• Improve traceability
• Reduce waste
• Work smarter with real-time control

Take a look at our demo to see how we enhance your factory floor, inventory control and food industry compliance with our UnityF8 system.

Visit on the day or contact us now to book your appointment with our friendly team.

See you there on stand W62!

The post Visit Sanderson at foodpro 2017 on stand W62 for food ERP appeared first on Sanderson Australia.

Try etail on a small scale; it’s early days

By 2016 ecommerce should account for 5% of grocery sales and increase each year. Your expectations should be set accordingly: aim for a small foothold in the market to begin with.

As consumers get increasingly comfortable with ecommerce in parts of their life, the potential for food and drink sales to accelerate from a slow start is there.

Present your products correctly for etail

Your products need to be promoted with similar keyword research techniques you use for your website. Why?

A majority of online sales occur from keyword searches, particularly if your email database is in its infancy. So recognise that branding has to co-exist with keyword friendly information such as:

• Weight
• Portion size
• Product contents
• Dietary information etc.

To improve the ease of purchase and sense of value for the customer, consider making product bundles. These also handily help to boost the average purchase per customer.

Make your product information clear because if buyers have doubts about what they are buying, they are likely to abandon the sale. It will also prevent a high number of returns and the negative reviews that comes with those.

Take extra steps to ensure products arrive intact

Remember that items are prone to damage in transit, so to prevent waste and returns, assess if your packaging is up to the task.

Heavy products will be expensive to ship, and require more robust packaging to avoid damage.

Be prepared for some trial and error.

Promote your etail offering

You ought to be able to connect your customers with your brand and product online, as food etail competition is still relatively low compared to other markets.

There is a myriad of options for online advertising across the web and social media. Embrace the data that is available: set meaningful KPIs and look to build a community, or more specifically a database so you can reach buyers directly.

Competitions, vouchers and loyalty schemes are proven ways to do this..

Make sure your supply chain is fit for purpose

To operate in etail you could be shipping to the buyer’s door or to an etailer.

Be sure to revise your supply chain to support drop shipping and/or distribution without compromising on traceability . This may require close work with your etail partners and the use of supporting technology, e.g. barcodes.

Consider how you will accommodate expiry dates and a customer-friendly returns process, while keeping tasks efficient and responsive for your business. Again technology, namely your food/drink business’s ERP system, will be integral here.

Thank you for reading.

The post 5 ways for food manufacturers to succeed in etail in 2016 appeared first on Sanderson Australia.

Positive feedback emerging from confidential discussions with existing customers made Sanderson stand out as a recommended food industry specialist, during Peter’s review of the ERP market.

The commended record, expertise and unique capabilities of Sanderson – honed over 30 years as a food ERP software specialist – secured this substantial contract. Sanderson is proud to become Peter’s ERP/IT partner supporting its growth plans.

The post Sanderson wins major bakery ERP contract with Peter’s Food Service appeared first on Sanderson Australia.

The company, based in Sydney, develops organic products for top health food brands. It has chosen Sanderson UnityF8 to help control its compliance with industry regulations.

The cloud-based software will also manage its inventory of materials that are stocked across third party warehouses.

The post Organic food specialist Phyto-Therapy invests in Sanderson cloud ERP appeared first on Sanderson Australia.

Selling to supermarkets in 2014 and beyond will be all about traceability and transparency. High-profile traceability failures have moved things on.

After the food scandals of last year, major retailers demand to know everything about the provenance of the products on their shelves, and simply having a long-term commercial relationship with them will no longer be enough.

Therefore manufacturers whose systems can’t cope with the new demands won’t survive.

In future, any food and drink manufacturer looking to retain its relationship with a major supermarket will have to address these three essential steps to transparency:

1) Ensuring that it can provide the origin of all its ingredients and raw materials.
2) Guaranteeing that every element of its data is accurate.
3) Being able to track all of its products along the length of its supply chain.

So how can manufacturers satisfy these three new priorities?

Investing in technology to deliver traceability could prove crucial.

Most manufacturers will find that, although they originally bought their ERP software for sales and finance-related benefits, the right system can add great value in the new operating environment, in terms of supplying data and ensuring coherent processes.

However, even major brands can forget to make sure that their system is still fit-for-purpose. For example, the famous spirits business, William Grant & Sons, decided to harmonise its systems after discovering it was using no fewer than eleven different ERP structures, scattered throughout its offices.

The three steps to ensuring transparency will define your future

If suppliers selling food and drink products to supermarkets wish to survive, let alone prosper, they have to demonstrate that they’ve genuinely embraced the need for full traceability. Supply Management’s Marino Donati points out that the pressure for greater transparency is now coming from unlikely, but influential, sources.

“Nestle, Unilever and Coca-Cola have been urged to improve supply chain policies by Oxfam, as part of its Behind the Brands initiative.”

Investing in an ERP system, designed and installed by a developer with a demonstrable track record, will give far-sighted companies a clear chance to overtake rivals who are paying only lip-service to the new approach.

Things to think about:

# In 2014 and beyond, manufacturers whose internal systems can’t cope with meeting the three steps to transparency may find themselves not only losing existing contracts, but struggling to win new ones.

# Are you genuinely committed to optimal standards of transparency or just seeking to meet basic requirements?

# Is your current ERP system set up to meet the new demands of supermarket selling, or could a new solution give you a competitive edge?

The post Top 3 steps you need to take for selling to supermarkets appeared first on Sanderson Australia.

A Sanderson customer since 2000, Freddy Hirsch is a major user of UnityF8 – for example using Factory Automation for control of recipe weighing, multiple dispensing systems and scheduling.

The Sanderson solution extension will be configured to facilitate ‘cash & carry’ operations and point of sale (POS), with products and prices managed by head office and downloaded to the relevant country.

The project will allow the Freddy Hirsch Group to operate a common IT platform across its business, to achieve greater efficiencies and support further growth.

The post Ingredients manufacturer orders multi-site UnityF8 roll out appeared first on Sanderson Australia.

Gotzinger manufactures a range of smallgoods including ham, bacon, sausages, cold cuts and pre-pack products. After rapid recent growth the business needed to replace its existing business system to improve control across inventory, production, sales analysis and new product development (NPD).

The Sanderson implementation introduces inventory control and sales picking driven by the system instead of manual order sheets. Products picked using handheld Radio Data Terminals will capture quantity and actual weight for accurate invoicing. UnityF8′s NPD functions will speed the product costing process and sales analysis to assist with marketing decisions.

Mark Lofthouse, General Manager of Sanderson Australia, said:
“Gotzinger Smallgoods will benefit from information being a click away instead of walking the floor or thumbing through manual order sheets. Invoicing will be more accurate as actual weights are captured by bar code scanning rather than hand written records.”

“The NPD module will provide easy access to previous recipes and its links to costing means that customer quotations can be delivered quickly and accurately. “

The post Gotzinger Smallgoods sizzles with Sanderson appeared first on Sanderson Australia.

Two years ago, the company decided to invest in an ERP system to set itself up for future growth.

Frosty Boy’s chief executive Dirk Pretorius says the company was finding it difficult to get an accurate picture of business activity.

“As is the way when a business grows, disparate systems had developed around the organisation – many of which were based on spreadsheets,” he says. “I felt we needed to get continuity and combine all business disciplines under one umbrella, so we began to look for an ERP solution that could do that.”

Frosty Boy evaluated several systems, but eventually chose Sanderson’s UnityF8 solution. “We could see it had been developed specifically for the food industry and was a great fit for us” says Pretorius “It offered functionality for new product development right through to product recall.

Food manufacturing is very different to other sectors and it’s critical you have a system that can provide the right information at the right time.”

Implementation

“The core business modules went live mid 2009, with additional modules added a year later in a second phase implementation.”

Quality control and traceability are crucial to Frosty Boy and, before the implementation of UnityF8, the company used a number of manual systems.

The UnityF8 ERP system allowed customer orders to be automatically imported directly from the existing Frosty Boy website which saved the company time and removed any chance of errors.

Similarly its old accounting package offered a certain amount of traceability, but it had to be backed up with paperwork and documents.

“To look at a particular days output, for example, we had to call up the production sheet and go through everything manually,” Pretorius says. “It  took a long time and put us under increased pressure – if an auditor wants you to call up a specific raw material, you have to be able to pinpoint all product manufactured with that material, and you have only a certain time period in which to do that.

With Sanderson’s UnityF8, the entire process immediately became so much easier. It takes just a couple of minutes to obtain all the data you need – before, it could take hours.”

The first phase also involved the introduction of warehouse management, including barcoding for all materials and stock locations. This transformed stock management, with all goods being scanned and allocated a location on a first-in-first-out basis, giving full product visibility throughout the manufacturing process.

In the second rollout phase, Frosty Boy implemented the factory floor data capture module. Touchscreen workstations were installed on the factory floor, so data could be captured at every point, offering full visibility of factory floor activity. Weigh scale integration was also introduced for the premix area, where ingredients are combined before blending and packing.

“There are often very small quantities of flavours or stabilisers, so the balance of ingredients is crucial in terms of quality control for the final product,” says Pretorius. “We integrated the weigh scales with UnityF8 which gives us much tighter control of the process.”

Cost Management

Quality control is reinforced by system reports for production variances and product price variance, which Pretorius says has become crucial to decision-making.

“The ERP system is based on standard cost. If there’s any deviation, it will be highlighted straight away,” he says. “For example, an ingredient may be listed at $1/kilo, so if it is purchased at $1.10, it will be raised in the daily report.

Both these reports have proved to be fantastic for us. We can follow up immediately on a yield or cost issue – before, it could have been the end of the month before we spotted things like that.”

Product price variance reporting has radically improved cost management for Frosty Boy.

“We have a full and accurate view of costs on a daily basis, how we are varying from standard and in what area. The system enables us to run ‘what-if’ scenarios too,” says Pretorius. “For example, if the milk powder price increases by 20 per cent, we can find out which products will be affected and what impact it will have on margins.”

The company has just entered the Indian market and introduced and entirely new business stream, selling soft-serve ice cream machines.

Frosty Boy’s implementation of UnityF8 has been accompanied by a new level of confidence in its ability to deliver quality product, new revenue streams and unrivalled customer service, most importantly with customer audits.

“Customers must be confident in your product quality and consistency. UnityF8 has helped us demonstrate that we have a superior product backup up by superior systems,” Pretorius says.

The post Frosty Boy improves visibility and efficiency with UnityF8 Food & Drink Software appeared first on Sanderson Australia.

Here’s what they said about Sanderson:

“Sanderson didn’t just provide a software package, they became an important business partner in helping us meet our challenges.”

“The Sanderson implementation process and ongoing service and support were first class.”

The post Citrus business Lochert Bros: “Sanderson software and support are first class.” appeared first on Sanderson Australia.

Albury Wholesale Chickens, the manufacturer of chicken products, chose UnityF8 to streamline sales order, production and financial processes.

Existing processes were causing mistakes and taking so much time that additional staff were going to be required to support the business’s ongoing growth. For example, orders were manually written on paper with process and pack instructions split into three separate documents, which were each distributed to the appropriate workstation on the factory floor. Invoices were raised using a separate accounts system (MYOB) and drivers’ run sheets were drawn up manually.

Sanderson implemented its latest UnityF8 system, including integrated Factory Automation solutions at three processing stations on the factory floor – each comprising a touchscreen terminal, replacement weigh scale and bar code printer.

The Benefits: Greater cost control & administration halved

Today, orders are entered directly into the UnityF8 system and consolidated into delivery runs.

Sales order lines are sent to the appropriate processing station using a “Pick Type” indicator, where they are displayed in delivery run sequence on the touchscreen terminal. The station operator uses the touchscreen to select a run to process and is prompted through each order line, with quantity and weight required displayed.

As the product is prepared, it is placed on the touchscreen’s integrated weigh scales. The weight is automatically recorded and an address label is printed. This Factory Automation solution has given immediate money-saving benefits. It has eradicated orders being processed twice in error, which used to occur when the manual paper sheets were marked incorrectly.

Weigh scale integration has also saved the business a lot of money by recording actual weights; previously the operator would simply confirm the ordered weight.
Back in the office, staff now clearly see which delivery runs have been completed and then simply click to invoice all orders on the run, and print invoice documents and the drivers’ run sheets. This has almost halved the daily process in the office, alleviating the need for additional staff.
In addition sales analysis by run, customer and product are also delivering valuable business information that was not available with its previous systems.

The post Albury Wholesale Chickens already reaping rewards of UnityF8 appeared first on Sanderson Australia.