Fiddes Payne is a partner to some of the world’s leading producers and manufacturers of savoury foods and home baking products, supplying branded goods from the likes of Jamie Oliver, Disney and BOSH! to customers throughout the UK. In 2009, the company converted to K3 Syspro’s ERP system in
order to increase stock traceability, reduce stock holding levels and introduce more accurate billing and enhanced customer service. Now, nearly ten years on, Fiddes Payne has become a loyal customer of K3 Syspro and the business continues to develop and thrive under its ever-evolving ERP solution.

The Initial Challenge

Fiddes Payne is more than a food supplier. It is an innovative and creative food business that work in partnership with leading producers to create nutritious and convenient foods that inspire people to spend more time in the kitchen. This culture has led to a customer-centric and service driven approach that demands a more joined up way of handling customer data, billing and stock. That’s where K3 Syspro comes in.

The initial challenge was clear but required a complex and well thought out solution. Disparate systems meant that data was being handled inefficiently, stock levels were not managed leading to stock outs and excess stock which impacted customer service.

The vision was for K3 Syspro’s ERP solution to connect manufacturing, distribution and finance into one joined-up system that not only rectified all the inefficiencies Fiddes Payne was experiencing, but actively improved elements like billing and customer service. This would require constant engagement, support and on-site staff training.

K3 Syspro began to gradually replace all legacy systems at Fiddes Payne, providing a centralised location for all data and reports. Duplicate entries were entirely eliminated as the business moved from its dependency on spreadsheets and documents into the new ERP model. This gave the sales team the visibility they needed to connect customer queries with relevant data instantly, allowing Fiddes Payne to offer a faster and more effective service.

“The new ERP system is already bringing in much greater levels of visibility and stock control which has also improved our procurement operation. For our customers, it will enhance our service levels and overall satisfaction with more accurate and timely billing.”

Customer Service Team

The need to order stock was also eliminated, reducing overheads in the stock and procurement side of the business dramatically. With support and training, staff were now able to seamlessly log calls and queries from customers, track product movements, extract and analyse information and make better business decisions. The ability to extract and manipulate data quickly has also helped Fiddes Payne reduce its stock investment by more than £500,000 and counting.

“The team at K3 are helpful, knowledgeable and took the time to familiarise themselves with our ways of working and make recommendations for improvements. Their investment of time and resource into helping us migrate toward a joined-up ERP solution was invaluable, and their support is still on hand when we need it.” – Vivienne Sparks, Financial Director

SYSPRO is now fully integrated into the daily operations at Fiddes Payne and is managed primarily by the in-house IT department along with ongoing support from K3. As well as reducing stock investment, order fulfilment is also now averaging 97.5% which is a measurable improvement on where the business was prior to implementing SYSPRO. As a data hungry business, Fiddes Payne is finding more opportunity than ever before to extract and manipulate data in order to further its business goals and open doors to new avenues for growth.