, which includes multiple Plex technologies. To date, the platform has helped the company:
- Achieve 95% inventory accuracy, a 27% improvement.
- Reduce raw material inventory by 18%.
- Reduce on-hand inventory management work by 3-4 hours.
The Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform replaced two separate systems the ice cream maker previously used to track production. Those systems didn’t always communicate properly and required production data to be manually entered. This took up precious time and resulted in staff working with out-of-date information, making it difficult to trust production and inventory data.
With the Plex Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream staff now have access to readily available production data to see what’s happening throughout the manufacturing facility at any time. This includes being able to now see product loss and waste factors with Plex’s Batch Management functionality, which has helped the company boost yield.
The Plex Quality Management System (QMS) replaced manual, paper-based quality tracking in the Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream manufacturing facility. This has helped the company better meet customer-specific needs, comply with industry regulations and prepare for audits. Now, traceability is instantaneous, not an hours-long process, and staff can better communicate with customers about quality checks during production runs.
“One of the biggest functions the Plex platform has helped us improve is inventory management,” said Sarah Deadman, chief operating officer, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company. “Previously, inventory was tracked using multiple systems and employee knowledge. Inevitably, employees would spend time searching the building for materials, which risked creating production delays. Now, everyone in the building can know where product is at any point in time.”
With the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform in place, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream is now exploring automating more of its production operations as it continues to grow its business.
“As food manufacturers grow, they need systems that give them full visibility into their operations and more efficient ways of working,” said Michael Hart, head of product – industry strategy & growth, Rockwell Automation. “The Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform gives Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream a connected foundation that supports operational improvements today and continued growth and increased automation in the future.”
Learn more about the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform here.
About Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company
Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company began in 1962, when Chuck Sr. and Nancy Deadman decided to open their very own candy and ice cream shop. After 60 years of continued innovation, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company now encompasses four ice cream parlors and a manufacturing plant in Madison, Wisconsin. The manufacturing facility produces more than 100 super-premium, award-winning ice cream flavors, and supplies to independent restaurants and scoop shops nationwide. To learn more, visit www.chocolateshoppeicecream.com.
About Plex
Plex, by Rockwell Automation, is a leader in cloud-delivered smart manufacturing solutions, empowering the world’s manufacturers to make awesome products. Our platform gives manufacturers the ability to connect, automate, track, and analyze every aspect of their business to drive transformation. The Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform™ includes solutions for manufacturing execution (MES), ERP, quality, supply chain planning and management, asset performance management, production monitoring, process automation and analytics to connect people, systems, machines and supply chains, enabling them to lead with precision, efficiency and agility. To learn more, visit http://plex.rockwellautomation.com.
About Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. We connect the imaginations of people with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 26,000 problem solvers dedicated to our customers in more than 100 countries as of fiscal year end 2025. To learn more about how we are bringing Connected Enterprise to life across industrial enterprises, visit www.rockwellautomation.com.
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rockwell-automation-advances-chocolate-shoppe-ice-cream-production-improvements-with-plex-technologies-302746164.html
SOURCE Rockwell Automation, Inc.
