Freshness you can taste: Gropper and Moers Frischeprodukte rely on innovation over more manpower
Founded in 1929 as a regional dairy, the family-owned company Gropper has grown into one of the most successful medium-sized food manufacturers in Germany, employing over 1,600 people across three sites in Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Baden-Württemberg. The company, headquartered in Bissingen, Bavaria, has always been a pioneer in progress and innovation – for example, through its early in-house production of PET bottles and smoothies. To maintain this leading position, Gropper and its joint venture Moers Frischeprodukte, based in North Rhine-Westphalia, have future-proofed their IT with support from ifm. In addition to the SAP standard, they now use ifm’s supply chain solutions to enable efficient production processes, increase transparency, and establish a solid foundation for dynamic, sustainable business growth.
High-quality dairy products, as well as classic yoghurts, smoothies, coffee drinks and direct juices, which can be found on the shelves of almost all discounters and supermarkets, have one thing in common: many of them come from Gropper and its joint venture Moers Frischeprodukte. Founded in 2018 by Dr. Oetker and Gropper, it specialises in fresh products made from milk and fruit, such as pudding, fruit compote, or jelly. Production is carried out for all private labels as well as for brand manufacturers, including Dr. Oetker. Since 1929, Gropper has been active in the market and now offers a full-service package together with Moers Frischeprodukte – from product and packaging development to production, logistics, and B2B services. Each year, around 580 million kilograms of milk are processed at the Bissingen and Moers sites, supplied by nearly 1,000 dairy farmers. The juice bottling facility is located in Stockach.
How modern IT helps tackle the daily challenges of the food industry
Food manufacturers face daily challenges due to volatile customer orders, lead times under 24 hours, and highly perishable products with short shelf lives. On top of that, difficult-to-predict sales quantities and shortages of raw materials and packaging materials further complicate planning.
Ventsislav Kerezov, Supply Chain Manager at Gropper and Moers, still has several tasks on his to-do list: “Our portfolio and volumes are continuously growing – and with that, complexity increases. Instead of compensating with more manpower or constant warehouse expansions, we want to rely on smart solutions – namely improved system support and greater transparency. That’s why we chose ifm’s SAP-based supply chain software.”
IT improvements in demand planning, production, procurement, and inventory management
ifm’s software solutions provided the much-needed answer to numerous challenges, such as managing the same warehouse space despite increasing production volumes, while also supporting the company’s ambition for continuous improvement and market leadership. “At both Gropper and Moers Frischeprodukte, we use ifm’s supply chain tools comprehensively. This enables us to cover the entire supply chain – from demand planning and production planning to procurement and inventory management – which is a major advantage for us, as everything works seamlessly together”, says Ventsislav Kerezov. “Currently, the system landscapes at the two companies differ. However, with Supply Chain Excellence and the GIB Suite, ifm offers tailored solutions for both environments.”
ifm software solutions currently in use:
- Supply Chain Excellence (SCX) on SAP S/4HANA as a suite
- The Forecast, Planning, Operations, and Controlling modules from the GIB Suite on SAP ECC 6.0
Stocks reduced by half in a short time
The first step was the implementation of the procurement solution. “The tool immediately convinced us, as the number of items in purchasing and planning was steadily growing and we needed to adapt quickly. Overall, materials management has also benefited tremendously,” explains Ventsislav Kerezov.
By now, the entire ordering process at Gropper and Moers Frischeprodukte is built on this and is being used in a second step as the foundation for production planning – ensuring that all relevant data, historical values, and future demands are clearly structured and reliably available. A milestone already achieved: stock levels in materials management and operational purchasing have been halved in both volume and value within a very short period. “Overall, it’s a fantastic result, providing many valuable insights that help us further optimise our processes and boost efficiency,” summarises Ventsislav Kerezov.
Transparency and efficiency: strengthening the supply chain with modern SCM solutions
ifm’s production planning solution is already being used successfully for finished goods planning and will soon be rolled out for semi-finished products as well. The benefits of the demand planning solution are also clearly visible: where Excel, Access & co. once dominated and data was only updated weekly or even monthly, all information is now available live and up to date within the system. The inventory management solution is currently being rolled out. A key focus for Kerezov and his team is improving transparency and clarity. “The Alert Monitor provides us with valuable support in the procurement area,” the Supply Chain Manager says enthusiastically. “Our planners use it daily to quickly identify where shortages threaten to cause plan changes and where we need to act promptly.”
ifm coaching focuses on the users
To ensure a successful implementation of the new solutions and to achieve rapid user acceptance, Gropper and Moers relied on two training approaches: first, the “train-the-trainer” principle, where a small group is coached to pass on their knowledge internally; and second, training sessions for larger employee groups.
Lessons learned:
- Seek out experienced partners with industry expertise
- Continuously engage and train employees
- In-person training with a two-stage approach for end users
The future runs with ifm: Buying and FOX are on the agenda
“We’re currently considering implementing the Buying module to further support order processing,” reports Ventsislav Kerezov. Artificial intelligence is also on the agenda, especially in production planning. One key topic here is the AI-based solution Factory Optimization Excellence (FOX), which enables sequence planning across all work centres and orders. However, some patience is still needed here.
