As stated in last week’s blog post, it has become increasingly important for companies in the nutritional supply chain to support day-to-day operations from within a home office environment, utilizing the power cloud technology and mobile devices. With this article, we would like to expand on this idea, by shining a light on how to use cloud technology to manage your international and domestic shipping options from within the comfort of your own home.
Globalized material flow
In the nutritional supply chain, it is common practice for companies to manage their material flow internationally. For example: an animal feed company in the Netherlands might import soybeans from Brazil, or a German slaughterhouse might sell meat product to the U.K. market.
As a lot of ingredients and end-products are being moved through international shipping companies (either by ship, truck, plane,…), keeping track of shipping operations is an absolute must for any organization.
Respond rapidly, even in times of lockdown
Companies need to be able to rapidly respond to any changes or shipping issues. Even in times when offices are being closed down (for example, during the current COVID-19 crisis), organizations need to be able to take the necessary actions.
And that’s where we come in! Adifo’s industry-specific ERP “MILAS” (which is powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations) offers best practices and efficiency improvements to animal and human nutrition industries. Using MILAS, organizations can unleash “the power of the cloud”, which makes managing your day-to-day operations from your home office or mobile device a breeze!
An example: managing ETA’s changes
Using MILAS, companies can effortlessly manage ETA changes (estimated time of arrival) of a ship, transporting soybeans from Brazil to a plant in the Netherlands. The changed ETA will then automatically trigger an event, which will result in a notification on the user’s mobile device. The user can then open the corresponding transaction directly in the ERP system, where corrective actions can be taken.
Upon updating the ETA, the users will immediately see which other actions need to be taken (i.e. call off another contract, change production plans to avoid factory run outs,…). If need be, the user can easily plan an inventory transfer from another site as well.
