Müller Fresh Food Logistics

Descartes’ B2B Messaging Solution Helps to Bring Value-added Services to Logistics Supply Chain

Müller Fresh Food Logistics is a family-owned business that specializes in conditioned warehousing and food distribution. Transport and distribution are inextricably linked to warehousing and value-added services. Müller combines and aligns these disciplines to provide a full set of value-added services to its customers and to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction and delivery performance. IT and communication play an increasingly important role in this market sector. For electronic data interchange (EDI) messaging, Müller relies on the scalable Descartes B2B messaging solution.

The Challenge

To Müller, logistic services are more than warehousing or the physical distribution of products. Müller considers managing the flow of information electronically and providing modern digital solutions as key to providing an enhanced level of customer service.

Beginning with Dispatch advise (DESADV) messages for retailer Albert Heijn, the service Müller provided developed into a full set of electronic messages. The number of trading partners who opted for exchanging data via EDI messaging grew rapidly, and so did the number of message types. To simply and quickly connect new customers and meet the need for order-to-cash messages, Müller searched for a future-proof B2B messaging solution.

Customer growth brought about the need for new types of electronic messages. It forced us to look for a partner who was able to meet customers’ demands. Leading factors were flexibility and scalability. With Descartes, we always find the right path.

– Erik van Tiel, ICT Project Officer

About Müller Fresh Food Logistics – Fresh Food Is Our Drive

Müller Fresh Food Logistics is the logistics expert for the food industry. For conditioned warehousing and food distribution, Müller is the indispensable link that enables its customers to service their market. Müller delivers daily to retailer distribution centers, wholesale distributors, and the food service/out-of-home channel. The company has three branches in The Netherlands and one in the Czech Republic. With over 700 employees, Müller generates annual revenue of €60 million.

Customer Success - Müller Fresh Food Logistics

The Solution

In 2006, Müller started to use Descartes’ EDI services for only a few trading partners with a fairly straightforward order-to-cash process. Over time, Müller specialized in conditioned logistics by offering an extensive logistics service package to fully support customers throughout the whole process. The EDI messaging offering and execution is an essential part of the package.

As Müller’s business expanded, the growing number of connected partners intensified the collaboration between Müller and Descartes. The company not only needed a scalable and flexible solution to exchange data easily and cost-effectively with trading partners, but also an expert partner to advise on the setup of a highly efficient process and to reduce the IT complexity of connectivity.

Müller uses Descartes’ B2B messaging solution to exchange orders, dispatch messages, and packing slips. Invoice messages are planned for the near future. In 2017, Müller also has plans to expand the Descartes solution to its Roelofarendsveen branch, a warehouse for frozen products, and connect its operations and trading community to EDI services.

The Results

1. Relieve customers from specialized tasks

By taking the logistics burden away from its customers, Müller allows food producers to focus on their core business. EDI services are an important element of Müller’s service offering.

2. Provide flexible platform for growth

The Descartes solution ensures that Müller can connect new trading partners efficiently, and is scalable to easily support the company as its customer base grows. Müller can also rely on expert advice for setting up future processes and accommodating changes.

3. Reliable, up-to-date EDI knowledge

Keeping EDI knowledge updated is quite challenging for many organizations that have limited staff who perform this non-core business task. By choosing Descartes’ solution, Müller improves the accuracy of information exchange to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction and delivery performance.