Farm Dairy arranges trade messages via Managed EDI

Chances are you have Farm Dairy products in your fridge unnoticed. Farm Dairy is the Netherlands' largest private label dairy producer, delivering fresh products to the distribution centers of nearly every supermarket chain in the country. The retailers sell the dairy under their own brand names, and that's how the dairy products end up in your fridge.

The daily delivery from the factory in Lelystad means a lot of administration for Farm Dairy. For years, orders, order confirmations, packing slips and invoices have all been processed according to the EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) data exchange standard. Until recently, this was done via locally-run software that communicates with the internal accounting department and with retailers. Although Centric developed this system, it was dependent on an external messaging service and an external solution that translated the notifications into the accounting software.

Unburdening and process monitoring

In 2020, Farm Dairy switched to Centric's Managed EDI service. This platform runs as SaaS and is fully managed by Centric. No external messaging service is needed anymore, only the translation to the accounting software. The main considerations for the switch were unburdening and the possibility of process monitoring.

Financial controller Michael is enthusiastic about the SaaS solution and Centric's role. "We want to be unburdened and engage in the core business," he says. "With the Centric Managed EDI platform, that is perfectly possible. We don't have to understand the software or consult with different parties. Centric takes care of everything, even the customization for each new customer. We supply an example invoice and Centric makes sure that everything is set up and coordinated properly.”

Added value

“We keep our processes in order through Managed EDI,” says Michael. “It prevents communication from going wrong. If there is an error in a message, Centric signals it. They will then send us a notification and tell us how we can solve the error. In addition, we can easily find messages via the dashboard. That has a lot of added value and saves us a lot of time.”

Farm Dairy was already a Centric customer when the financial controller joined the dairy in 2008. “They really think along with us and look at how we can improve processes together. For example, it was their idea to link the tool we use for labeling pallets to our accounting software. And soon we will also link our warehouse management software (WMS) to this.”

Easy choice

Precisely because Centric has known the processes at Farm Dairy for some time, the choice for the Managed EDI platform was easy, according to Michael. “Of course we also looked at other parties and requested quotes from them. But each time it came down to a lot of extra costs for the refurbishment. Centric already knew how our environment was set up and only had to transfer it to the cloud.”

The switch to Centric Managed EDI took about a month, Michael recalls. The platform had to be set up, the translation to the accounting software adjusted. Then Centric guided Farm Dairy's customers one by one in the adjustments that were required from them. In the new situation, messages are exchanged entirely via the new SaaS platform and no longer via the external message service. "This conversion took longer than expected for one customer. But Centric also handled this well. I was always in the cc's and could watch from the sidelines.”

Result

The results are impressive, Michael concludes. "It's really an improvement over the past. The message traffic between us and the customers runs smoothly. In the past we noticed that data exchange did not always go according to agreed standards. Centric provided customization for our customers, so that everything now runs neatly through a single platform. Without us having to do much work.”