Company name: Unverschwendet GmbH
Location: Austria, Europe
Industry: Food & Beverage
Established: 2016
Company size: <50
Odoo users: <30
Hosting type: On-Premises
Apps: Sales, Inventory, Purchase, Manufacturing (MRP), Contacts, Project, Tasks
Implementing partner: scrimo GmbH
Not pretty enough, prematurely ripe, or slightly misshapen – every year in Austria alone, over a million tons of edible food ends up in the trash. Around a third of this happens at the source: in fields or production facilities. Unverschwendet GmbH has vowed to fight this waste and is attempting to make use of the surplus through innovative solutions.
Founded in 2016 by siblings Cornelia and Andreas Diesenreiter, Unverschwendet is active in three areas of food rescue. Through the brands “Unverschwendet Feinkost” and “Rettenswert” as well as through the Kostbar Markt, a food distribution program for social institutions.
But internally, Unverschwendet GmbH itself had to fight with another kind of waste – a waste of time. Various Excel sheets and endless meetings consumed valuable resources, and it was clear that something had to change.
Sustainability in all areas – social, environmental, and economic
Unverschwendet GmbH builds its food rescue mission on three pillars: ecological, social, and economic. They achieve sustainability in the ecological pillar by rescuing food and saving resources. To also be socially sustainable, they are committed to ensuring that everyone along the value chain is fairly compensated and that many people are educated about the problem. However, all of this is only possible if they also operate in an economically sustainable manner and structure their business processes efficiently. A series of individual software solutions and numerous Excel spreadsheets jeopardized this efficiency.
One of the internal challenges identified by Unverschwendet GmbH was the delays in its processes resulting from information gaps between individual departments. Each department worked with its own Excel lists. Data was laboriously maintained – and often twice. The company was running smoothly and the data was correct, but efficiency looks different.
Before Odoo, Unverschwendet GmbH used a range of different software solutions without a common database, including Billomat for invoicing, Pipedrive as CRM, Wordpress for their web shop, and HelloCash as a POS system. However, this patchwork of IT solutions was unable to meet the company's requirements. Unverschwendet needed a solution that covered everything from A to Z – from farm to table – in one seamless package.
Seamless rescue: Quality assurance from farm to table
The implementation of the new platform was approached using an agile framework. The individual tasks were broken down into work packages and then carefully processed. This approach was made possible by Odoo's modular structure. Unverschwendet was able to choose from over 70 apps and implement them one by one. All apps work with the same data set, ensuring seamless integration of processes.
The main challenge for Unverschwendet GmbH was the individual processes they had to map. Their noble goal of preventing food waste requires flexibility from their software solution. This is because the whole process involves several production sites as well as external warehouses and services. In order to maintain an overview of this so-called “extended workbench”, the team worked with Odoo-partner scrimo to implement a tailor-made structure. This allows the complex tasks of food rescue – from inventory management of raw materials to individual designs for corporate gifts – to be accurately mapped.
When it came to quality assurance Unverschwendet accepted no trade-offs – complete traceability of batches is essential when working with food. In addition, the best-before dates are also stored for each batch, which means that the warehouse can keep a close eye on the remaining shelf life for the various distribution channels and ensure that the batches are used up in good time using the FEFO principle.
Fewer meetings, less waste, and more time for what matters
Unverschwendet GmbH was able to effectively combat its own waste of resources thanks to Odoo. Since the successful implementation, the company has benefited from significant time savings and efficiency gains – which has had a noticeable positive effect on internal collaboration.
They save a considerable amount of time on administrative tasks such as order processing, invoicing, and reporting. Odoo's unified data set significantly improves data quality and eliminates the need for duplicate maintenance. A quick glance at the figures, a brief check on the pulse of the company – all of this is now much easier.
They also noticed valuable efficiency gains in production planning and inventory management. This enables them to achieve the desired sustainability in the important economic pillar. This creates room to continue working on innovative ways of saving food.
Above all, they have observed remarkable progress in supposedly simple, everyday tasks. “The number of internal meetings for the operational processing of customer orders has been drastically reduced,” summarizes the team. The shared data basis also promotes cooperation between the individual departments.
The decision to implement new software requires resources and courage, but from the company's point of view, that investment has fully paid off.
“Odoo is an exciting tool because it is extremely comprehensive even in its standard form, and with the right implementation partner, it can be adapted in detail to our own specific processes if necessary.” – Christine Fischel, Organisation & Processmanagement, Unverschwendet GmbH
