Custom FileMaker Application Case Study

Custom Manufacturing Solution for Jefo Nutrition inc.

Since 1982, Jefo Nutrition has specialized in the design, manufacture, storage and distribution of products for animal nutrition. Jefo, a company based in Saint-Hyacinthe, has offices in five continents and is recognized as a world leader in the field of non-medicated additives for the nutrition of poultry, hogs and ruminants. It is the only plant serving 58 countries and employing more than 130 people around the world.

The Client

Due to a custom FileMaker application developed by the Direct Impact Solutions team using the latest software releases, this global leader has the ability to manage the overall lifecycle of its products, from managing the raw material to the delivery of the finished product.
Like any other similar manufacturing company, manufacturer of a wide range of products and requiring a complex and elaborate production process, Jefo quickly turned to IT solutions to increase its efficiency.

“Our company has always worked in a Mac environment and we were looking for a manufacturing solution that can be easily implemented within our company. Since there were very few of them, we moved towards the development of a custom FileMaker solution that can perfectly adapt to our needs and evolve at the same time as us,” explains Gilles Mileto, Jefo Factory Manager.

“It is the ‘multi-platform database’ side that attracted us the most towards FileMaker. This technology is closer to the Access software, but better. It’s more intuitive.”
—Gilles Mileto, Jefo Factory Manager

The Project

In order to increase the level of efficiency of his teams, Mr. Mileto imagined a barcode system that can be linked to the global management system. Direct Impact did not need to know more in order to design this technological solution and put in place stable processes leading to the introduction of barcodes, without harming the other functionalities already in place. Thus, all the products handled by Jefo’s teams are now equipped with a barcode whether dealing with raw materials or finished products. The Direct Impact team was also able to advise Jefo on the best barcode readers that can adapt to the system and its needs. Jefo even acquired a long-range reader that can read product codes, no matter where they are in the warehouse.

“With the barcode system we use that supports the use of 2D codes and/or the Data Matrix for compliance with GTIN regulations, we obtain results in real time. It is very useful, among other things, for the traceability of batches of products, optimal management of our warehouses and product shipping processes,” says Mr. Mileto.

“Barcodes help us greatly in the management of inventory of raw materials and the location of these in our warehouses. Armed with their iPad, our shipping team can easily identify orders that need to be sent to customers.”

The Benefits

The development of this FileMaker solution has certainly helped to increase the productivity and efficiency of Jefo while improving communication between its teams.

Direct Impact’s FileMaker solution is innovative and powerful, just like the products Jefo manufactures for its customers. In a very short time, Direct Impact managed to develop a first solution, which perfectly met the needs of Jefo. This first project served as the basis for the development of a complete global lifecycle management system for all products manufactured by Jefo.

“It’s really a multifunctional solution that allows all our teams to obtain information in real time,” says Gilles Mileto.

“This solution gives us access to multiple functions. It is easy to obtain sales or purchasing forecasts, track sales or order changes, or design the production schedule.”

“We are already seeing the potential for deployment of many future applications, including the development of a multilingual version that can be used in our other offices around the world.”
—Gilles Mileto, Jefo Factory Manager

Indeed, this FileMaker solution significantly increases the productivity of Jefo. Each phase of a product’s life cycle is entered into the database and effectively manages all tasks related to each of these steps.

For example, all the management of the raw materials necessary to manufacture the products is carried out by the system, from the reception of the raw materials to the management of the inventory and the location taking into account the expiry dates and use of the stocks. Even the production of products is managed by the FileMaker solution, from the allocation of ingredients according to the recipes established by Jefo, until packaging.