Amberton & Firth's supply chain operations were crippled by old systems and messy data. Our automation solution streamlined their processes, standardized data, and reduced operational costs by 24% while enabling forecasting.
Client
Amberton
Industry
Food distrubution
Solution
Backend automation
Impact
Operations cut 24%
Project overview
Amberton & Firth approached us with a classic case of systems fragmentation that's all too common in established distribution businesses. This respected specialty food distributor had grown organically over decades, accumulating different software solutions along the way — creating an operational patchwork that was increasingly becoming a barrier to growth.
What made this project particularly interesting wasn't just the technical challenge of connecting disconnected systems, but the opportunity to transform messy, inconsistent data into a strategic business asset — essentially turning information chaos into competitive advantage.
The problem
Fragmented systems and siloed information
Amberton & Firth was operating with a patchwork of disconnected systems: Sage for accounting, Salesforce for customer management, old databases for supplier information, and countless Excel spreadsheets for everything from delivery routes to forecasting. Important business information was scattered across these platforms with no single source of truth (a nightmare scenario for any data-driven decision making).
Data inconsistency and quality issues
Before any automation could begin, we encountered severe data problems — product codes that didn't match between systems, inconsistent naming, duplicate records, and inventory counts that rarely agreed. Staff were spending about 20 hours per week simply reconciling these discrepancies (a shocking waste of skilled talent, if you ask me).
The challenge
Systems that weren't designed to talk to each other
The solution needed to bridge multiple business systems that were never designed to work together — including their accounting software, customer database, online shop, and delivery partners' systems. Each connection presented unique challenges.
Balancing automation with human oversight
While seeking to automate routine processes, Amberton still needed appropriate human input for certain decisions. The system needed to intelligently distinguish between processes that could run automatically and those requiring someone to review — particularly important when dealing with perishable food products.
Our solution
Data clean-up and standardisation
Before building any automation, we needed to sort out their data:
Created consistent product codes and names across all systems
Established rules to prevent bad data from entering the system
Developed processes to find and fix discrepancies
Created a framework for keeping data clean going forward
Smart workflow automation
Following data cleanup, we built a system that:
Connected previously isolated business applications
Automatically generated purchase orders based on stock levels and sales trends
Created smarter delivery routes based on order locations and priorities
Provided early warnings for potential stock issues
Generated automatic reports for management
Our approach
Initial systems and data audit
Mapped out how information flowed between existing systems
Identified inconsistencies and redundancies in business processes
Documented the manual workarounds that had become normal practice
Established starting metrics to measure improvements against
Phased implementation strategy
Started with data cleaning as the essential foundation (you can't automate what you can't trust)
Connected their core business systems first before adding more complex features
Added delivery optimisation only after the basics were working smoothly
Introduced predictive ordering as the final phase once we had reliable historical data
Continuous monitoring and refinement
Set up automatic data quality checks to prevent backsliding
Created performance dashboards to track key operational metrics
Built in feedback loops for ongoing system improvements
Provided staff training to ensure everyone could use the new capabilities
Impact & results
Operational efficiency transformation
After implementing our intelligent workflow automation, Amberton & Firth experienced dramatic improvements in their operational efficiency and data reliability.
24 percent reduction in operational costs
The combination of automated processes and improved data quality allowed Amberton & Firth to significantly reduce manual work while improving accuracy — delivering substantial bottom-line savings.
Key performance indicators:
Manual data entry reduced by 83% across all departments
Order processing time decreased from 27 minutes to 4 minutes per order
Inventory accuracy improved from 76% to 98.5%
Delivery routes became 31% more efficient through smarter scheduling
Enhanced business intelligence
Beyond process automation, the standardised data and connected systems provided unprecedented visibility into business operations, enabling truly data-driven decision making for the first time.
Impact Metric | Result | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
Stock keeping costs | 24% reduction | First 90 days |
Order processing time | 85% decrease | Within 60 days |
Delivery scheduling | 31% efficiency gain | Measured after 120 days |
Post-implementation evolution
Following the initial success, Amberton & Firth expanded their automation to include supplier performance tracking and automatic suggestions for product alternatives during shortages — further improving their operational resilience and customer satisfaction.
Client testimonial
"Our business had grown successfully for decades, but our systems hadn't evolved at the same pace. We were drowning in spreadsheets and manual processes that were increasingly becoming bottlenecks. The transformation has been remarkable — not only have we eliminated countless hours of tedious data work, but we now have visibility into our operations that we never thought possible. The predictive ordering capability alone has transformed our stock management, reducing both waste and stockouts. This has changed how we operate at a fundamental level."
— Richard Amberton, Operations Director, Amberton & Firth
