About Foga Shakes
Foga Shakes is a UK based instant smoothie blends producer, founded by husband-and-wife Phoebe and Ollie Thirlwell-Pearce in 2019. The operation started out on their kitchen table where the first smoothie blend recipes were born and produced. Today, Foga Shakes has more than 20 different blends available along with a branded blender system. The company operates from a small manufacturing site in Cambridge and has 7 full-time employees.
Need for traceability led to MRP software
As the company gained a market foothold, production capacity started rapidly increasing. With this, production planning as well as stock management became much more complex. They initially used multiple spreadsheets but quickly found limits in this approach in keeping tabs on the growing complexity of the manufacturing process. Foga Shakes thus set out to find a software solution that would set the growing operation on steady tracks.
Next to the increasing volume of production, the primary reason for implementing an MRP system came from a need for end-to-end traceability. Two-way traceability is a key requirement in the food sector, helping to increase customer satisfaction and safety, stay in accordance with manufacturing standards and best practices, and more. Other reasons to commit to an MRP system included a need to more easily and accurately forecast stock requirements as well as to automatically keep track of batch numbers. With everything to gain, Ollie began the search for the right software companion.
MRPeasy proved to be the perfect companion
Since the owners had no prior experience with MRP software, their first move was to get acquainted with the many available providers by simply googling them. After identifying a few candidates, Ollie spent a while running a few trials and finally opted for MRPeasy. The key selling point was the software’s diverse capacity for integrations. Foga Shakes’s website uses WooCommerce and the company has Shipstation running their fulfilment platform – both fully compatible with MRPeasy. The software’s capability to easily run requirements forecasts seemed attractive as well, and the owners also really liked the name and branding of the software.
Today, Foga Shakes is using more and more of MRPeasy’s capabilities and further integrating it with the production process. The software helps identify what needs to happen to maximise efficiency. Ollie Thirlwell-Pearce explained “It has given us much more efficient planning, forecasting and workflow for sure. As with any system, it is as good as the data you give it. There is still stuff to iron out, largely on our side, but MRPeasy has definitely given us a smoother and easier process from forecasting through to production.”
With MRPeasy, Foga Shakes has a firm handle on managing the manufacturing process, allowing the firm to focus more on sourcing and new product development for their growing clientele.
MRPeasy is a simple yet powerful ERP/MRP system for small manufacturers and distributors. More information and a trial version are available at www.mrpeasy.com
