Orkla Foods

3,000 item numbers and four factories
Orkla Foods Denmark has as of 2016 3,000 item numbers and four factories. The most well-known brands are: Den Gamle Fabrik, K-Salat, Beauvais, Glyngøre, Bähncke, Pastella, Risifrutti and newcomer Tropicana Juice.

Constantt putting out fires total overview?
CRM Manager at Orkla Foods, Thomas Henriksen, says that Orkla Foods and Rieber & Søn each had their own ERP and CRM system.

"This meant that we had two different business processes to create, handle and edit master data. In addition, the output from the systems was not unidirectional and not comparable in terms of quality”.

Thomas continues: "The consequence of the two business processes was that creating new item numbers was very cumbersome. This meant that it was difficult to comply with the wholesalers' requirements that product master data and product creation must be in place 28 weeks before distribution.
Although we exceeded the 28 weeks - we always managed to get the goods into distribution, but not without trouble and dissatisfaction on the part of the wholesalers. This resulted in us at Orkla Foods often having to put out fires rather than having a forward-looking overview. There had to be a solution to that!”

The solution
Orkla Foods had to have one unified solution where all product and master data could be created and edited – regardless of which product branch the goods came from. In this way, the problems with the different business processes for the same piece of work are solved. The solution is fmcgProducts. After the decision that fmcgProducts from fmcg solutions should act as a foundation, the collection and preparation of data took approx. 1½ years. Thomas explains that the long implementation period is mainly due to major challenges with master data, the internal processes and areas of responsibility.

"fmcg solutions have been quick to solve the challenges that arose during the process. fmcgProducts has been expanded with its own fields, which Orkla Foods today uses for internal management, and the support from fmcg solutions has always been good and with a quick response," reports Thomas.

He continues: "The whole process has been a big - but necessary - job to get a handle on product data and ensure that we comply with the legislation. One of the strengths of fmcgProducts is the built-in controls. For example, you cannot enter a package unit without specifying a base unit. The controls help to maintain focus and ensure data quality".

The future
In conclusion, Thomas says that today there are close to 50 users who use fmcgProducts on a daily basis. "Some users have the right to manage product data, while others - for example employees at production factories - can only look up master data", he explains. Orkla Foods is therefore almost on target with one central system where all creation and maintenance of master data is carried out – regardless of product branch.

"We now have a single PIM system that frees up a number of resources and ensures correct product data everywhere", concludes Thomas Henriksen.