In the world of food retail, freshness is a promise to the consumer that has to be kept. But keeping that promise is not a simple endeavour. How could it be when your warehouse doubles as a deep freezer, your inventory includes thousands of date-sensitive SKUs and the pace of your operation leaves no room for error?
At Timewise Systems, our teams work with a number of clients whose businesses encompass these high-stakes challenges. One case in point is our work with Italicatessen, Ireland’s leading importer of premium Italian food and wine. Together, we built a smarter, more resilient warehouse environment designed to handle the unique challenges mixed temperature spaces have for looking after food goods.
From paper to precision
When Italicatessen first approached Timewise Systems, they were operating a fast-moving distribution centre using a paper-based system. Orders were growing, which was exciting to witness. However, alongside this business growth the pressure was mounting. Their existing processes simply couldn’t keep up. As they prepared to move to a new purpose-built facility in Wicklow with chilled, frozen and ambient zones, they brought us on board to help design and implement a system that could match their quality standards and growth ambitions.
Like many of our clients, Italicatessen doesn’t just sell food; they deliver an experience. That means every product must arrive at the right temperature, on time and in perfect condition. Anything less is a problem.
We worked closely with their team to understand the unique demands of their operation: temperature-sensitive goods, a multilingual workforce and the constant pressure of next-day delivery. From there, we designed a custom Timewise system powered by next-generation voice technology on the Android platform, fully integrated with their ERP.
After extensive testing and refinement, the results spoke for themselves. These included the near-elimination of warehouse errors, significant improvements in staff retention and double-digit operational efficiencies. Perhaps most importantly, Italicatessen regained control of their time.
“Thanks to Timewise, we’ve achieved more than 25% time savings in our business,” says Italicatessen CEO Christian Reolon. “That’s helped us reduce costs, better plan workloads, and improve customer satisfaction.”