16 October 2009

Fresh produce supplier Produce World Group selected the Microsoft Dynamics-based LinkFresh from Anglia Business Solutions to gain visibility and control across its entire operations.

When £250 million turnover Produce World Group set out its expansion plans three years ago, IT was seen as a key strategic aid. “It is all too easy to lose control when in growth mode,” explains CEO William Burgess. “Our internal systems needed to be first class to ensure that we had access to accurate and timely information through and beyond the growth phase. It was therefore vital that our due diligence during the selection process was thorough. In finally selecting LinkFresh NAV, we now know that we got it right.”

The group had two different legacy business management solutions in place at various subsidiaries. The requirement was to adopt a single modern information platform to serve the needs of the group. “Having selected LinkFresh NAV, we could have deployed a different version in each subsidiary,” says group finance director Ian Batkin. “However, in discussions with Anglia Business Solutions, a longer term strategic view was devised and adopted. Dubbed ‘Project Dynamic’ the deployment involved the design of a comprehensive Produce World Group ‘generic solution’. While this initially would take longer, the theory was that the subsequent roll outs would be quicker. Moreover, we would also be in a position to draw performance comparisons across our various subsidiaries.”

Dedicated teams from Anglia and Produce World worked to a blueprint produced by Anglia where the requirements of the various subsidiaries were consolidated into a single design document. “We set out with a clear vision of how the system would be designed and deployed,” says IT manager David Jones. “The Anglia and Produce World personnel worked as one team to deliver the group application. Involving key experienced people from across the group was particularly important – their involvement in mapping working practices has also been key to the success of the project to present. The focus was on producing a solution that precisely met the business needs of the organisation both in the short term and in the foreseeable future.”

The group solution consisted of a range of fully integrated applications that tackled all of the operational parts of the businesses within the group. It included forecasting, EDI, production scheduling, consignment trading, inventory control, lot traceability, growers returns, finance and business intelligence.

Touch screens were deployed in the pack houses to monitor progress throughout the supply chain while providing vital feedback to supervisory staff. A range of mobile applications were deployed to manage inventory and perform QC and other checks on the produce. Status reports on order progress were made available on LCD screens while alerts were enabled to warn supervisory staff on possible supply chain glitches using mobile phones.

Once deployed and operational, the Produce World Group LinkFresh NAV solution made an immediate positive business impact. “With our legacy systems, it was very difficult to get a timely, totally accurate and consistent handle on costs,” says Ian Batkin. “Being a real time system, LinkFresh provided us with full visibility of produce, packaging and labour costs as they were incurred. We were then able to detect and react quickly to anomalies accordingly. We were also able to consolidate financial information across the group. As a result, we have already made significant cost savings that justify our investment.”

In finally selecting LinkFresh NAV, we now know that we got it right

William Burgess, Produce World Group  Waste reduction is another area where the impact of the system has been felt. “One of the major issues in the fresh produce is waste,” says Burgess. “In this business, order fulfilment takes place on the same day as the order is received. Having too little produce means that you are short: having too much means that the surplus is thrown away. Getting it correct by having accurate and timely information has a positive overall impact.”

Customer satisfaction has also improved, as William Burgess notes: “By having good information on which stock we’ve got in our supply chain, it gives us at least a half of a percentage point increase in customer satisfaction. This puts us at the head of the league table. That means that we get more growth with those customers.”

LinkFresh NAV has now been successfully deployed in three of the Produce World subsidiaries. The latest implementation at Isleham Fresh Produce involved all aspects of the solution from forecasting to despatch.

Add a comment