The move into the production and distribution of packaged and prepared fresh produce by the local farming concern, Dew Crisp required an enhanced accounting and stock management solution.

With Pastel Evolution its daily operations are more streamlined and month end, a snap.

For more than 10 years, Dew Crisp has been running disparate accounting and inventory programs. These systems were reliable and stable but time consuming and inefficient. As the business grew from a local farming operation to the supplier of pre-prepared fresh produce to big brands like KFC, McDonalds and Pick ‘n Pay, it became increasingly clear that a more comprehensive business management system was needed.

Sowing the seeds

Dew Crisp grows, processes and distributes all its own products. So, stock control has to be perfect in order to ensure excellent customer service and also profitability.

“We needed a system that could integrate our accounting and manufacturing processes,” says Kai Esterhuizen, financial manager at Dew Crisp. “While there are many software programs out there that could provide the integration, Pastel Evolution was the only one that provided the flexibility to meet our requirements around stock costing. And it came at the best price!”

While Dew Crisp’s customers pay a standard rate for produce, the variable nature of stock availability and therefore price can impact on the business’s bottom line. Most ERP systems only allow for standard base costing but Evolution’s costing module enables the number crunchers to manage the variance between standard and actual costs.

“We created a customised report that allows for the daily input and tracking of production costs,” says Daryl Blundell, sales director at Softline Pastel. “This empowers the team at Dew Crisp to track pricing variances in real time and be quick to change product prices if necessary and alert customers to shortages in availability. The result is better business insights and improved customer service.”

Harvesting the rewards

Pastel Evolution has also made management accounting easier for Kai Esterhuizen. “Because we ran two different systems, we had to process everything twice,” he says. “Evolution has done miracles for our month end. We’re more streamlined and what used to take up to seven days can now be done in less than two. The additional benefit includes the fact that some of my resources are free to continue with the day-to-day financial management which means that now we always know the status of the business.”

Pastel Evolution has revolutionised more than just the management accounting at Dew Crisp. Entire management processes have been changed to fit the process flow of the program. “I know that Evolution can be customised to closely match our processes but we think that the program does it better, so have changed the way we do things here. The package is more disciplined and now, we are too,” says Esterhuizen.

Sliced, diced and delivered

The Evolution implementation was completed in two months by a Pastel team who spent most of its time on site. “Because of the complexity of the client’s business and particularly its requirements around the costing customisation, it made sense for us to be there and ask the questions as we needed answers,” says Blundell. “Being on site really sped up the implementation time.”

The fruits of our labour

With 30 people across admin, process and distribution, all working on the system, Dew Crisp management is now able to track, monitor and report on its entire business chain in real time.

“And the best thing about Evolution,” concludes Esterhuizen, “is that because it is Pastel-based, we can roll it out at group company level which currently operates on Pastel Partner.”

Dew Crisp's Evolution solution at a glance

Industry

• Agricultural/farming

Key challenges

• Gain a better understanding into key business processes
• Meet the company's requirements for dynamic processing and reporting
• A streamlined inventory and financial platform
• Detailed stock costing and control on Inventory

Existing software

• SAP Business One (SAP B1)

Solution

• Pastel Evolution

Users

• 10 in-office users with plans to expand in the near future

Pastel Evolution modules in use

• Evolution core(GL, AR, AP, INV)
• Bill of materials
• Manufacturing
• Business Intelligence
• Multi-warehousing
• Lot tracking
• Fixed assets

Implementation highlights and costs

• Implementation in six weeks
• Total cost: R166, 605

Benefits of new solution

• Dramatic savings over full Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation and ongoing costs
• Increased sales due to quick and easy real-time ordering
• Reduced product and cost wastage because no more human error-prone data recapturing
• Satisfied clients due to increased order turn-around speed and improved accuracy
• Ability to handle large volumes of stock information
• Powerful yet easy-to-generate business reports
• Scalable to facilitate business growth