Hobbit

Eric Dewilde, the avid nature lover, decided to convince the world to eat vegetarian in 1983. He started De Hobbit, a small company with which he started producing the meat substitutes tempeh and seitan. Although the activity remained fairly small-scale, entrepreneur Frederik Dossche saw potential in the company. So in 1999, he decided to take over De Hobbit and expand. Sales and Finance Manager Edith Gomes: “He bought a production space in the Maldegem industrial estate and invested in decent equipment. Two years later, he decided to integrate Food For Freedom into De Hobbit, a small company that specialised in the production of tofu and macrobiotic foods. This strategic move included a requirement for a second production hall. After all, the tofu manufacturing process is completely different from that of tempeh and seitan. Coincidentally, our neighbours' establishment was put up for sale in 2003, which was fortunate. It was an opportunity that Frederik seized with both hands. Pretty soon after that, we divested the macrobiotic branch to focus on the three most important meat substitutes for vegetarians. In the meantime, we have added some innovations, including lupine and hemp-based tofu.” Today, the De Hobbit range has about fifty recipes. With thirty full-time equivalents, the company manufactures about 720 tons of product every year, half of which is exported to health food stores in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom. “We are mainly active in health food stores in Belgium too,” says Thomas Van de Vijver. “This channel accounts for about 35% of turnover. We get 15% of our turnover from retail sales, and the rest we generate through sales to other food producers who use our products as raw materials.”

“LISA” convinces us with its testimonials

It turned out that trying to upgrade the existing application was not going to be an option. After all, De Hobbit used a combination of a Microsoft Access-based solution that was developed in-house and a Kluwer package that was no longer supported. “We decided to start from scratch and implement a completely new, comprehensive ERP package,” says Thomas Van de Vijver. “After carrying out a thorough market analysis, we drew up a shortlist of four providers, which included Claerhout Computer Engineering. They then carried out an analysis and made a proposal for an application. On that basis, only 2 remained, ‘LISA’ from CCE and another package. To make the right choice, I called and visited users of both packages. The story of Culinor and Hot Cuisine in particular piqued my interest. When these two companies merged, they needed to choose which ERP package to keep: LISA or SAP. The decision fell on CCE’s ERP solution, which is quite significant. The users of the other references also praised both the package and CCE itself. Edith Gomes continues: “So we were already convinced to choose ‘LISA’. Still, it’s only after we got a full demo from CCE that the penny finally dropped. The experts used understandable language to explain, for four hours, how ‘LISA’ works and what we could expect from it. But also what was expected of us. And it was no small amount required from us: after all, an incredible amount of time is invested in the preparation, the input of the data, and the management of the master data. You have to bite the bullet as a company and then achieve a good result. However, the reference stories show that this effort pays off in the long run. We haven’t noticed it yet because we’ve only been working with ‘LISA’ for a few months. The effect this ERP package will have on De Hobbit cannot yet be estimated. But it is clear already that it will have a positive effect.”

From preparation to start-up

CCE conducted a thorough analysis of De Hobbit’s work processes in April. The hardware (scanners, scales, printers, servers, PCs, etc.) were also examined. Thomas Van de Vijver: “The analysis showed us that we only needed to renew the server and printers, which kept the total investment within limits. We then started inputting articles, customers, recipes, etc. Working with CCE, we decided to do this manually: it was certainly the best way to clean everything up properly and to get to know the ERP package in a fairly intensive way.” Bernard Van Praet, Consultant at CCE: “At the same time, we started the parameterisation of ‘LISA’ and the training of key users. De Hobbit went through a fairly normal process in terms of implementation: first the accounting module, then purchase and sales with EDI, and then production, recipes, item management and tracing. On 3 January, we were ready for the start-up, which traditionally takes a bit of trial and error. After all, there will always be things that need to be optimised or refined. But thanks to our successful preparation and intense co-operation with the customer, we managed to get the ERP package completely stable by 15 January.” “It was a very exciting two weeks, I must admit,” says Thomas Van de Vijver. “Nevertheless, we are very satisfied with CCE’s performance. We may have had several sleepless nights during the start-up phase, and our hair may now be a little greyer, but thankfully our customers have not noticed the switch to ‘LISA’. All the deliveries were complete and on time, and included the necessary documents. A sign for us that CCE really knows what it is doing.” Get to grips with functionality first. According to De Hobbit, it is still too early for a thorough evaluation of the ERP package. “Although ‘LISA’ has been designed intuitively, it does take a while to get the hang of everything,” says Edith Gomes. “This also has to do with the fact that some of our work processes have been geared to the ERP application. This was a conscious choice because we are convinced this will benefit us in the future. In theory, ‘LISA’ should also reduce the administrative workload. However, it is still too early to judge whether this will actually be the case in practice.” Thomas Vandevijver: “I do notice progress in production. There are fewer error messages, conclusive tracing, fewer entries to be made on the PC, the control and planning of production is faster and smoother, etc.”