CSB-System International has created a special IT solution to enable leading Irish food supplier Derrynaflan Foods to keep track of the procurement, stock-keeping, finance and logistics of the 7500 products that the company delivers each week to a customer base of over 2000 throughout the 26 counties of Ireland.
Derrynaflan Foods’ huge product portfolio – covering hot counter, cold counter, Mediterranean ranges, pizza ingredients and a comprehensive ‘food to go’ range, as well as its own Derrynaflan-branded goods – is supplied to a wide variety of retail and foodservice outlets.
Given the number of products and customers involved, this is an extremely complex operation to manage effectively. Prior to the arrival of the CSB-System solution, Van Sales Reps used a large pre-printed A3 pad into which sales details had to be entered and produced in triplicate. This data was then inputted and interpreted at head office by a team of administrators in order to restock the vans, re-order products and manage the credit control for each customer.
The CSB-System solution has replaced the A3 pads with a handheld terminal for the Van Sales Reps, which provides them with details of the route for the day, the stock on the van and the prices, together with a list of customers to visit that day. The handheld can provide prompts of frequently ordered items for each customer, and if a particular item is not available, it will suggest an alternative. The handheld also includes details about each customer -whether the account is cash or credit, and what credit a customer has remaining. This means the Van Sales Rep cannot oversell to any customer.
Once an order has been placed, a summary appears on the screen. The customer signs this electronically and an invoice is then printed off. Meanwhile the details of the sale are sent back to head office – and since the signal strength of the mobile network is not always strong enough to do this, the CSB system has been specifically designed to save the information and send it back as soon as a signal becomes available.
At the end of the day, the Van Sales Rep uses the handheld to reconcile activities and re-order stock for the next day. This information is transferred to the warehouse where a dedicated picker prepares this order ready for collection.
At the Derrynaflan head office the CSB system controls the entire order process and stock control and monitoring for the 800 or so products in the company’s portfolio. Details of the products sourced from each supplier are centrally held and this ensures that items cannot be incorrectly ordered from the wrong company. Stock is booked in and allocated relevant batch and lot numbers, with particular reference to sell-by dates. In this way, turnover is tightly controlled on a first in, first out basis and for short shelf life products this helps to minimise waste.
The CSB-System solution was sourced by Derrynaflan’s finance director Pat Casey. “I looked at several different companies but only CSB was able to provide a complete solution that covered every aspect of our business,” he explains. “We have been delighted with the solution provided and are very proud of what we have achieved together.”
CSB is now working on the implementation of an additional solution for a new call centre for Derrynaflan. This will bring up customer details, automatically dial the customer’s number, provide prompts for the telesales operator about relevant deals, and then process the order and issue instructions to the warehouse pickers.
“IT never stands still and we will continue to invest in it to support and further enhance our operations,” concludes Pat. “And CSB-System will remain our partner of choice to help continue to deliver the best experience for our customers.”
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