Heveck Freezing Fresh
Heveck Vriesvers is a wholesaler of frozen products based in Nieuwegein. Over the past 40 years, the organization has grown into a major logistics player that handles product delivery for three well-known supermarket chains. With over 1,400 products, 600 delivery addresses and 25,000 orders per day, the software used by Heveck was essential to properly align business processes such as warehouse, distribution and administration.
Although the company was able to grow rapidly in recent years, the software used by Heveck still lagged behind. They had been working with the same Cobol system that ultimately worked against the organization's functional scalability. This was partly because modifications to the system had to be programmed manually - something that was difficult due to the shortage of IT personnel. Heveck also noticed that it was becoming increasingly difficult to link the existing system with new technologies in logistics.
"We had been adapting and future-proofing our core system for some time," says Eric Landwaart, general manager at Heveck. "This involved significantly increasing organizational flexibility and scalability, while at the same time reducing operational risks and dependence on IT."
Minor adjustments had little result and the system was now leading to great frustration among employees. Hence, Heveck made the decision to replace the entire system. However, that proved easier said than done: "We looked at the standard packages," said Landwaart. "But it soon became apparent that no single system fully covered Heveck's specific business processes."
Instant insight into the result with a quick proof of concept (POC)
During the ICT & Logistic fair, Heveck was introduced to the low-code platform Thinkwise and their implementation partner fizor. Landwaart: "Although Heveck was initially skeptical about this solution, fizor. managed to convince us during the meetings, analyses and demos that they are capable of developing Heveck's business processes on the Thinkwise platform."
In 4 weeks, a proof of concept (POC) of the new order process was developed, in which the current processes had been supplemented with the new functionalities Heveck requested. This gave Heveck direct insight into the impact the new core system would have.
Eric Landwaart - Managing Director Heveck
A powerful platform for continuous business improvement
Due to the successful proof of concept, Heveck chose fizor. as system integrator, to transfer the processes 1 on 1 to the Thinkwise platform. The order process is now fully automated, from the moment customer orders enter the system to the loading of the trucks.
Moreover, the new system has immediately borne fruit for Heveck. Among other things, warehouse management has been optimized and the company now has better insight into the purchasing process and forecasting. In addition, the platform could easily be linked to Exact's financial software, which also automated Heveck's invoicing process. And that in just 10 months.
Heveck can now continue to grow carefree with a platform that has been specially designed for continuous business improvement. Landwaart and his colleagues therefore look back with pleasure on the rapid cooperation between the three parties: "It is clearly noticeable that there are specialists working here who also have knowledge of distribution centers. They know the industry-specific terms, so there is no confusion of tongues. In addition, they think along and come up with good workable solutions for certain bottlenecks."