Dairy Crest updates logistics system
supplied UK company Dairy Crest with planning and scheduling
software at its Severnside and London dairies to improve
scheduling, processing and packing efficiencies.
Prescient, the supply chain planning solutions provider, has supplied UK company Dairy Crest with planning and scheduling software at its Severnside and London dairies to improve scheduling, processing and packing efficiencies.
Dairy Crest is the UK's premier chilled dairy foods company, providing liquid milk, fresh flavoured milk drinks, cheese, dairy spreads, fresh dairy products and dairy-based ingredients. The company is also the largest purchaser of raw milk and is one of the leading suppliers of raw milk, as well as the market leader in doorstep deliveries in southern England.
In addition, Dairy Crest is a leading producer of dairy ingredients such as butter, skimmed milk powder and whey-based products, which it supplies to major UK food manufacturers.
Dairy Crest wanted to match its technology innovation with its position in the dairy industry.
"Dairy Crest has been working with Prescient Systems' UK predecessor, Proasis, for a number of years, so we were confident they understood our business and requirements," said Pete Mayo, applications manager of Dairy Crest.
"Its advanced planning and scheduling system offered us the most effective migration from its precursor which is used by Dairy Crest at a number of sites. In addition, the Prescient solution allowed us to handle more readily the significant increase in scale arising from investments in our two new super dairies.
With better tools, we anticipate an ability to improve planning and react to change more quickly - ultimately contributing to further improvements to our customer service levels."
The planning and scheduling systems are being implemented in response to significant capital investment in these dairies. The expansion includes additional production lines to increase operational capacity plus additions to the product ranges being manufactured.
The systems at the Severnside and London dairies will help production schedulers manage the task of planning and scheduling increasingly complex operations to meet timed daily dispatch schedules. This includes the need for filling and packing back to the milk and cream separation process, as well as the management of the milk and cream storage tanks. The Prescient software will interface with Dairy Crest's existing manufacturing system.
"Prescient is continuing to expand its customer base in the UK and add more capabilities to the existing installed base," said Chris Taunton, Prescient Systems' manager of product strategy. "We are devoted to helping consumer goods companies achieve tangible, rapid results as they grow their businesses and streamline their supply chain planning processes. The ability to easily scale our software to match the evolving business needs of our customers and provide quick return on investment is an example of the value that Prescient provides."
