Associated Grain

Dalby,  Queensland Australia

 

Company Background

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In the early 1950s, the Gosden family started a long and successful career in the grain industry trading as JH Gosden Pty Ltd. They were mobile seed graders. The business proved to be popular with local growers leading to the construction of a grain processing and storage facility in the town of Dalby.

In 1974, the Jorgensen family joined the team, sharing the same vision and ethics as the Gosdens.  The business was renamed Gosden Jorgensen Seeds.

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Through hard work and determination, Jack Gosden and Max Jorgensen made Gosden Jorgensen Seeds one of the leading grain and seed handling businesses in the area. In 1994, the Jorgensen’s bought a second site, Associated Grain.  Located on the Warrego Highway near Dalby, the site would assist Gosden Jorgensen Seeds with additional processing, packing, grading and storage facilities to accommodate increasing demand. In 2000, the two entities consolidated and trade today as Associated Grain.

 

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Partnering with ABC Business Solutions – Ostendo and Moneyworks

Associated Grain had outgrown their current industry specific program. It was cumbersome, very man power intensive and had limited reporting ability. Geoff Birch (Seed Manager) knew it was restricting growth, as they were using manual processes for inventory control and customer management, mostly done in Excel. They needed an inventory system, that would allow twenty plus concurrent users, set up, for Seed traceability- which they now have.

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Geoff says ABC Business Solutions were selected from a group of consulting firms that were interviewed, because “we could describe what we wanted, and ABC could isolate the problem and solve it – live – in front of us. Carol knew the systems inside out, while the others we spoke to were just salespeople.”

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Ostendo provides them with integrated processes from Contract to Sale, while managing inventory at multiple locations. Geoff says Ostendo is “open and transparent, and easy for staff to use, and easy for new staff to do their job.”

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“Ostendo’s customisable list views have made Managing easier”, says Geoff. “We have been able to increase turnover in Grain, nearly double in Seed, without needing to put on additional staff.” Benita Raguse (Management Accountant), also commented that “existing staff were happier, as they were more productive, handling less problems, and not having to do as much overtime in the peak periods to get the Grain and Seed ready for delivery.”

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Associated Grain have used Ostendo custom screens to have integrated Weighbridge functions, a Seed Shop web integration with Ostendo , and a Smarter Seeds web integration with Ostendo, allowing Grain to be exchanged for Seed. These custom screens are created in .net , and integrate with Ostendo’s SQL Firebird database, and allow Associated Grain to have industry specific , and business specific functions on entry screens , while creating  real time actions for both web and the weigh bridge. Both Geoff and Benita stated, separately, that the Ostendo system has improved the issuing of invoices, cash flow and improved the experience for their customers and growers, as growers are now paid via RCTI and on time.

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Benita worked with the previous general ledger system, as well as Moneyworks, and because Ostendo is fully integrated with Moneyworks, finds the search features and reconciliation processes in Moneyworks easy. Benita says “we have much more visibility, and BAS work and preparing for Audits is much easier”. Benita believes if they didn’t now have Ostendo and Moneyworks, with Associated Grain’s current trading conditions, they would have “double the staff.”

 

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Future Directions

Geoff believes the system now functions without the need for so much hands on management and that the system is now “bigger than the importance of any one person”. Associated Grain will continue to replace more of the stand alone systems that still exist, with ABC Business Solutions and Carol, working with the Management Team, to problem solve replacing out dated systems, with integration into Ostendo. As well as this, the opportunity to replace some manual processes in the warehouses with Ostendo mobility is on the list for 2017.

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Both Geoff and Benita agree that Ostendo with Moneyworks has been an excellent fit for their industry, because ABC Business Solutions are able to understand, and provide the customising and training required, for their specific industry needs.