Altair > Case Studies > Seafood Provider Leverages IoT for Efficient Data Management and Forecasting

Seafood Provider Leverages IoT for Efficient Data Management and Forecasting

Applicable Industries

Finance & Insurance
Food & Beverage

Applicable Functions

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Demand Planning & Forecasting
Time Sensitive Networking

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

Icicle Seafoods is one of the largest and most diversified seafood companies in North America. The company is continually innovating in order to process products within hours of being caught, and to streamline distribution for the freshest seafood possible. Their success depends on getting products from fisheries to market as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, their legacy accounting system was unable to provide access to data in a useful, dynamic format without extensive manual effort, which was hindering their efficiency and decision-making capabilities.

The Challenge

Icicle Seafoods, one of the largest and most diversified seafood companies in North America, was facing a significant challenge with their legacy accounting system. The in-house, DOS-based system was unable to provide access to data in a useful, dynamic format without extensive manual effort. The company was spending too much time manually translating sales, inventory, accounting, and general ledger data into a useful, dynamic format. Information was locked in PDFs and other inaccessible file types, making it difficult for the company to use their data for creating simple schedules and financial statements. More complex functions, such as analysis and forecasting, were well beyond their reach. This inefficiency presented a real problem for a company whose success depends on getting products from fisheries to market as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The Solution

The company's controller, having used Knowledge Works in the past, recognized it as the solution to their data challenges. Knowledge Works was brought in to help Icicle Seafoods automate the extraction and preparation of data, and the generation of daily, weekly, and ad hoc reports. Sales, general ledger, receivable, payable, and profit reports could be run at regular intervals, and the company could respond quickly to requests by end users to inform sales planning, capital expenditures, and a wide range of other decisions. Knowledge Works was able to integrate with the firm’s accounting system, without any difficulty. As a result, the ability to provide automated reports to key business users saves a significant amount of time and allows decisions to be made on the freshest data possible.

Operational Impact

The implementation of Knowledge Works has greatly enhanced the efficiency of Icicle Seafoods' operations. The company can now produce accounting reports and schedules quickly, which is critical in the fast-paced seafood industry. The ability to access data in a dynamic format allows Icicle to more accurately forecast and perform analytical deep dives, helping them respond quickly when opportunities or potential risks arise. This has not only improved their operating costs but also enabled them to perform more advanced analysis and forecasting than was possible before deploying Knowledge Works.

Quantitative Benefit

Significant time saved in data extraction and preparation
Ability to generate daily, weekly, and ad hoc reports
Quick response to end user requests for sales planning, capital expenditures, and other decisions