Digitalization of the onion chain with Microsoft technology

The company packs an average of 130,000 tons of onions annually, which are then marketed all over the world. IT is very important for Waterman Onions, as the entire supply chain has been digitized. Axelio, formerly Newminds, developed various solutions for and with Waterman Onions that now play a significant role.

Digitalization

"When I started here 13 years ago, everything was still done on paper," says Jurrien van den Berg, IT manager at Waterman Onions. "Processing all those receipts was a lot of work, and orders had to be communicated manually. A mistake could easily be made. Nowadays, they drive the truck over the weighbridge, enter the weight number, and all data is immediately linked in the system. We pass this directly to the machine line with the software developed by Axelio. All orders are scheduled via Axelio's planning board. Everyone knows exactly what they need to do, allowing us to always look ahead and work. That has been a huge efficiency gain."

Optimal supply chain

"IT plays a significant role at Waterman Onions, especially in recent years. In the fresh produce sector, we are the only ones working this advanced. We are taking the lead, and other companies find that extremely interesting. The software that Axelio developed for and with us is the heart of the organization. Various software solutions surround the ERP system, making it easier for us to meet our daily supply chain needs. If our internet were to experience an outage, all of Waterman Onions would come to a standstill. IT has truly become very important for us."

Warehouse Management System (WMS)

"Axelio has created a layer on the ERP system with us that is our Warehouse Management System (WMS): StoPro. We have fully digitized the entire supply chain of Waterman. Everything that went through other systems or was still done on paper now goes through StoPro. This is the digital workplace of Waterman, with every department connected. StoPro knows exactly where the trucks are and where the truck needs to go. When a truck is unloaded, the camera links the product to the crate it goes into. When a forklift driver picks up the crate, the system already knows which crate it is, what product it is, and to which location it needs to be moved."

Working more efficiently

"The main goal of digitalization is to work more efficiently and thus save costs. With StoPro, we are prepared and can see how efficient we can become. Every action taken by an operator or forklift driver is recorded in the system, and we feed that data into a system that calculates efficiency. This way, we can identify the bottleneck in the process and take action, for example, by moving a driver to another location. This leads to cost savings because we can eliminate unnecessary tasks, improve error reduction, and also because fewer people are needed. Thus, the investment in StoPro pays for itself."

Tracking live processes

"To prepare products for shipment, we look at market demand; which sizes we need to sort. The different sizes are split and stored by size. This process is also included in StoPro. Then, that sorted stock needs to go to a production line. The system checks where this stock is located and sends out an order to pick up that crate. The crate is linked to a packing machine via a data matrix camera. Finally, we package the product, equip the pallet with a certain number of 20-kilogram bags with track and trace, and change the status to 'finished product stock'. This is stored at a specific location, so the customer picking it up can load the correct pallets directly. We have just added this last process to StoPro, so our shipping department can quickly and easily see which truck from which customer is arriving. All departments are interconnected, and we use the data to work efficiently. The status of all processes can be tracked live (in StoPro).

Custom solution

"With Axelio, we have completely adapted the system to our needs over the past 13 years, so a lot of customization. This is also the strength of Axelio; they have incredibly good developers and know all the ins and outs of our system. They only need one word to know what needs to be done. Axelio is still working on improving the system. We also have four projects lined up to expand StoPro, so we will be busy with that for the next year and a half."