Tick tock
We all know time is money but, as successive budget announcements have further driven up the cost of doing business and employing people, it’s never been more important to optimise your team’s productivity. But how?
Let the data flow
For starters, it’s crucial to minimse any non value-adding activity. One time-drain many wholesalers struggle with is data input, a task which too often has to be dupblicated for different systems.
Progressive wholesalers are addressing this with fully integrated systems that allow data to seamlessly flow between them.
First Choice Foodservice, for example, has installed STL’s flagship Evo solution to handle all stock management, sales order processing and point-of-sale processes. Thanks to Evo’s open Microsoft core, it easily integrated with First Choice’s existing Sage 200 accounting software, SwiftCloud ordering app and Sales-i sales enablement tool.
First Choice saves days
This put all customer history, pricing and promotions at its telesales handlers’ fingertips, and also cut the need to rekey the 40% of orders received through SwiftCloud – saving time and avoiding errors while boosting sales and service.
In its warehouse, Evo enables orders to be picked by category – such as frozen, chilled and ambient – but is then instantly consolidated by customer for efficient delivery. Similarly, split picks or separate orders can be automatically consolidated by Evo to generate a single invoice.
Most significantly, whereas operators used to have to print, scan, consolidate and email customer statements, they now simply click a button – shrinking the whole process from three days to two hours.
MD Steve Ainger said, ‘Evo has given us a lot of new functionality and time-saving efficiency.’
Faster foodservice
Other foodservice time-savers include:
- STL Quotation automatically converts pricing agreements to contract or scheme prices in Evo, avoiding rekeying delays and errors.
- STL Android-based wearable picking units provide hands-free mobility that increases productivity. They validate items against the order, eliminating mis-picks as they scan, and support effective stock control and best-before date management.
They even keep working if the wifi goes down.
Parfetts centralises admin
Long-time STL customer, Parfetts, is also gaining efficiencies by using Evo to centralise core tasks.
It recently went live with the Enterprise Purchase & Logistics module which is helping its central purchasing team to keep real-time track of its replenishment needs across multiple sites and a catalogue of more than 9,000 products. In turn, this is enabling the wholesaler to leverage its buying power to secure the best prices for its customers, and also optimise its storage space.
Other administrative time-savers include Evo’s integrated Tobacco Track & Trace (TT&T) module which automatically maintains compliance with TPD regulations while keeping the checkout process flowing smoothly. It even supports pack splitting, allowing codes to be de-aggregated for different orders and re-aggregated for accounts reconciliation and compliance reporting.
In the warehouse, Parfetts uses Evo’s Goods Inwards Diary feature to keep track of what’s coming in, on how many pallets and when, and what’s overdue – all on one screen. As well as boosting receiver preparedness, it helps staff chase overdue deliveries and view un-booked orders to reduce sales lost from out-of-stocks.
And the integrated Evo/Optrak solution has boosted the cost-efficiency of its delivery operation without compromising customer service.