St. Cloud, Minnesota 3PL Provider Arctic Cold Storage Selects Headwater’s Delfour SmartEnterprise 2 for Logistics Management

Growing Minnesota 3PL enterprise needed advanced logistics management solution, bought Headwater solution based on recommendations from clients and competitors.

ST. CLOUD, Minnesota (PRWEB) October 19, 2005 -- Arctic Cold Storage, a growing family-owned refrigerated warehouse company specializing in temperature-controlled storage of meats, poultry, packaged foods, and raw materials for food processing, has purchased Headwater Technology Solutions Inc.’s Delfour SmartEnterprise 2 third party logistics software and expects to convert its operations to the new solution in mid-November, it was announced today by General Manager Jay Condon and Headwater Senior Vice President Joe E. Couto.   SmartEnterprise 2 is replacing a limited warehouse management solution that relies on many manual activities, a local area network and data in the Microsoft Office productivity suite.
   
Artic Cold Storage originated some 50 years ago as a food distribution company, converting to an exclusively cold storage operation with the sale of its distribution arm in 1990. The company serves approximately a dozen clients located in Minnesota and Wisconsin, including such well-known firms as Jennie-O Turkey Store, Gold N Plump Poultry, and Kraft Foods, distributing product nationwide.
   
Currently, the company operates approximately 3,000,000 cubic feet of controlled temperature warehouse space, with another 2,400,000 cubic feet under construction. Its staff of 15 warehouse workers will expand to about 35 once the addition is completed, Condon said, “Our expansion and the needs of our customers encouraged us to explore more advanced software solutions and several of our customers and even some competitors recommended SmartEnterprise 2, he said. “Headwater demonstrated powerful command of the industry’s requirements as well as the ability to accommodate our needs well and quickly.”
   
In Arctic’s implementation, SmartEnterprise 2 will run in the Linux environment under the Oracle database. The software suite includes the Enterprise Foundation integration layer, Headwater’s RF Foundation, the WarehouseLogic logistics management software, the Active Desktop GUI-based single point access and control module, the d’Amigo alert management and reporting tool, the e-Vista web-based visibility tool, and the EZConnect EDI-XML data translation and connectivity solution, which it will implement immediately for two of its largest trading partners. Headwater will provide the professional services for mapping the various EDI documents required.
   
According to Condon, the ability to handle catch weights was one of the key requirements and one that will dramatically increase efficiency, automating what has been a tedious and time-consuming process. It involved breaking pallet loads, recording the appropriate number of weights and taking the handwritten notes to the office for manual input into Microsoft Excel, after which the weights were subtracted from customer inventory records. In the Headwater solution, the weights will enter the SmartEnterprise 2 applications automatically as the RF device reads them, with customer inventory adjusted automatically.
   
“This is the kind of power and functionality that we need to support our growth and our customers’ increasing needs,” Condon said. “Other key benefits include alerts, which are critical for perishable food storage, trackability of product, time stamping and accountability. We will also be able to automate report distributions through use of electronic document templates that are customized for each client. Currently, reports are issued manually every Monday morning, a laborious and time-intensive process.    
“Our customers are excited about the availability of the browser-based e-Vista, which gives them 24/7 visibility of their inventory status via the web. SmartEnterprise 2 enables our users to keep costs down and profitability up by introducing a high level of automation, a greater efficiency and ultimately higher levels of customer service” Couto added. “It makes employees more effective and actually enables them to be more productive with less effort.”

ABOUT HEADWATER TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS INC.:

Headwater Technology Solutions Inc. is a supply chain software development and professional services firm that provides logistics management consulting and solutions, transportation management solutions, and an array of corporate/financial consulting and implementation services. Headwater’s Delfour SmartEnterprise 2 and Freight Logix third/fourth/corporate party logistics and transportation solutions enable seamless supply chain planning and execution that leads to smarter and more profitable management of goods as they move through the supply chain. The company’s supply chain consultation and implementation services focus on the Oracle, SAP and Microsoft platforms, with proficiency in warehouse and transportation management systems, RF and RFID technologies, and materials management systems (MMS). Headwater maintains corporate headquarters in the Toronto suburb of Markham and a regional office in Oakville, marketing its services and solutions internationally. For information, call 866 306 0999, email info@headwaterinc.com or visit www.headwaterinc.com.

CONTACT:
Tina Langridge
866 306 0999

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