#1.
Our customer
Dufrais is a Belgian family business, founded in 1967 by Édouard Dutry. Starting out as a small butcher's shop, it has grown into a major figure in the Belgian industry. Today, Dufrais has more than 81 butchers' shops and around 590 employees.
Dufrais' core business is processing and marketing fresh artisanal products. Their speciality? Meat, butchery and charcuterie products, appreciated for their excellent quality.
#2.
Their needs
Before our collaboration, Dufrais encountered a challenge: the fragmented management of their information system was inefficient. The client used different tools for inventory, orders, and replenishment, making it difficult to access unified information.
This fragmentation led to varying levels of customization among butchers. Some, more digitalised, adapted easily, while others struggled to standardise their information handling processes. Consequently, applying methods uniformly across butchers was challenging.
With this challenge in mind, Dufrais approached us. Our mission? To centralise information to simplify processes and align all butcher shops.
#3.
Our solution
At Deuse, we created an innovative technological solution that met the needs of the client: a mobile application. This customized application includes everything a modern butcher shop needs to operate efficiently: order management, accurate inventory tracking, and dynamic calculation of weekly turnovers. It takes into account sales, purchases, and specific outflows for each butcher shop, providing a personalized and tailored solution.
To further enhance the application, it is linked to a scanning system. Barcode scanners greatly facilitate tracking of inventory movements. Each received package is immediately registered, simplifying daily management and reducing the chance of errors. This seamless integration ensures both accurate and intuitive inventory management.
The design of the application is crafted to seamlessly fit into Dufrais's operational processes. From the moment of ordering, the process is streamlined: receipt, scanning, management of inventory outflows, sales tracking, expiry date control, and inventory updates. Everything is designed to guide users through a logical and easily understandable workflow, making the adoption of the tool natural for butcher shops in the network.
The introduction of this solution within Dufrais has yielded benefits. Standardizing processes through the application has led to effective centralization of information. Now, the headquarters has a consistent overview, ensuring optimized inventory management and shipments.
This shift to a more integrated management model has minimized losses and increased operational efficiency.
Upon receipt of a delivery, the butcher uses the application to scan the packages. This scanning step provides an overview of the received products, allowing for immediate verification against the initial order. This essential functionality helps identify delivery errors, which are promptly reported to the headquarters for continuous improvement.
After the products are stored, the butcher records sales via the application, which automatically calculates weekly revenue based on income, expenses, and pre-set prices. These financial data, crucial for analysis and performance optimization, are sent to the headquarters for processing and evaluation.
The application also includes an alert system for managing expiry dates, avoiding the risk of errors related to the sale of expired products. This feature is essential in the fresh produce sector, where strict compliance with expiry dates is crucial for food safety.
Finally, when it comes time to replenish stocks, the butcher can place orders directly through the application. This functionality ensures a smooth and integrated ordering process, saving time and effort to maintain optimal stock levels.
In summary, the application developed for Dufrais is a comprehensive tool that guides butchers through every step of their activities, from receiving products to selling them, while also facilitating inventory management and performance analysis. Its customized design ensures seamless integration into Dufrais's daily operations, contributing to continuous improvement of their processes.
The developed application for Dufrais is fully customized and designed to seamlessly integrate with their internal processes. This tailored approach facilitates user acceptance of the tool, as it replicates the work environment they are already familiar with. Thus, the application does not disrupt established routines but optimizes them instead.
Upon receipt of a delivery, the butcher uses the application to scan the packages. This scanning step provides an overview of the received products, allowing for immediate verification against the initial order. This essential functionality helps identify delivery errors, which are promptly reported to the headquarters for continuous improvement.
After the products are stored, the butcher records sales via the application, which automatically calculates weekly revenue based on income, expenses, and pre-set prices. These financial data, crucial for analysis and performance optimization, are sent to the headquarters for processing and evaluation.
The application also includes an alert system for managing expiry dates, avoiding the risk of errors related to the sale of expired products. This feature is essential in the fresh produce sector, where strict compliance with expiry dates is crucial for food safety.
Finally, when it comes time to replenish stocks, the butcher can place orders directly through the application. This functionality ensures a smooth and integrated ordering process, saving time and effort to maintain optimal stock levels.
In summary, the application developed for Dufrais is a comprehensive tool that guides butchers through every step of their activities, from receiving products to selling them, while also facilitating inventory management and performance analysis. Its customized design ensures seamless integration into Dufrais's daily operations, contributing to continuous improvement of their processes.
#4.
Our partnership
The collaboration with Dufrais was perceived as very pleasant throughout the process. The teams at Deuse particularly appreciated the responsiveness of Dufrais' employees. Their engagement was evident, both in clarifying their processes and validating new features of the application.
This positive dynamic has resulted in a long-standing trust relationship. Dufrais continues to entrust us with new developments regularly, which is a testament to their satisfaction and confidence in our expertise. Our developers have direct contact with Dufrais' team, ensuring smooth and efficient communication.
This close collaboration enables our developers to continuously assign new tasks. They work on improving and evolving the mobile application. This constant exchange between the two teams ensures that the application perfectly aligns with Dufrais' operational needs while integrating the latest technological innovations.
#5.
Conclusion
The project with Dufrais concluded on a very positive note, bringing benefits to all parties involved. For the client, the introduction of the mobile application represented an evolution in internal management, significantly automating and streamlining processes. This digitalisation not only optimized operational efficiency but also enhanced accuracy in inventory management, sales, and orders.
For Deuse, this project provided a valuable opportunity to refine and expand our skills in solutions for the food sector. Working on such a specific and integrated application presented the team with new challenges.
This collaboration also laid the foundation for a sustainable relationship based on trust and technical excellence, which naturally delights us. Overall, this project illustrates the transformative effect of technology when applied wisely, opening up new opportunities for growth and improvement in the food industry.