De Kroes B.V. is an international expert in the field of production and sales of savory and sweet snacks under a private label. In collaboration with retail and other business partners, they have created a very high quality level. With a wide and innovative range of products they are able to continuously inspire consumers around the world. Quality is the core of their business operations. For the international focus they have defined the following mission statement:
De Kroes is a global player in the field of oven baked and stuffed aperitif snacks. Continuous innovation and focus on quality and service characterize our products.
The production site of De Kroes is located in Oosterhout, where over 100 employees are working daily on the quality products. For the logistical administration De Kroes uses Exact Globe, combined with the Exact EDI Gateway and the SSCC module of Optimizers.
The experience of De Kroes with the EDI Gateway
Eef Kraaijeveld, Chief Financial Officer, talks about the experiences with Optimizers in the field of EDI and SSCC labeling:
What was the situation before and how is the situation for De Kroes BV now?
De Kroes got a new production building in 1999 after the old location wasn’t sufficient anymore due to rapid growth of the company. The property was and is fully equipped to produce high-quality aperitif products. Since De Kroes wants to handle its services at the same high quality level, Exact Software was implemented in 2000 to ensure that the business organisation is designed to guarantee these services.
Due to continues growth for years and the increased demands of customers, De Kroes decided in 2010 to search for an ERP package that could assist in achieving their objectives for the next 10 years.
The choice for Exact Globe Next; the successor of the ERP software that was put into use in 2000, was made relatively quickly.
There was of course the advantage of familiarity with Exact but the deciding factor for the continuation of the relationship were the greatly improved opportunities for manufacturing companies to optimize business processes. Two examples are the EDI and SSCC possibilities offered by Exact in collaboration Optimizers, which fully meet the demands of our customers.
How is your experience with the EDI software?
The EDI and SSCC software of Optimizers are easy accessible and user friendly. Once the processes are established there is really no need to worry about it anymore. There are regular updates available where solutions are offered to solve new problems or to comply with new requirements.
SSCC labels for mixed pallets and working with consignment warehouses are just a few examples. At De Kroes now 50% of all orders are imported via EDI in Exact and the aim is to increase this percentage to 80% within a short time.
What do you think of the knowledge level of the EDI staff of Optimizers?
The nice thing about the Optimizers consultants is that they not only have knowledge of their own software but also from Exact. They have solved problems that had nothing to do with SSCC or EDI. In addition, the accessibility is a big advantage. For a simple question it is not necessary to use formal procedures for an answer. Often, an email or a phone call is enough for a quickly solution.
What do you think about the price / performance ratio of the Exact EDI Gateway?
The important question at De Kroes is never what it costs, but what it delivers. Automatically importing orders and sending DESADV messages and invoices, in addition to a considerable saving of time, the administration department sees many other benefits.
Savings on postage is an example of this, but more important is that the risk of entering incorrect order information has decreased considerably.
The reliability figures of delivery increased which empowers the relationship with our customer. The value of these benefits is much higher than the costs incurred.
What is your overall impression of Optimizers B.V.?
Optimizers is a very pleasant company to work with. It is not an unwieldy large company and therefore communication lines are short and employees are easy approachable. For an SME like De Kroes with 145 employees, this is very good because the knowledge that is not available within the company can be obtained externally using limited resources.