Kiwi tech business dishing up dividends to NZ’s hottest food brands

The drive to achieve ‘Amazon-like’ operational efficiencies has seen many Kiwi food brands adopt integration technology to optimise their supply chains.

But businesses are now feeling the pressure when it comes to managing their growing ecosystems of suppliers and systems.

Kiwi tech-integrator, Crossfire, is helping put an end to that by connecting supply chain operating systems together to improve visibility and maximise efficiencies.

The secret ingredient; its fully managed integration service which creates a seamless flow of real-time data between all parties and systems, without the need for any in-house expertise or software.

Crossfire services clients from a wide range of industries, including some of New Zealand’s leading food retailers, suppliers and logistics companies.

This includes giants like Foodstuffs, Lion and Mainfreight as well as some of the country’s hippest, most adored, food brands including Oob Organics, Honest Brew Beer, Raglan Coconut Yogurt, Karma Drinks and Little Island Coconut Creamery to name just a few.

It also integrates to a range of large retailers such as Rebel Sport, The Warehouse and Mitre 10 through to international juggernauts like Amazon, Target, Walmart, Nordstrom, Bed Bath and Beyond and Costco.

“Integration using the likes of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is not new,” says Head of Crossfire, Henry Payne. “It’s been around for a number of years. But the complexity and cost of managing it internally continues to cause headaches for IT teams and business owners, no matter what size they are.”

“People are looking to remove the hassle and risk from their business through integration, not add to it. That’s exactly what we do. In effect, we’re removing human error and inefficiencies with tech at the same time as ensuring our clients get a quality ‘people-first’ service.”

Payne says integration has now become fundamental to many large retailers, who also now expect their suppliers and logistics partners to interact with them digitally.

One major retail giant reaping the benefits of Crossfire’s managed integration service is New Zealand’s largest grocery retailer, Foodstuffs.

With thousands of suppliers and millions of orders, invoices and data points to manage, Foodstuffs recently built a tailored, central supplier portal to help manage its growing number of suppliers, product orders and invoices across its network of owner-operator stores.

The centralised system, dubbed ‘The eXchange’, was developed by Crossfire’s parent company and custom software solutions provider, Sandfield. Crossfire then connected Foodstuffs’ supply chain partners using EDI, whilst taking care of hosting, monitoring and support.

“We liked that Sandfield was local, their approach to our solution resonated well with us compared to some of the other bigger players in the market we were talking to. Their team was very calm and collected in the face of complexity and varying business dynamics.” says Chris Monkton, Purchasing Process Owner, Foodstuffs NI.

Montkon says Crossfire’s tailored solution delivered beyond expectation, despite it being a complex project to manage.

“We liked the collective, tailored approach Crossfire provided. Nothing was too difficult and we now have a long-term partnership, beyond just a simple supplier-vendor relationship, we can build on to drive our business processes forward.”

Another Kiwi-owned business using Crossfire’s EDI integration to connect to key parties in their supply chain is Omaha-based Oob, a major provider of certified organic fruit, vegetables and ice cream in New Zealand and abroad.

“We supply most of the major supermarket chains in NZ and Australia through multiple third-party distribution companies,” says Oob CFO, Howard George.

“It’s absolutely critical for our business to seamlessly integrate with our customers and warehouse systems to ensure we deliver in full and on time. The team at Crossfire have made all that possible and it is now an integral part of our business operations.”

Adam Turner, Supply Chain and Distribution Manager of Karma Drinks agrees.

“Our company supplies hundreds of retailers throughout New Zealand and raises thousands of orders. The time and errors that have been saved with Crossfire’s EDI integration are countless.”

Payne says another key differentiator that sets Crossfire apart is that it prides itself on not just being an out of the box solution given every client’s business is unique.

“You can’t just plug someone in and send them off! There’s lots of little traps and pitfalls that clients can fall into and that’s where our experience and support comes into play. We provide a tailored solution for each business and then back that up with good, ongoing local service afterwards.”

To find out how managed integration could benefit your operations, check out the Crossfire website.

Henry Payne, Head of Crossfire