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View from the Top - Part
1 | Part
2
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PROFILE
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Simon Gretton
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Company: Chingford Fruit.
Interviewee: Simon Gretton.
Job Title: Finance director.
The Subject: Chingford Fruit has
implemented an enterprise-wide supply chain solution
to improve its financial management, forecasting and
supply chain visibility.
PERSONAL FILE
NAME: Simon Gretton.
BACKGROUND: Simon qualified
as a chartered management accountant in 1999. He then
began his career in the manufacturing and secondary
packing industry, where he was instrumental in the London
Fancy Box Co becoming the first Proctor & Gamble supplier
to gain accreditation to the Quality Assurance Key Elements
for Logistics programme, as a packer of perfumery products
in 2003.
After this, he spent two years in
the rail construction industry which took him through
a rapid MBO and the implementation of the Ramesys AXiM
software solution, which introduced real-time control
and analysis of all margins within a contract costing
environment.
Simon has been with Chingford Fruit
for three years, after joining in 2006. His first six
months were focused on project managing the implementation
of IFS.
This has then progressed to facilitating
strong analytical developments within an FMCG business
that demands high levels of performance review. In 2008,
Simon moved into his current role as finance director.
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Q: WHAT WAS THE BACKGROUND TO YOU LOOKING
FOR A NEW SYSTEM?
A: The company had been steadily growing at a rate of 5-6%
per annum and needed a system that could help us control costs,
as well as aid and even help accelerate future expansion over
the next 10 years.
We had been using a bespoke ERP system for several years;
this had become unreliable and costly to maintain and the
management information it produced was poor and no longer
met our requirements.
In addition, a major part of our business is product development
and rigorous quality control and assurance of produce – the
system had to support us in these areas.
We also needed to report accurately on each consignment of
product we receive and determine its profitability. For example,
if fruit arrives at our door and it is not to specification,
or there is waste that needs removing, then we need to notify
the supplier and discuss the work and associated costs required
to ensure only good-quality product is passed onto the retailer.
This obviously requires work on our part. We need to be able
to track that cost and quality performance and amend the payments
back to the supplier, whilst monitoring the supplier’s performance
in quality also.
We initiated a selection process to find a new solution and
from a shortlist of six ERP providers we chose IFS Applications
as providing the closest match to our requirements.
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Conspectus 2009
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Copyright © 2009
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