LINKFresh®
Deployment Achieves Significant Productivity Improvements
Totally Integrated
Leading Edge Solution Deployed Within 4 months & to Budget
Company background
Spalding
based Lincolnshire Field Products Ltd (LFP) is one of the UK’s leading fresh
produce growers and producers. The company has an annual turnover of £100m
and farms in excess of 12,000 acres. LFP is principally focused on the
production, procurement, packing and distribution of fresh vegetables to a
range of High Street retailers.
The Business Need
The company had invested significant resources
in refining their legacy system to meet their specific needs. However, the
technology was no longer capable of responding quickly enough to the
business challenges of a rapidly growing organisation. As a result, many
processes were handled outside of the core business management system. This
led to duplication of data, increased administration costs and inefficient
working practices.
The business need was to free up valuable
manpower from the task of running a variety of disparate systems to enable
them to add value to the customer experience. By focusing on sales order
processing, purchasing control, price negotiation and better reporting, LFP
could ensure that it could improve customer service while protecting the
commercial interests of the company.
As LFP’s IT manager Paul Witherington
explained; “What we wanted was to incorporate all of our disparate systems
and processes into one centralised information system. Our overall aim was
to improve efficiency while taking cost out of the business. The solution
also had to be flexible enough to meet our current needs while enabling us
to respond quickly to changes in our customer requirements. We also needed a
system that could be rapidly implemented and within budget. We had some
aggressive milestones to achieve that we didn’t want to miss given the
seasonal nature of our business”.
The
Selection Process
“We went through an
extensive two year evaluation period where we assessed a wide variety of
alternative options before selecting the LINKFresh suite” explained
Witherington. “What impressed us was the depth of specific fresh produce
functionality incorporated within the package. It was clear that it would
meet most of our requirements within the standard LINKFresh and Microsoft
Dynamics NAV functionality. The system could also be rapidly configured to
cope with our way of working. This was important as we wanted to take the
opportunity to change the previous business processes imposed by the legacy
system to reflect best industry practice as part of the new solution.”
The
Solution
A combination of
powerful LINKFresh® fresh produce functionality seamlessly
integrated with the global leading Dynamics NAV ERP suite from Microsoft
were used to meet the full requirements of the company. The LINKFresh
deployment handles all of LFP’s financial and supply chain requirements in
one central, fully integrated and easy to use solution.
Inventory Management
Simple user friendly
interfaces were configured that allowed LFP personnel to rapidly book in
produce arriving from the field. This captured details on the grower, field,
plot and gang labour. This provided LFP with the required information to be
able to Self Bill and track and trace receipts of produce at any time.
Supply
Chain Management
The introduction of the
LINKFresh Supply Chain modules allowed LFP’s supply personnel to manage
supply and demand more efficiently. The functionality within this powerful
application facilitates the raising of cut instructions, complete with
‘display until’ and bagging instructions for pack in the field. The solution
also provides for the automation of all required documentation directly from
the core system. In addition, using LINKFresh® Consignments and Purchase
Order Management LFP are now able to manage their total supply chain both
from their own farm and field. This covers their extensive range of UK
contract farms and growers, and their many overseas suppliers. It also
facilitates the traceability of produce down to the level of lot,
consignment, grower, field and plot.
Fig 1: Harvest
Forecasting Screen with Cut Instructions
LINKFresh® Replenishment & EDI Order Processing
The deployment of the
LINKFresh® Replenishment functionality enabled LFP to completely automate
the allocation of their Sales Order demand across their extensive network of
both internal and external pack houses and suppliers. The replenishment
granule allows LFP to pre-specify a series of sophisticated rules which
determine how Sales Order demand will be allocated to its various supply
channels. “Alternate Rules” specified by date range to allow for seasonal
variations, and “Daily Exception Rules” to cater for one off variances are
also incorporated.
Fig 2: LINKFresh®
Replenishment screens with rule definition
This has enabled LFP to
completely define their replenishment and fulfillment business logic. The
company has now automated their EDI Sales Order Processing. As orders are
received late each evening, LINKFresh® EDI Order Processing imports the raw
EDI Order file. According to a number of optional settings the system
automatically translates and split the orders according to Delivery Depots
and replenishment requirements. It also releases the Orders, issues
requirements to the Packhouses via email, raises Purchase and Packing Orders
and receipt goods into Warehouse.
Fig 3: EDI Order Import
screens with rule definition
This degree of
automation has had a significant impact on productivity as Paul Witherington
explained. “The process of managing and processing the incoming EDI orders
was a major daily task. It is now possible for the process to be run at
night without any user intervention, with all sales and corresponding back
to back orders completed before the supply team arrives in the morning”.
Finance & Administration
In addition to the
implementation of the LINKFresh® solution, LFP had a number of financial and
administrative requirements. The solution was enhanced to provide an Invoice
Register & management system, and a number of configured facilities. These
include supplier self bill; packhouse labour self bill, consolidated payment
runs and a host of other features.
“The financial aspects
of the system have helped enormously” explained Managing Director Robin
Hancox. “Cash management is so much easier; reporting much quicker and
getting information to our growers has been greatly improved. In addition,
periodic reporting is simpler which has provided us with access to
information that was not available with the legacy system. In an industry
littered with failed system implementations, it is gratifying to report that
the solution was successfully delivered within budget and against a very
challenging deadline.”
The
Benefits
The company now has a
leading edge modern centralized business management solution that manages
all of their operational processes. This has replaced a variety of disparate
systems that were expensive and difficult to manage. The main benefit has
been a significant reduction in data duplication resulting in reduced
administration costs. Overall, the LFP solution has provided the company
with an extensive range of product and customer information directly from
the system. This level of management information has enabled the company to
quickly react to client or product trends issues.
“The previous LFP system
had been significantly tailored over a period of 10 years to meet the very
specific needs of the company” commented Anglia’s Managing Director David
Hurley. “To totally replace and subsequently exceed the requirements of such
a system operating in a £100 million business in less than four months, on
time and within budget, has been a major achievement. It is a tribute to the
LFP team and the innovation and deployment expertise of Anglia that such a
solution could be successfully implemented in such a short period”
Hardware & Software
Operating System
- Windows Server 2003
- SQL Server 2000
Development Environment
- Microsoft DynamicsTM NAV 4.0
Anglia Components
- LINKFresh®
Services
- Business Consultancy
- Project Management
- Windows 2003 Server Set-Up & Optimisation
- SQL 2000 Set-up & Integration
- Workstation/Handheld installation & Optimisation
- Microsoft DynamicsTM NAV & LINKFresh® Bespoke
Design, Deployment & Testing
For Further information contact:
Anglia Business Solutions Ltd
Harston Mill
Harston
Cambridge
CB22 7GG
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1223 873400
Fax: +44 (0)1223 873401
Email: linkfresh@angliabs.com