Puhdistamo
Puhdistamo is growing at a fast pace. The company is known for its 'Pureness' branded nutritional supplements and other wellness products that it produces. When the existing systems no longer met the company’s needs, it was time to unify the business platform. The ERP solution built with the help of Fellowmind significantly improved the efficiency of the coordination of multiple sales channels, ever-expanding number of products and the company’s production operations.
Challenges
Puhdistamo was established when a group of friends who were enthusiastic about superfoods got together and founded an online store focused on superfoods. The operations expanded rapidly, and now Puhdistamo’s products are also sold through retail and specialty stores. The company has operations in Finland and Sweden, and Puhdistamo’s products are also sold in several other markets, such as the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and South Korea.
Puhdistamo, with its own production and import business, has already increased its turnover to EUR 19 million during its more than ten years of existence. The company’s growth has been profitable, but its existing systems reached the end of their life cycle.
Coordination was required for multi-channel sales, the company’s own online store, logistics related to import and raw materials, the company’s own factory production, and logistics for packaging, shipping and product returns. Puhdistamo employees needed a new solution for managing their growing business.
“Our goal was to improve the flow of information and transparency because information must be available quickly in one place. In particular, we wanted to improve the predictability and delivery reliability of our business,” says Puhdistamo CFO Krister Wihinen.
“It is also important to us that the systems are easy to use – it increases the self-direction of our employees and enables job rotation. These factors are emphasized in our youthful company culture.”
In particular, we wanted to improve the predictability and delivery reliability of our business.
In discussions between Fellowmind and Puhdistamo’s experts, it was quickly concluded that a solution based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central technology is an excellent business platform for Puhdistamo’s future growth.
Fellowmind x Puhdistamo
Approach
For the Puhdistamo team, it was of utmost importance that its expanding business can be managed efficiently. When operations grow, even a small process delay or unnecessary activities have increasing significance when measured in euros. “The old system didn’t support growth, it slowed it down,” Wihinen says.
Without good predictability, resources can be wasted on production that ultimately does not sell. On the other hand, Puhdistamo’s factory employees must ensure the availability of raw materials up to six months in advance. For this reason, the ability to predict demand and coordinate own marketing and sales campaigns were the basic starting points for the new solution.
The solution built on the basis of Dynamics 365 Business Central provides a consistent information flow and a business platform for key tasks. Integrated enterprise resource planning covers the processes for production, purchasing, inventory management, customer service and customer relationship management. The solution also covers a Shopify-based online store and significantly improves its logistics.
“Our team works in the factory, office, warehouse and in the field in stores. Using the new solution directly on a tablet made life easier for all of us and resulted in data being up to date,” says Wihinen.
Using the new solution directly on a tablet made life easier for all of us and resulted in data being up to date.
The project implementation was process-oriented. The goal of Fellowmind’s experts was to remove bottlenecks for growth and align the processes of Puhdistamo and Business Central so that they form an entity where they support each other.
As Puhdistamo’s operations were required to continue uninterrupted for the duration of the project, all key functions were first tested and only then deployed in practice. For example, the processes for picking items from stock and online shopping processes were fine-tuned on several occasions to ensure that they work well from the point of view of the people using them. “The project required intensive effort, but it paid off. We improved efficiency in every area of our business operations,” Wihinen says.
Results
The unified platform now produces up-to-date information for all user groups and enables improved data analysis. All Puhdistamo employees use common data in their work, and no silos are created. “The new system has a healthy taste.”
The key benefits of the new business platform are
- Searching for information is faster and information is more up to date.
- Significantly improved transparency regarding the financial situation.
- More accurate business planning and forecasting. Demand forecasts now used for production and logistics management.
- Usability on mobile devices took a big leap forward.
- Shorter lead-times for processing online store orders.
- Increased automation rate, which resulted in the working time of employees being freed in financial administration and order processing.
- Effective product traceability and recipe-specific batch tracking.
Small efficiency gains in multiple areas are reflected in the same number of personnel being now able to accomplish more than before. Another goal is that the enhanced ability to coordinate production, warehouse and sales activities is reflected in improved customer satisfaction among both retailers and, ultimately, online store customers.
“The processes are now smoother and the system is faster to use. We can now accomplish more with the same number of personnel,” Wihinen says.
We can now accomplish more with the same number of personnel.
More efficient use of resources is also compliant with the principles of sustainable development. When the supply chain is more efficient and demand-driven, raw materials do not expire at Puhdistamo’s factory. On the other hand, consumers benefit from products having expiry dates that are as far in the future as possible, and products are not left unused due to expiration.
The new solution supports Puhdistamo’s targets for further international expansion of operations. In the future, Puhdistamo’s foreign subsidiaries can build their business on the solution that was now built. “The key thing is that with this solution, our good business drive can continue. Now we have a strong basis for future growth,” says Wihinen.
Now we have a strong basis for future growth.
According to Fellowmind’s Connected Company vision, the next development step could be connecting Power BI solutions to the business platform and supporting operational activities through Power Platform. These would further enhance the operations of salespeople in the field and make customer contacts more systematic.
Puhdistamo, a company located in Lempäälä, is Finland’s first superfood brand and an innovative wellness company, which is known especially for its passionate and uncompromising approach to clean nutrition and quality.
