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Hilton Foods

Automated supply chain integration through BizTalk solution
Hilton Foods is a leading international specialist in meat processing and packaging worldwide. From their butcheries, they deliver fresh meat daily to the distribution centers of Tesco, Ahold (Albert Heijn), Woolworths and ICA Sweden, among others. Digital orders arrive every night and by the end of the morning at the latest, the ordered products must be delivered.

situation.

Hilton Foods had an urgent need to process orders automatically for retail customers. If this process is not flawless and real-time, it leads to major problems, such as:

  • Delayed delivery of orders (shortages in stores);
  • Erroneous production orders and delivery of orders;
  • No up-to-date insight into production status and volumes;
  • Customer claims.
Doing business 24/7 worldwide with Microsoft BizTalk? Then you need Referit's can-do mentality.
Jeroen Bakkers - Hilton Foods

solution.

From the start of Hilton Foods as an independent butcher shop, over 20 years ago, Referit has been responsible for setting up, maintaining and managing a broad business solution for the integration and handling of all information flows within Hilton Foods and with their customers (the large retail chains).

EDI messages containing customer orders arrive daily. Referit's BizTalk platform automatically processes these and converts them into production orders. After processing, delivery confirmations and invoices are automatically sent via EDI. To handle the processes, the BizTalk platform is integrated with the ERP systems (SAP), the planning system (Quintiq) and the warehouse systems of Hilton Foods.

Hilton Foods' butcheries are located in Western, Northern and Eastern Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Referit provides 24/7 hourly support to minimize disruption in operations.

technique.

Technically, the solution consists of the BizTalk platform in Referit's data centers with VPN links to Hilton Foods locations worldwide, where BizTalk is linked to Hilton Foods' internal systems. With 24/7 monitoring, all APIs and processes are monitored and managed.

Chain integration makes it possible to replace all paper flows. The chance of errors thus becomes very small.

result.

As a result, Hilton Foods' supply chain integration with their customers is fully automated. In addition, all handling is performed in real time without the intervention of people. Internally within Hilton Foods, the core applications (ERP, planning, warehouse) are integrated with the BizTalk system so that all information exchange internally is also automated.