Nortera is responsible for processing and delivering frozen and canned vegetables and fruit across North America and beyond. The company’s 3,500 employees work with 800 agricultural partners via 13 plants in the U.S. and Canada. It is responsible for processing and delivering frozen and canned vegetables and fruit across North America and beyond. The company’s 3,500 employees work with 800 agricultural partners via 13 plants in the U.S. and Canada.
Challenges
Reliance on basic productivity tools failed to keep up with growing needs
Nortera relied on spreadsheet applications for its product data management, and the increasing scale and complexity of its operation began to impact its data accuracy and consistency.
Data was fragmented and spread across multiple locations, and as a result, mistakes were beginning to become inevitable. Employees also faced problems accessing the data they needed.
Meeting regulatory requirements became an increasingly difficult, cumbersome task for the team at Nortera. As with every food supplier, Nortera must ensure that it provides the correct information for each product – specifications, allergens and ingredients all have to be reported and labeled correctly to avoid harm.
In short, Nortera faced a challenge familiar to many organizations that have grown organically and had to make do with basic data handling tools. Without a single version of the truth when it came to product data, employees had to put in a lot of hard work that kept them from other equally pressing tasks.
Solution
Building a single source of truth for Nortera
Nortera selected Stibo Systems to replace its collection of ad-hoc spreadsheets with a single source of truth of product data for all employees.
“When we evaluated several tools, Stibo Systems stood out from the crowd. One of the reasons was its experience in the food business. It gave us a lot of confidence. Interfaces too. They were very user-friendly, very easy to use. There was no code behind it by default. We didn't need a developer to take care of the application. All we had to do was create a setup, as you might say for system administration.”Jacinthe Bouchard, Business Solutions Manager, Nortera
With Stibo Systems Product Experience Data Cloud built on Microsoft Azure, Nortera built a centralized repository for product information management. All product-related data was fed into the system, providing teams with timely, accurate information, regardless of where they were located.
An immediate benefit was a streamlined regulatory data management process for industry standards and requirements, reducing risk for the business. Now, specifications, ingredients and allergens are all documented clearly – and done so in a manner that ensures accuracy and efficiency.
The centralization of data encouraged departments and teams to communicate more effectively, sparking improved collaboration, more aligned efforts and the breaking down of operational silos.
Secondly, Nortera operates in more than one language; a significant portion of the business is based in Quebec, so support for French and English from the very first day was crucial. Stibo Systems Platform supports multiple languages, giving Nortera the flexibility to add extra languages in the future as it adapts to changing business needs and further international expansion.
By implementing Product Experience Data Cloud, Nortera was able to realize the following benefits:
- Data organization and consistency: Centralized data management reduced errors and ensured uniformity.
- Increased efficiency: Automation of data processes reduced manual work and streamlined workflows.
- Better insights for decision making: Reliable and structured data gave the team the opportunity to make more informed business decisions.
- Regulatory compliance assurance: Simplified compliance processes lowered regulatory risks, and a single source of truth reduced the potential for errors or inconsistencies to creep in.
“The problem we had was that the company wasn’t going to be able to achieve its aims. We have to imagine Google Sheets and Excel in the type of design that we used. But now there is a system that is accessible to the people, the staff, so we have to have the right information accessible to the right people when they need it.” Jacinthe Bouchard, Business Solutions Manager, Nortera
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Outcomes
From spreadsheet turmoil to a level-headed, effective operational base
Nortera had to move on from a collection of spreadsheets that were at risk of getting out of control and holding the company back. By moving to a modern, master data management platform more in line with the company’s scale and ambition, Nortera fixed a lot of challenges and future issues for the company.
The short-term benefits of improved efficiency, compliance, collaboration and informed decision making have already made themselves clear.
Nortera now has a solid data foundation for further growth, thanks to a firm and clear understanding of its products, suppliers and regulatory needs.
