Client: Loudon Bros. Ltd.
Loudon Bros. Ltd. was founded in the 1930’s. They have been operating in
Since it was founded, the leaders at Loudon have fine tuned their business and mastered the craft of broadline food distribution. With over 30 employees and 29,000 square feet of warehouse space, Loudon has been a thriving confectionary, tobacco, and foodservice item distributor for over 60 years. Loudon Bros. has been a customer of Food Decision Software Inc. since 1997. They were the first customer to employ web order entry and they continue to be innovators in their industry as they increase their use of information technology to achieve supply chain efficiency.
Loudon’s rural northern location means that the business faces some unique geographical challenges that are not experienced by distributors located closer to urban city centres. The high cost of bringing product to their
Loudon’s geographic location also presents issues when it comes to seasonal demands. This lightly populated area of
Loudon undertook a warehouse revitalization project that included the implementation of the WinFDS warehouse management module. Since completing the project, Loudon has noticed a 300% productivity improvement in picking efficiencies. They have also improved warehouse space utilization, reduced dead stock, and improved inventory accuracy.
In addition to surmounting challenges presented by geography, Loudon has used technological capabilities to increase real time visibility. Through WinFDS features like web order entry, fill rate inquiries, and short shipment reports, Loudon has managed to improve customer service while increasing supply chain efficiency. Loudon uses web order entry as well as off line laptop ordering and electronic data transfer to take the heat off the order desk and to connect buyers with fulfillment information in real time. These order processing features mean that more than 25% of their total numbers of orders enter the system untouched. Automating order processing has also reduced order lead time and allowed fill rates to improve.
For Loudon, supply chain efficiency is enabled by smart planning, accurate forecasting, and the technology that makes this possible. Their geographic location has presented some obstacles for the business, however, for 60 years Loudon has continued to overcome those challenges and have emerged today as a thought leader in the food distribution industry.