Farmfoods Ltd
Farmfoods, the frozen food specialists, have 300 retail branches throughout Great Britain (2004 turnover - £420m).
See Novell's Customer Showcase for a case study.
"Computer systems must meet the requirements of the business, they must produce information that is simple to follow and they must be reliable. Valley Technology's systems achieve all of that and are an integral part of our business."
--- Eric Herd, Managing Director, Farmfoods Ltd
Valley Technology has been the main supplier of all IT services to Farmfoods, providing development and support of software plus hardware and communications networks for over 15 years.
Bespoke software, designed to meet Farmfoods' precise business requirements, has been layered on top of free or low cost Open Source Software.
Farmfoods have three distribution depots that operate 24/7. In the event of a computer or network failure there are warm standby alternatives ready to come online. This duplication has been provided by Valley Technology in a cost efficient manner, using commodity hardware and open source software.
Systems that have been developed and supported over the years include:
- Retail branches - An innovative system of linking barcode-scanning tills to central retail system computers via handheld terminals. The terminals are also used for stock checks and placing branch orders
- Distribution depots - A full range of bespoke warehouse and transport management systems
- Central accounting and admin - Information from the retail and warehouse systems has been integrated with accounting and administration services and then distilled for presentation to management.