Heveck Logistics replaces its old ERP-system within 10 months

Heveck Vriesvers is a wholesaler in frozen foods that is located in Nieuwegein. Over the past 40 years, the organization has established itself as a household name in the logistics business. It is responsible for the product delivery of three well-known Dutch supermarket chains. With over 1400 products, 600 delivery locations and 25.000 orders a day, the software that Heveck uses plays a pivotal role in aligning their respective operations like warehouse management, distribution and administration. 

Although Heveck managed to expand its business steadily throughout the years, the ERP-system the company was using was gradually starting to fall behind. For years they had been successfully working with a Cobol-based system, but now that same system was causing constraints for the functional scalability of the organization. One of the reasons why was that any adjustment to the system had to be programmed manually – something that was often difficult due to the shortage of IT-personnel. Heveck also noticed it became increasingly hard to connect the old system with the latest in logistics technologies. 

“For a while, we had been trying to adapt our core system to make it more future-proof,” explains Eric Landwaart, general manager at Heveck. “Our goal was to increase our organizational flexibility and scalability, while at the same time decreasing operational risks and our general dependency on IT.” 

Unfortunately, the small adjustments had little effect and the system was still causing many frustrations amongst staff members. That’s why Heveck made the decision to replace its entire ERP-system. It turned out that was easier said than done: “We looked at the standard software packages,” says Landwaart. “But we quickly discovered that none of these systems would cover all the specific operational processes at Heveck.” 

A quick proof of concept (POC) to directly demonstrate the potential results

It was during an ICT & Logistics event that Heveck came in touch with low-code platform Thinkwise and their implementation partner fizor. Landwaart: “Although Heveck was initially skeptical about a low-code solution, the fizor. team managed to convince us – through meetings, analyses and demos – that they were capable of renewing our business processes using the Thinkwise platform.” 

In just 4 weeks time, a proof of concept (POC) of the improved ordering process was developed, in which the organization’s existing operations were supplemented with the new functionalities that Heveck had requested. This way, Heveck could be presented with direct proof of the impact the new core system would have on its business.

A powerful platform for continuous improvement

Because of the successful proof of concept, Heveck chose fizor. as their main system-integrator. It was fizor’s job to transfer Heveck’s existing operational processes to the Thinkwise platform. Now, the ordering process has been completely automated, from the moment the orders arrive to the loading of the trucks.

The new system proved to be an immediate success for Heveck. The warehouse management has been optimized and the company now has a far better view on processes like purchasing and forecasting. Moreover, the new platform could be easily integrated with Exact, the financial software that Heveck used. By doing so, the invoice processing system could be completely automated as well. And all that in only 10 months! 

Heveck is now ready to grow its business without a care, with a platform that is designed for continuous improvement. Looking back on the collaboration between Heveck and fizor, Landwaart and his colleagues are satisfied with the speedy replacement of their legacy software. “It’s clear that we’ve been working with specialists that also have proficient knowledge of how distribution centers work. The fizor. team is well aware of the logistics-related terms and processes, so it was very easy communicating with them. Whenever we faced certain problems, they came up with practical solutions that really helped our system become ready for the future.