1. Drie Mollen sinds 1818
Discussion in 'QAD Customer Success' started by Chint, Jan 13, 2015.
Coffee Producer Drie Mollen sinds 1818 Improves
Delivery Performance and Efficiency with QAD Solutions.
The Company
Drie Mollen sinds 1818 (Drie Mollen) produces 12,000 tons of coffee and 1,400
tons of tea on a yearly basis. Eighty percent of its production is for private label
purposes. The other 20 percent finds its way to the stores as Gala coffee and
Princess tea. The company, which got its remarkable name from the building ‘In de
Dry Swarte Mollen’ in ‘s-Hertogenbosch where it all started, has a strong focus on
production for private coffee and tea labels. Approximately 15 percent of all
production is for export.
The production of coffee and tea is still done the traditional way; coffee beans are
processed, roasted and ground in the Netherlands. As far as the production of tea is
concerned, the focus is on packaging, marketing and aromatizing the tea, which is
often pre-processed in the country of origin. Drie Mollen employs around 180
people. Production and logistics take place at its production plant in Bolsward.
Other activities are managed from their headquarters in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The
company is part of Drie Mollen Holding.
The Challenge
Drie Mollen produces on order as well as forecast-based. The focus on private label
production leads to a situation with many different packages and flavors. The
company also has to comply with new regulations, including the new General Food
Law, and wants to benefit from new developments such as EDI, bar coding, and
warehousing. Drie Mollen’s goal is to leverage these technologies for realizing
further growth on their path to becoming the most professional, dedicated, and

2. flexible Private Brander of Europe
The Solution
Drie Mollen used to work with non-integrated solutions, which resulted in
difficulties where stock and material planning were concerned. The company
therefore, implemented MFG/PRO in 1997. Initially version 8.5 was used, with
Production, Procurement and Sales modules. In April 2001, Drie Mollen upgraded
to version 9.0, integrating the Warehousing and Administration modules.
According to J. van de Ven, controller at Drie Mollen, MFG/PRO has proven itself
over the last few years, “The system offers the information we need for controlling
our production. Thanks to improved information delivery, we now have more
knowledge of each step in the production process and are able to improve our
delivery performance. Overall efficiency has improved, so we can do more with
less people.”
Michel Spruijt, ICT Manager at Drie Mollen states, “As we operate in a very
dynamic market, we need a flexible system that can be quickly and easily adapted
to internal and market changes. With MFG/PRO, QAD provided us with such a
system and together with the professionals at QAD we often work on fine tuning
the system. We focus on the use of EAN/DAS and EDI. When developing specific
functionality for improving work processes we work in close cooperation with
QAD.”
One of the results is the successful deployment of the MFG/PRO Advanced
Inventory Management (AIM) module for warehousing purposes. With this
module, different warehousing functionalities can be integrated with MFG/PRO
and handled automatically. Drie Mollen, which manages a warehouse with
approximately 6,000 pallet places, uses the module in combination with a RF
system that enables employees to process orders in a paperless manner with a hand
terminal or display on fork lifts. All transactions are based on bar coding.

3. “Looking back, MFG/PRO has brought more peace and quiet in the organization.”
says Michel Spruijt. “The use of MFG/PRO has enabled us to standardize processes
and to continually improve the quality of the processes. We now have a system in
place that gives us confidence for now and for the future. It offers us the
opportunity to focus on our core competencies.”
The Future
As Drie Mollen sinds 1818 now has a solid base in place for its core functions of
procurement, sales, production, warehousing and administration, the company is
ready to study future developments. According to Spruijt, “One of the areas we are
investigating is Business Intelligence. The MFG/PRO system and accompanying
software contain a wealth of data. We want to do more with those data through
analysis. As an example, we can get a clearer picture of the relationship between
sales forecasts and actual figures. We also continue to focus on expanding the use
of EDI. Right now half of our sales orders are processed via EDI and we want this
percentage to grow further. We comply fully with the EAN standards and applaud
QAD’s support of these developments and the fact that they facilitate the process of
standardization.”

4. Prepared by Drie Mollen sinds 1818 in cooperation with QAD.
Last edited: Jan 14, 2015
Chint, Jan 13, 2015