How VK Spices runs export documents for 3 sub-organisations and 12 locations

The challenge

VK Spices is a large spices exporter based in Hyderabad. It has 3 sub-organisations and 12 locations, which fulfil export orders for buyers in many parts of the world.

Its export documents were different for each sub-organisation and location, and changed again by country, by product and by packing. That made the documents hard to automate.

The company also runs two kinds of orders. For manufacturing orders, VK Spices buys directly from farmers and stores the produce in its own warehouses. For trading orders, it buys from suppliers, and the goods are delivered to warehouses or container freight stations across India. From there they are loaded onto containers, or a supplier's truck comes straight to the container and is loaded directly.

VK Spices wanted an EXIM solution that could later be connected to the ERP it was planning to bring in.

What they did

1. Documents for every variation. Document formats were set up for each sub-organisation and location, with the changes each country, product and packing type needs.
2. Manufacturing and trading orders. Both kinds of order run in Expodite. Manufacturing orders draw on produce bought from farmers and held in VK's own warehouses; trading orders link to purchases from suppliers.
3. Goods receipt made to fit. Expodite's goods receipt (GRN) was customised for the way VK Spices works: goods received at a warehouse and then loaded, and goods loaded straight from a supplier's truck onto the container.
4. Ready for their ERP. Expodite was chosen so that it can be connected to the ERP once that is in place.

“Each of our sub-organisations and locations needs its own document formats, and they change again by country, by product and by packing. Expodite handles every one of those variations. Its goods receipt was shaped around how our goods really move, whether the produce comes from our own warehouses or arrives on a supplier's truck and goes straight into the container.”