AGRO Merchants Westland and The Grape Hub digitally exchange messages via FreshBabel Messenger

's Gravenzande, January 13, 2020
AGRO Merchants Westland and The Grape Hub recently exchange digital messages with each other via FreshBabel Messenger. This link ensures that both companies no longer have to deal with administrative tasks regarding the processing of receipts, production and shipment of goods. Both companies speak of a major breakthrough since the link went live.

The desire to communicate digitally
Both companies are physically located at the same location in 's-Gravenzande and work together a lot. The Grape Hub and AGRO Merchants Westland work closely together in the field of Packaging and Logistics. Previously, this collaboration involved many administrative tasks. Due to the link with FreshBabel Messenger, all these actions are automatically processed in both software systems. “The need arose because we had more intensive cooperation and started looking at how we could organize our processes more efficiently. We also looked at volume growth. In the past, we mainly communicated via e-mails, PDFs, Whatsapp, telephone conversations and Excel sheets, where everyone had to register it back into the system themselves. This was very inefficient when I think back to this.” says Jan Willem van Wyk - The Grape Hub.

Retyping information is a thing of the past
Retyping data has become a daily routine for most employees at a fresh produce company. Information about, for example, orders, transport or shipment is not read into the software system by default when it is sent from another software system. Simply explaned; documents in different software languages ​​are sent to each other, creating a digital confusion of 'languages'. Software company jem-id has developed FreshBabel Messenger to work as 'Google Translate' between different software systems. FreshBabel Messenger translates messages about, for example, orders, production, logistics and transport from software system A into messages for software system B.

AGRO Merchants Westland works with a customized GreenCommerce package and The Grape Hub works with GreenCommerce. Via the link with FreshBabel Messenger, AGRO Merchants Westland and The Grape Hub can exchange messages about the announcement of expected receipts and shipments, and the confirmations thereof. In addition, they can exchange messages about a request for a production order, the reservation of the goods for this and the results that come from the relevant production request. This result contains the goods produced and the product(s) and container(s) used. The General Manager of AGRO Merchants Westland explains: “As volumes are increasing, it is necessary for us to standardize processes. The software helps to improve the process and reduce costs. It is therefore important for us to continue to invest in our IT systems, because it is part of our business and contributes to our success. We are also looking at how we can scale up for other customers, because we already have the connection via FreshBabel Messenger. It will be easier for us to make new EDI connections in the future. The basis is now there and we can discuss this with new customers who may already be on GreenCommerce. We see that this is increasingly in demand.” In the future, every customer of AGRO Merchants Westland could use the digital message exchange via FreshBabel Messenger, regardless of which software system they work with.

Full interview (in Dutch)
Read the full (Dutch) interview with AGRO Merchants Westland and The Grape Hub here.

Learn more about FreshBabel Messenger
If you would like more information about FreshBabel or specifically this development, please contact Remco Koornhof: remco@jem-id.nl or call +31 174 64 26 22.