The office systems are highly computerised. Meal orders are faxed or emailed to the Meals Innovation office where the order, making and delivery dates are entered on the computer. The order then goes through the computer system which picks up the recipe and prints out paperwork for the preparation, kitchen, production line and dispatch teams so that all know what to do, when to do it and when it will leave the premises.

The staff in each area is trained to know what they should be expecting to do on a daily basis. For example, the team preparing vegetables knows they should be handling ingredients for Salads, Meals to go, Meals for Catering and Metabolized on a daily basis. If they don't receive the details on one of these they are expected to check to ensure a mistake hasn't been made.

There is only one factory shift but two shifts per day in the kitchen. The kitchen team will receive a print out with the quantities of the ingredients for the recipe they're making but their own folder has the preparation details.

The time schedule must be adhered to, with only orders received before 11.00 being processed that day, so that the truck arriving at 3:30 can be packed and away. The planning system is a crucial part of the whole operation; it is Ana's responsibility to set cut-off times that suit the nature of the meal – preparation and cooking, cooling, cutting, portioning out and dispatch cycle. Customers need to be informed of the cut-off times and everything being put on the truck that day has to be cut off by 10:00. If a truck has to wait for some reason Ana goes back to find out why and whether some part of the established procedure should be changed.

Ana says that they work as one team, although they operate in different departments, and that there is a need for open communication – "If the truck leaves without product everyone loses". If deadlines are squeezed a department needs to request assistance so that help from other departments can be pulled in.