The client
Meadow Foods has grown over 30 years into a £550m value-added ingredients business specialising in the dairy, confectionery, ice cream, prepared foods and plant-based industries.
The Meadow Foods business is split into two sections that export product.
Bulk – This tends to be tankers of milk and previously these products were only sold into the EU, therefore limited paper work was required. The business exports roughly 1000 loads per year, but due to the seasonal nature of these transactions, could do 60 in a week and 0 in another.
Packaged Products – They previously exported outside of the UK, but a in comparatively smaller numbers than to the EU, They currently export to 19 countries with circa 1700 transactions per annum.
Their Issues
They identified that the Brexit vote would have a significant impact on the complexity of the export process. The time ransactions were taking and the manual effort in completing the required documentation was key driver behind the decision to identify a specialist system to help.
System Selection / Implementation – IT Perspective
Following the Brexit vote and having reviewed the impact this would have on existing manual processes, Meadow Foods reviewed potential business partners who could provide an increased level of control and automation via a specialist software solution, linked to a detailed knowledge of the export process.
During 2020, Meadow Foods worked with three potential suppliers fully reviewing solutions available.
What was done
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The Results
Meadow has now been running with Exportmaster for almost three years, all data is automatically moved from our ERP solution into Exportmaster as required during the order process (from initial order through to confirmation of despatch), with no user actions require. Exportmaster then allows the team to produce and store all required documentation.
- Removed the need for a significant increase in head count to manage the level of exports and documentation.
- Allowed Documentation (packing lists / Commercial invoices / Descartes feed) to be produced in minutes rather than hours.
- Significant cost & time saving by managing in house rather than using a customs broker.
- Achieved zero rejected / delayed export loads.
“Overall, the solution has saved Meadow Foods significant time when processing exports. Allowing us to retain control in-house without significantly increasing headcount, and provide accurate key documentation, required to allow exports to flow without any significant delays at the borders. This includes the interface with CDS, which again has improved previously manual processes.”
Customer Service Manager
“Without this solution, as a business we would not have been able to manage the level of exports we have needed to at times, without a significant increase in head count. The number of issues with paperwork etc. during the export process has also been extremely low.
From a system perspective this has been a successful implementation with virtually no downtime and if we have required support, this has always been provided to our expectations. Exportmaster are a fairly small team, but because of this we always feel that when required we are speaking to someone with a detailed knowledge of both the system, but also the overall export process.”
Gary Marshall, IT Director
The decision to progress with Exportmaster was based both on the processes and workflow contained within their solution, but also the expertise and experience that all staff at Exportmaster appeared to have in this area.
We worked closely with Exportmaster for several weeks both configuring the solution to meet the new requirements that Brexit brought, and also on the integration between our internal ERP, Exportmaster and finally into a 3rd party Solution that interfaced with CDS.
Gary Marshall, IT Director, Meadow Foods
