Foodstuffs

Foodstuffs chooses eCargo for primary freight.

At a glance

Consisting of two co-operative NZ owned and operated companies, Foodstuffs NZ is the country’s biggest grocery distributor and retailer and one of New Zealand’s largest businesses. Operating 633 stores nationwide including major names such as New World, Pak’nSave and Four Square, plus wholesale operators Gilmours.

Business objective

Deliver a freight management system that will support a large scale supplier to customer transport solution for inbound freight.

Solution

A freight management system that integrates with all suppliers and carriers, automating communication of freight requirements and freight invoicing.

Outcome

Real time visibility of freight and costs, reduction in administration overheads, simplification of financial processing and ability scale as the business grows.

The challenge

As part of their supply chain strategic plans, the two Foodstuffs companies, Foodstuffs North Island Ltd and Foodstuffs South Island Ltd, have taken responsibility for all their primary freight from their suppliers. On top of this, Foodstuffs Primary Freight worked extensively with suppliers, the transport industry and the NZ Food and Grocery Council to build an effective Primary Freight system that concentrates on delivering a supplier to customer transport solution.

A suitable freight management system was required to provide integration between the supplier, customer and carrier parties, as well as operational capability in freight dispatch, rating and invoicing. The system needed to be deployed with relatively limited resources and to scale as the Primary Freight program grew.

The solution

eCargo freight management software collects supplier consignment data via electronic B2B interfaces and a web based application, forwarding this data to the appropriate freight company and calculating freight costs for invoicing.

“eCargo is an excellent fit to Foodstuffs NZ’s primary freight program roll out to all Grocery suppliers. With low start up resource required to launch, along with virtually unlimited scalability, eCargo provided the perfect Freight Management Network Platform for Foodstuffs Primary Freight.” Jeff Hazlewood Implementation Manager Foodstuffs Primary Freight Ltd

eCargo became an integral link in the Foodstuffs supply chain, specifically the management of goods from suppliers to all Foodstuffs operations New Zealand wide. This includes its distribution centres, wholesale operations and direct to member stores.

Benefits and outcomes

eCargo employs easy to use freight management screens supported by a very flexible rating & reporting engine for managing our complex freight volumes over an intricate subcontractor network. Being web based gave eCargo a networking advantage over other in house TMS & FMS systems

Jeff Hazlewood, Foodstuffs Primary Freight Ltd, Implementation Manager

The eCargo system enables Foodstuffs to reduce administration overhead and simplify financial processing, with its suppliers now having access to the eCargo application for viewing consignment status information, freight invoices and various performance reports, all in real time.