Every business has to take a view on the future in order to operate efficiently. Nowhere is this more important than in the fresh food industry with its short shelf-life products and constrained production flexibility.
In most businesses, forecasts are generally built in Excel. Unfortunately, spreadsheets are far from ideal as they can’t handle large quantities of data, are hard to integrate with other systems and are difficult to share. They can get very complicated over time, becoming slow to work with and wasting valuable time.
Cost-effective planning and analytics in the cloud
Compas is a cloud-based planning and reporting tool designed to address precisely these issues. It is flexible and easy to use, making it an ideal replacement for in-house spreadsheet tools. It applies mathematical models to historical data to build accurate forecasts, which automatically flow into other, dependent forecasts, without the need for copying or retyping data into other systems.
For example, we worked with leading free-range and organic egg packer, Stonegate Farmers, to help them build detailed production forecasts to identify imbalances in supply and demand as early as possible. Whenever the egg forecast is updated, Compas immediately recalculates the implications for departments such as Rearing, Finance, Transportation and Packaging, ensuring they are all working off consistent numbers.
As a result, Stonegate now have a state-of-the-art planning and reporting system which generates high quality short and medium-term forecasts to help them plan effectively. It combines a wealth of historical data with powerful analytical tools to deliver valuable insights. The new process is much quicker than before, and allowed the experienced egg planner to hand over the reins to a replacement knowing that everything was on a sound footing. The current planner, Sandor Kis, says “Compas was instrumental in helping me get up to speed quickly. Its user-friendly design allows me to make quicker, more accurate decisions, making my job so much easier.”
Compas offers a complete planning and analysis solution for egg packers and producers, as well as other businesses in the fresh produce sector. It saves time and improves the quality of decisions, increasing efficiency and directly benefiting the bottom line.
Come and see us on stand 79 at BFREPA Live on 28th November.