T Quality benefits from Accord
Foodservice wholesaler, T Quality, is reporting significant performance
improvements across a range of activities, following its £235,000
investment in an 80 user Accord system. With the system now fully bedded
in the company is looking to build on these improvements through the
implementation of additional Accord functionality, including Web Ordering
and Warehouse Management.
The Company
Founded in the Hull Docks in the 1920s, T Quality is now a national
food service operation with its headquarters in Swindon and 10 fully
integrated distribution depots across the country. A subsidiary of the
Prosper de Mulder Group, one of the UK’s largest privately owned
companies, T Quality is the number one supplier to fish and chip shops
and fast food outlets across England and Wales with a turnover exceeding
£55m. The company principally offers a ‘delivered service’
together with a ‘Cash & Collect’ facility, using its
own fleet of modern, dual compartment, temperature controlled vehicles
to service around 5,500 customers with a range of over 1250 frozen and
ambient products from more than 500 different suppliers.
The Challenge
The growth of the company from a single warehouse operation to a multi-depot,
nationwide organisation necessitated continual investment in IT systems
to be able to integrate and control activities across the whole business.
The existing system had been in use for many years, and was effectively
a generic solution with a heavily bespoke front end, and was restricting
the company’s growth and restraining both future sales growth
and business efficiency. After evaluating the options T Quality took
the strategic decision to invest in a specialist food service solution
rather than try to redevelop its existing solution.
The Solution
Over a period of 6 months the company reviewed more than 10 systems.
Key factors in the review, all critical to T Quality’s successful
operation, included Multi depot capability, Telesales and Purchasing,
which had to be flexible enough to cope with the unusual aspects of
purchasing associated with some of T Quality’s product ranges
Following the review the company opted for BCP’s multi depot,
Telesales-led Accord Food Service solution, including financial ledgers
and flexible, food specific purchasing. “The main reasons for
selecting Accord were that it appeared to be a good functional fit,
with excellent Purchasing and Telesales features, while BCP had a stable
company background and a clear understanding of our market sector and
business procedures” said Eric Scott, Financial Director, who
was principally involved in the decision making process.
Although an excellent fit to most of T Quality’s requirements
some bespoke work was necessary to meet some specialist requirements,
within the areas of both telesales and purchasing where special features
are necessary to handle the idiosyncrasies of buying and selling goods
such as frozen at sea fish where availability can be more critical than
forecast demand.
The system was introduced across all depots over a period of ten months,
with on-site training being given by BCP staff at T Quality’s
Head Office and cascaded down to staff at each depot. The system went
live over the course of a weekend to avoid any disruption to normal
trading. To avoid dual running with the existing system and allow the
company to make best use of the Accord system from ‘day one’,
data was extracted from the existing system over that weekend and converted
onto Accord.
The Results
The main benefits realised have been in three particular areas, Operations,
Purchasing and Telesales:
• Operations – The operations
staff at each depot now have full control over the timing and production
of picking/loading sheets, which has resulted in increased efficiency
within each depot. The Picking and Loading functions are now completed
earlier each day benefiting both the staff and the company.
• Purchasing – The Accord
purchase order processing functionality has led to greater accuracy
in determining order quantities and balancing orders, and has, therefore,
reduced the occurrence of products being ‘Out of Stock’
at the time of sale. Cost savings have also been achieved in terms of
both staffing – with around a 50% reduction in buyer time - and
buying, where the company has been able to ‘buy better’
due to the availability of more accurate information.
• Telesales – The Accord
telesales functionality has led to increased efficiency within the two
T Quality Call Centres, giving greater control over the daily management
of calls, and more timely and accurate information, particularly in
relation to turnover against budgeted targets. “This has allowed
us to grow turnover through, for example, cross selling and up-selling,
and also helped us identify areas of weakness. Average order value has
increased by over 10% since the introduction of Accord,”
says Eric Scott.
The Future
Having now fully settled its initial Accord
implementation, and with the introduction of necessary enhancements
to the Ledgers functionality, T Quality is looking to evaluate and take
advantage of additional Accord modules such
as Web Ordering, XML EDI Processing, Warehouse Management, Intrastat
and Packaging Waste, together with the introduction of enhanced printing
and document management facilities to be provided via a partnership
with EFS Technology.
Eric Scott concludes: “The system is now really delivering the
benefits we anticipated. It has given us better control and is helping
us to grow the business efficiently. We now feel confident about implementing
additional modules to build on this progress, further improve our customer
service and increase our market share.”
