Digitization of the ripening process at Euro West with the Ripening App

Automating daily business processes is a necessary step to stay ahead of competition for fresh produce companies. A good example is Euro West. Euro West is a wholesaler and packer of fruit and vegetables. Thanks to GreenCommerce everything is well organized in terms of insight and traceability. In addition, they were the first company to start working with the Ripening App to digitize the ripening process.

Best insight in stocks for third parties
Euro West offers various options for packaging, repacking, sorting and stickers of fruit and vegetables. In addition, Euro West is specialized in ripening these products. Unripe fruits can be ripened in the ripening cells, such as in the unique specialty cell, where small batches of fruit and vegetables are ripened or dried in a special program. It is important to have a good understanding of the stock and traceability for these "third parties". Thanks to GreenCommerce, they no longer have to count stocks at the end of the day, because this is updated all day through scanners. The production department knows exactly when something has to be ready through insight into production orders and associated times. In combination with the order picking schedules and also the associated pick-up times, they have insight into when the goods must be ready for transport.

Always up to date with the most current ripening information
The ripening master can provide pallets with ripening properties on the work floor via the Ripening App, after which a new ripening can be created. This can indicate, among other things, how long pallets must ripen and what ripening properties are expected at the end of the period. Stefan van Marrewijk from Euro West: “Much more insight is created in the new situation. This way we can immediately see which products have ripened and how long products have been in a ripening cell. We can also see how many pallets we ripen per period, which allows us to better anticipate the future.”

Ripening properties are clarified by means of groupings in the stock, after which they can be linked to customer specifications. Stefan: “This way we know exactly the amount of stock that is actively ripening and what the intended ripening properties are. By having more insight into the status of the stock, we can also better adjust the planning accordingly.”

Insight in costs and revenues.
Via GreenCommerce "services and handling", Euro West registers storage and transshipment, sorting, repacking and all kinds of packaging activities. This is a simple method to process costs and revenues in the system and to gain insight. For sales administration, especially invoicing, the connection between GreenCommerce and Exact is very important for Euro West.

Easy digital order picking via the WMS App
Euro West uses the WMS App, to easily pick orders. Traditionally, order pickers used to rely only on the information they had in their heads and mistakes were often made because of this. With the WMS App, the information for forklift drivers has now become much better. The WMS App provides a lot of insight and this allows for much more focused management. It has become clearer for the employees in the warehouse which pallets they have to take and where these pallets are located in the warehouse. In a short period of time, and with a smooth transition, the app has led to a better insight into the stock for both the office and the warehouse.

Proud of our working methods
"We have everything well under control and we are also far with GreenCommerce as we register everything in one system. I think the working method within the company has improved since using GreenCommerce. We really use the system to work properly in terms of traceability and to provide insight for employees. It is also very important for third parties, because they trust us to do the work for them and we are responsible for dealing with this properly." explains Stefan.

Future Proof development

Digital future
In addition to the progress in professionalism that has already been made, constant developments will continue to give companies such as Euro West an even greater advantage. In terms of sales, there will be much more digital in the future via, for example, FreshBabel instead of via the traditional ways, such as by telephone, via Whatsapp or mail. We are currently looking into the possibilities of one digital place where everything comes on, via digital price lists and the automatic processing of orders. Stefan van Marrewijk is enthusiastic about these developments: "We have already received additional information and are happy to test how FreshBabel can add even more value to our organization."