Automation Hero October 2021: TerraSana

Wouter van der Zwaan, Finance and IT Manager at TerraSana Natuurvoeding BV, was looking for a solution to improve his company’s capabilities in terms of inventory optimization. After careful evaluation, TerraSana decided to integrate EazyStock with their existing ERP. EazyStock was rapidly implemented, and TerraSana quickly saw results. Now, instead of managing their inventory manually in Excel spreadsheets, EazyStock automatically calculates reorder points and quantities and recommends purchase orders.

That’s why he’s EazyStock’s Automation Hero for October!

Name: Wouter van der Zwaan
Title: Finance and IT Manager
Company: TerraSana Natuurvoeding BV

Congratulations on winning the award, Wouter! Can you please tell us a little about yourself, where you work and what your role is?

I am the Finance and IT Manager at TerraSana Natuurvoeding BV. TerraSana is an organic food producer and trader. We purchase our raw materials from all over the world, and we sell our products mainly within the EU.

What “red flags” made you realize that you needed to invest in an automation solution?

We purchase our raw materials from all over the world, so lead times are very variable and sometimes very long. TerraSana is growing fast, and it was getting harder to manage our inventory. At the same time, our clients’ expectations are growing and they are setting more requirements on fulfillment. So we definitely needed a tool to manage our inventory to make sure we reach our customers’ expectations!

How has your work changed since you implemented EazyStock, and how has automation with EazyStock helped TerraSana?

In the past we used different kinds of Excel files and some static reports to plan our purchases of (raw) materials manually; this was a lot of repetitive and continual work. This changed immensely with the implementation of EazyStock. EazyStock provides us with daily recommended orders based on all the item data and sales forecasts. With EazyStock, we manage by exception; the software generates reports and flags things like demand outliers. EazyStock also provides us with a list of the items of which we’re at risk of running out of stock. Now we are able to make proactive decisions before we go out of stock, so stockouts are not a surprise anymore.

What other tools do you use for automation?

We have an advanced WMS solution that helps us to store our stock strategically. This tool also supports us in correctly handling batch codes and best before dates (BBD).

Along with the WMS software, we have a Product Information Management System which allows us to maintain, transform and share all our product information with clients and customers.

We also use a BI system which is connected to multiple databases to make information centrally accessible to help us make data driven decisions.

What do you think about the future of automation?

In every supply chain, the requirements regarding your product or service are getting tighter. Organizations collect more and more data. But software and hardware solutions to analyze this data are becoming more affordable and more focused for every type of organization or type of process. Its important to keep investing in these kinds of solutions to comply to the growing customer requirements.

Thank you Wouter, and congratulations again!

If you would like to nominate a colleague, customer or partner for next month’s Automation Hero, please fill out the contact form here.