Agro Sevilla: A 30% reduction in time to market
Case study

Agro Sevilla achieved a 30% reduction in time to market

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Agro Sevilla The world’s largest olive producer, packer, and exporter

Agro Sevilla was founded as a cooperative society in 1977. It is the world’s largest olive producer, packer, and exporter and one of Spain’s major olive oil exporters.

 

Agro Sevilla and its cooperatives

They manufacture private label and retail products for restaurants, retail, and the food service industry within 70 countries. Agro Sevilla’s olives are grown by 4000 farmers in the heart of Andalucia. Every farmer is a member of Agro Sevilla’s cooperative farming society, and as a cooperative, the farmers produce an incredible 80.000 tonnes of olives per year.

Nearly 80 million kilos of olives are harvested and prepared for packaging, marketing, and consumption. Agro Sevilla’s marketing collateral is created, adjusted, and amended at the company’s headquarters in Sevilla, where approximately 35 people work.

The remaining 370 employees are employed at Agro Sevilla’s two Spanish production facilities.

The vision at Agro Sevilla was always to upgrade the technology portfolio

Finbarr González O’Sullivan is the marketing manager for Agro Sevilla. He has been with the company for 20 years and is integral to Agro Sevilla’s digital transformation. The vision at Agro Sevilla was always to upgrade the technology portfolio to stay competitive. However, before Encodify, Finbarr explains that the majority of the work was done on the go:

“Back then, it was only the packaging and trade shows. We had no system. We gave instructions to print houses and provided either physical drawings or DVDs. It involved a lot of work. We moved on to emails and PDF files. But it wasn’t a system.“

"The workflows that we had before Encodify were based on emails and attached PDF files. Mailboxes were full. One PDF would evolve into 25 different versions. Some people would work on version 23, and others worked on version 25. Mistakes were simply part of the workflow routine."

Finbarr González O’Sullivan,
Marketing Manager at Agro Sevilla

The packaging process is another critical component of Agro Sevilla’s business model and the olive export industry. It is the primary process when exporting to over 70 countries. Moreover, labelling the content is an essential part of the fundamental process. Any errors in label descriptions can be costly, especially since olives, like most food products, are subject to strict legal and quality control.

The end-to-end export workflow to more than 70 countries entails a significant investment in labelling, translation services, and compliance with local laws. When performing quality control, Agro Sevilla used to record up to 20% of errors.

“Mistakes were widespread at various stages. It was impossible to have an overview of the packaging development. That is when we started to look for a system to help us digitise and create a better overview.” 

So, Agro Sevilla began looking for a new system, and eventually, they chose the Encodify solution:

"We chose Encodify. It was the tool that was adapted to our workflows. With the other solutions, we had to adapt to their workflows."

Finbarr González O’Sullivan,
Marketing Manager at Agro Sevilla

Real-time workflow across the organisation

When Agro Sevilla signed up for the Encodify platform, there was a barrier, a natural barrier as Finbarr González O’Sullivan labels it:

“There was this natural human reluctance to change. It was a bit like the first time you needed to jump off a cliff, and you thought, I’ll do it later. But we had the vision. And a few weeks after we started working, there was no way back.” - Agro Sevilla expanded the Encodify solution to include other marketing activities such as flyers, catalogues, and banners, and other departments requested a similar

 

The Encodify solution changed the workflows in the marketing department at Agro Sevilla:
“We have implemented a system that minimises the mistakes.”

Before the Encodify solution, Agro Sevilla recorded up to 20 % of errors. Now they have 0 %, And what began as a project to streamline the marketing packaging process quickly spread throughout the organisation.

Several other departments at Agro Sevilla have been onboarded over the last couple of years. Currently, the following departments use the Encodify solution: marketing, sales, quality assurance, warehouse, purchasing, and new product development.


“All of the colleagues involved with Encodify know where things are. They can see the projects. They are all very fluent with the dashboards. They don’t need to send us emails. They don’t need to ask us if we are on schedule with the deadline. They can see it,” explains Finbarr González O’Sullivan.

Agro Sevilla has entered a real-time workflow across the organisation. When asked to summarise the change that Agro Sevilla has experienced since implementing the Encodify solution, Finbarr González O’Sullivan described it like this:

"Encodify has given us so much power. An engine. The marketing engine has become so much more powerful without adding extra elements. And it has allowed us to expand into other departments quickly. For us, it is a strategic asset. Not working with Encodify would imply a backward revolution."

Finbarr González O’Sullivan,
Marketing Manager at Agro Sevilla

Increased capacity without increased headcount

The implementation of the Encodify solution has improved workflows considerably, and the results are telling:

30% Reduction

A 30% Reduction in
time to market 

0 Errors

From 20% to 0 errors
in marketing collateral


Moreover, Encodify has improved the following:

  • Substantial time savings
  • New brand development, market research and PR with the same amount of people
  • Quality of output improved markedly.
  • Increased capacity in the marketing department without increasing headcount

" The system allows a better quality. The output is better. Mistakes are discovered in time, and they almost never reach the final output. Workflows are so slick and streamlined. Now we have time for brand development and market research. And PR."

Finbarr González O’Sullivan,
Marketing Manager at Agro Sevilla

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