Delta Mossel
From sea to consumer: Microsoft Dynamics NAV manages all the logistics Delta Mossel works to forecast without problems
"There are many peculiarities in the mussel wholesale business", according to Rien de Jager, manager at the mussel wholesaler Delta Mossel. "The turnover rate is enormous and production takes place before orders are placed. Luckily the standard functionality of the Microsoft Dynamics® NAV software can cope with our huge demands. The solution became complete beacuse of the additions of SI Foodware®, the branchespecific softwre developed by Schouw Informatisering. The biggest advantage of Delta’s Dynamics NAV implementation is that the company now has very accurate forecasts for the daily sales."
For Delta Mossel, located in the mussel capital of the Netherlands, Yerseke, the information in the Dynamics NAV Software is exceedingly important. De Jager: "We can get an enormous quantity of information out of the Dynamics NAV system and that helps us on all fronts. Just as with most companies, we use the data for management information, but in our case that is not the most important aspect. For us, the historical data which Dynamics NAV maintains is the key to running the company. You see, we plan our production based on the forecast, and thanks to Dynamics NAV we have very accurate estimates of expected sales available."
Inventory in the sea
To explain the power of the Dynamics NAV Financial system, Rien de Jager explains some of the ins and outs of the mussel trade. "Just as in the fruit and vegetables sector there are growers and wholesalers who do business via an auction centre. We sell batches of mussels at the auction which we then keep in stock, in the sea! The mussels are cultivates in large mussel fields in the delta in Zeeland, the area of sea and islands in the south-west of the Netherlands. During the mussel season, from July to April, our own ships fish out the daily sales requirement. The mussels are then sorted, prepared so that they are ready to cook and are then packaged. The same evening the lorries drive to our customers in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. The complete process is managed by Dynamics NAV."
Daily trade
"The mussel trade is a daily trade", Mr de Jager continues his explanation. "A mussel which was in the sea this morning will be in the supermarket tomorrow. And the orders come in during the afternoon, between three and five. But in order to get our lorries out on time we have to send our trawlers out in the early morning. This means that we have to estimate how much is going to be sold that afternoon. You will understand that we don’t want to fish up too much or little, because we are dealing with fresh produce. We can absorb a small percentage of over production, because we can store mussels in large containers of sea water on site without loss of quality. But we just cannot afford under production or too great an over production: there is no time to fish extra mussels from the sea bed and there is no room to store the mussels on land. So you see, we are very dependent on the right sales forecast. And that is where the power of our Dynamics NAV system comes in to play: it provides accurate estimates based on historical data. The software can detect a trend in the turnover and creates an excellent forecast based on the historical data per week and per day of the week. We have been working with the Dynamics NAV Financial system since February this year and even in our first season we are achieving good results. And it can only get better: the more data available to Dynamics NAV, the more accurate the forecast becomes.
From purchase order to distribution
It is impossible to compare the extra functionality, which Dynamics NAV and SI Foodware offer Delta Mossel, to the previous IT solution, which Mr de Jager doesn’t even remember the name of. The registration of purchase orders is now fully integrated in Dynamics NAV. Quality control information can be registered per lot and the system keeps track of how much has already been fished up and when it was harvested. In this way we can immediately see the ’wet’ inventory and calculate its financial value. Production orders are generated by Dynamics NAV; orders are registered as completed in the system using a barcode scanner which has an interface with Dynamics NAV. The distribution is also managed from within Dynamics NAV. Schouw’s extra transport module creates a transportation plan with all the necessary freight documents for Delta Mossel’s five own lorries and the external hauliers who are engaged at peak times. "The system monitors the maximum load allowed for each lorry and can warn us, for example, if we are likely to need an extra lorry."
Customer-orientated approach
The Dynamics NAV software also enables Delta Mossel to maintain a customer-orientated approach. De Jager: "Delta Mossel offers a wide variety of products. In fact we can offer each customer a unique product. Just think of private labelling. Also our price and discount structure can be easily implemented in Dynamics NAV, so that our sales staff know exactly what the special offer of the week is. We can plan special offers well in advance."
Telephone ordering list
Schouw Informatisering in Etten-Leur, the Netherlands was responsible for the implementation. "The standard Dynamics NAV package offers a lot of functionality", according to De Jager, "but we needed some extra functionality to cope with the special way of working in the mussel trade. Fortunately these requirements could be fitted in to the standard package which is flexible and allows for these extras." The production module which caters for the forecasting and the packaging orders was specially developed by Schouw, this also goes for the dispatch module which caters for the route planning and the lorry load planning. The sales order module was also expanded with a telephone ordering list: a separate screen which tells the sales staff which customers should be phoned for an order that day. The same screen also enables the order to be entered immediately. The sales staff also have an order recommendation, consisting of the range of items usually ordered by the customer, this makes the order entry procedure considerably simpler. The list shows products previously ordered by the customer with the most important products at the top. "That is also one of the big advantages of Dynamics NAV: it is extremely user friendly. Our users could work with the system straight away", the satisfied Rien de Jager explains.