Conchita Foods chose TrueCommerce Integrated EDI for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to serve its essential ingredients to major food retailers.
The family-owned company, has offered essential ingredients for Hispanic kitchens since 1937. Its product line includes over 150 packaged food items, including sauces, juices, oils, cookies and cakes, pasta, beans, seafood and more.
In 2018, this growing food manufacturer moved from a legacy, custom-built business system to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This change also necessitated a switch from their legacy EDI system, which could not be readily integrated with their new, cloud-based ERP.
Conchita Foods has offered essential ingredients for Hispanic kitchens since 1937
Choosing a proven leader
Carlos Ferro, vice president, shares how Conchita Foods chose TrueCommerce: ‘We were looking for an established market leader that had experience with migrations and integrations.’
EDI was a must. ‘We couldn’t even do business with any of our biggest customers—Publix, Target and now Walmart—if we didn’t have EDI,’ Ferro emphasises. ‘Using EDI is just part of the agreement that we have with them.’
To do business with Walmart, for example, Conchita Foods is required to send not only invoices using EDI, but also advance ship notices (ASNs) in the retailer’s specified format.
To find the right platform, Conchita Foods did extensive research and decided to go with TrueCommerce, primarily because of the company’s track record.
‘EDI is a business-critical application for us,’ Ferro reports. ‘It needs to be working every day—we can’t have ‘down time.’ That’s why we went with TrueCommerce: it has a great reputation.’
The well-designed integration delivers a smooth transition
Conchita Foods’ new, fully integrated ERP/EDI environment has been up-and-running since September 2018. The two systems went into production ‘almost’ together, despite some challenges.
‘The new ERP environment was completely different in every way from what we were used to,’ Ferro recalls. ‘Relearning all our business processes from scratch was like ripping off a very big band-aid, and the first couple of months were tough.’
The well-designed integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central made the transition easier.
‘Fortunately, our TrueCommerce EDI system is very user-friendly,’ adds Ferro. ‘It took some fine-tuning to get everything exactly the way our EDI partners wanted it, but the implementation was straightforward.’
Dependable, scalable EDI handles seasonal spikes with ease
Currently, Conchita Foods has three active EDI trading partners: Target, Walmart and Publix.
According to Ferro, the food manufacturer has an average transaction volume of approximately 80 invoices per day. That can easily double or triple during peak times around major US holidays like Thanksgiving and Easter.
‘The new EDI system handles seasonal spikes with ease,’ Ferro notes. ‘When I click import it brings in all the selected invoices from Business Central, and when I click export it sends them all out. That’s basically all there is to it, regardless of the order volume.’
Ease-of-use and reliability have been additional advantages.
‘I’ve never yet had an issue when I’m using TrueCommerce EDI,’ continues Ferro. ‘It’s fast, user-friendly and straightforward.’
‘More Connected’ means less time at the office
The omni-channel nature of Conchita Foods’ business means that its executives sometimes need to travel and work long hours. The TrueCommerce cloud architecture has proven to be a significant efficiency-boosting factor.
‘One of the biggest benefits I get with TrueCommerce EDI is that I can access it from wherever I am,’ Ferro points out. ‘I don’t have to sit at my desk and wait for all the invoicing to be done. Instead, I can go home, have dinner with my family, and take care of EDI in five minutes after my kids go to bed. It’s a big convenience factor.’
‘More Supported’ means 24×7 uptime
Conchita Foods opted for TrueCommerce Platinum Support and is pleased with the value they are receiving.
‘TrueCommerce Platinum Support works great for us,’ Ferro explains. ‘I check in with our Customer Success Manager weekly. She helps us with everything from quick questions to coordinating the onboarding of a major retailer like Walmart.’
Overall, TrueCommerce turned out to be a strategic partner to Conchita Foods’ delivering a powerful solution that connects them to their biggest customers and positions them to do business in every direction.
‘I am happy to recommend TrueCommerce to other companies in our industry,’ concludes Ferro.
