Prochamp
Schouw Informatisering’s sector knowledge is deciding factor for Prochamp
"We want to enter data just once so we can use it time and time again"
Unsuspecting consumers have no idea whether the mushrooms they buy are from the first flush or the second flush. Prochamp’s finance & administration manager Gerard Van Heijst discovered that the consultants at Schouw Informatisering did know the difference. Since then, Prochamp reaps benefits daily from the solution that Schouw Informatisering implemented.
Each year, Prochamp processes about 30 million kilograms of mushrooms, most of which are grown at the four sister companies; mushroom farms in the neighbourhood. Mushrooms are grown on beds of compost, and two ‘flushes’ of mushrooms are harvested in four to five weeks. Van Heijst briefly sketches the processing that subsequently follows at Prochamp. "We blanch the mushrooms and then slice them. The slices are put in tins which are then filled with brine. The tins are then sterilised in autoclaves. You still have an honest product, because except for a bit of water, salt and citric acid, nothing else is added!"
Sales order driven
Prochamp’s production is mainly sales order driven. Most of these semi-finished products go directly to the packaging line. If there are no orders for the products concerned, then the inventory is replenished. The canned products, which have a shelf-life of no less than four years, are by no means all consumed locally. On the contrary: Europe is Prochamp’s home market, but a great deal is sent to clients all over the world. To retail clients, and those in catering and the industry.
Double entry, different figures
The production process at Prochamp is not really very complex. But the strict standards in the food industry, for example for tracking & tracing require a powerful information system. A system that gives you a grip on the inventory and control over the numbers. "For many years we worked with Exact Software, supplemented with a range of Excel spreadsheets, but support was withdrawn for the software version we had. So that was a good reason to look for an ERP system. And it was high time. Data was entered more than once, sometimes even in the same department by different people. We only had limited insight into the structure and status of the inventory. And at the end of the week if we asked ourselves ‘how many mushrooms have we processed?’, we got different answers. We did meet the traceability requirements imposed by BRC and ISS, but don’t ask how many files and Excel sheets we had to search through to find the origin of a product batch."
Knowledge of the sector
It was clear to Van Heijst that the new ERP system should be an integrated solution. A solution enabling full traceability and in which, as Van Heijst puts it so precisely, "we enter data just once so we can use it time and time again". During the orientation phase Prochamp came across Schouw Informatisering. Immediately Prochamp noticed that the Schouw Informatisering consultants knew what they were talking about. "They didn’t just have experience in the food sector, they also knew about mushroom cultivation. So they already had thorough knowledge of our product and our world. And for us, that was an important reason to continue with Schouw Informatisering." Schouw Informatisering’s solution, Microsoft Dynamics NAV combined with SI Foodware, appealed to Prochamp too. The software met the criteria ‘affordable’ and ‘accessible’, and the familiar Microsoft interface would make it easy for the users to learn.
Clear scope
After Prochamp had chosen SI Foodware, work started on preparing the implementation. Four key users from Prochamp and Van Heijst as internal project managers, together with a consultant and project manager from Schouw Informatisering formed the project team. The objectives were ambitious: to go live with SI Foodware within about four months. "One of Schouw Informatisering’s strong points", remarks Van Heijst in this context, "is that they follow a good methodology. After drawing up the requirements specification and completing the feasibility study they had a very clear description of scope of the project. This approach works well."
Interface with weighing terminal
One of the customisation modifications was the interface to the Mettler weighing terminal. For Prochamp, the whole production and logistics process starts at the weighing terminal. The mushrooms are weighed immediately after harvesting. This information, thanks to the interface, is now available in real time via an internet connection. A significant efficiency improvement: previously, weight details for two to three hundred pallets were entered manually every day. "From the moment the mushrooms are weighed, we can trace them through the whole process with SI Foodware. The pallet barcodes are scanned at the various stages of the process, from blanching to dispatch. This means we always know which mushrooms from which flush and which grower are processed in a batch. And that is important with a view to recall, should it be necessary."
Full inventory picture
Because all this information is now available, Prochamp also has a full picture of the current stocks. An important aspect here is the age of the stock. In the past, the only way to check was to walk round the warehouse and check the dates on the tins. "Now we can select on day code. And that is another feature in SI Foodware. We can see exactly what our stock is of the cans manufactured on a particular day. That makes it very easy to generate a can code list, without having to look up all the information any retype it. This is exactly what we meant when we said we want to enter the data just once but use it time and time again!", Van Heijst nods enthusiastically. Variances in the figures are also a thing of the past. The management information generated by SI Foodware is always unambiguous.
Live without a hiccup
Prochamp succeeded in going live within four months. The Excel spreadsheets were maintained as a backup for a few months. After another four months everyone was used to using the new software and additional functionalities were brought online. "It’s surprising how quickly everyone got the hang of using the software, even the less well-trained employees on the shop floor. Thanks to Schouw Informatisering’s good preparations, including the extensive testing and parallel running, we went live without a hiccough!"
