Feb 2008
Fruitworks signed as a QXprophet client
Fruitworks was established in 2001 and is based in Paarl in the Western Cape.
It exports fresh produce to various clients according to specification and logistical preferences.
The business philosophy guiding the company is to be fast, flexible and to act with integrity.
All Fruitworks suppliers are accredited in the principles of good agricultural practices and Eurepgap and the pack houses where produce is packed are HACCP and ISO accredited.
Cape five signed as a QXprophet client
Cape Five, based in the Western Cape's Somerset West, is a proud exporter of premium South African fruit and is closely situated to apple producing regions Elgin, Grabouw and Villiersdorp.
Dec 2007
Prophet Plc is upgraded to a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Prophet Plc has met the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner requirements and has been upgraded to the Gold Certified Partner level.
Oct 2007
Prophet Plc is now a Certified Member of the Microsoft Partner Program
Microsoft has awarded its Certified Partner status to Prophet plc.
This moves reflects the increasing integration of Prophet with Microsoft’s family of server, database, office productivity and business application products.
Sept 2007
J O Sims Go Real Time
J O Sims have extended their Prophet Pr2 system in Spalding in Lincs to make use of the on line scanning applications for warehouse
management and production control to enable real time control of stock throughout their processing.
One of the key benefits is that product is scanned onto and off the main packing lines so that accurate traceable use is
recorded effortlessly and the progress being made in the packhouse is available to management as it happens,
no matter how complex the mix of consignments and products.
Prophet SA Gold Sponsor at Allfresh
Prophet SA is a Gold Sponsor at Allfresh, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 18-19 September 2007
“allFresh! — the one event” is the single national summit for suppliers and producers in the fresh produce industry.
Aug 2007
New Corporate identity for Prophet Plc
Prophet plc launches new corporate logo and identity as well its new web site. This will enable its broader international
clientele and software offerings to work through a single portal for information and customer support.
July 2007
Fresh Direct Expands Into Manchester With Prophet
After the acquisition of the Manchester operations of the Redbridge Caterfresh businesses in 2005,
Fresh Direct have switched the Manchester site to Prophet Pr2.
They use Prophet Pr2 for all of the accounting and operational aspects of their business and for giving the team live stock.
The project included an innovative "on demand" picking kiosk, allowing pickers to self serve their picking notes throughout the working day and night.
The move places Prophet Pr2 at the centre of a high volume telesales environment of a traditional caterer, with all of the business complexities of price list management and discounting. It provides a showcase for Prophet’s ability to offer live stock control to companies who deal with the complexities of selling splits and each’s, selling by weight and general unit of measure challenges.
Umlimi signed as a QXprophet client
Black-owned agricultural services company Umlimi Services announced in a statement that it has launched as an empowered service provider to the agricultural sector.
Umlimi is capitalised at R250-million and is driven by ex-Dimension Data financial director Malcolm Rutherford, together with Soto Ndukwana, chairperson of Ifula Holdings,
and Chris Nissen, the CEO of Newline Property Investments. Umlimi will act as a service agent to farmers and manage the substantial chain of costs that occur beyond the farm gate.
Umlimi's services will include production and development, procurement and sales, supply chain management and financial services, and will initially target the fresh-produce
agricultural market. Umlimi Agricultural Services (Pty) Ltd
June 2007
Milne Foods Stay State Of The Art With Prophet
Milne Foods, one of Ireland's fastest growing food processing companies have taken their operations into the 21st Century
by using wireless technology and scanning throughout their operations. This includes their processing and quality control and using the real time wireless applications supplied by Prophet Pr2.
Graaff Packing signed as QXprophet client
Graaff Packing is a subsidiary of a third generation family business Graaff Fruit.
The state of the art facility is both BRC and EurepGAP accredited and with cutting-edge technology and well-trained, highly motivated staff who participate on all levels of
management they are one of the leading pack facilities in the area.
In the last five years they have realised an opportunity with several new peach, nectarine and cherry varieties.
Ideally suited to the high winter chill of the Ceres valley, these varieties (mainly Bradford and Zaiger peaches and nectarines)
are far superior to previous varieties grown in the area.
May 2007
Worldwide Fruit Limited Go For Prophet Pr2
One the UK’s largest fresh produce importers and marketeers, Worldwide Fruit Limited has selected Prophet’s Pr2 ERP system to replace their legacy systems in the UK.
The business which includes New Zealand’s ENZA as one of its shareholders, has selected the new system to replace all aspects of its current accounting an operational software infrastructure at its sites in the UK.
April 2007
Dennigans Uses Prophet Pr2 For New Distribution Contract
Ireland’s largest family owned multiple retailer, only awarded the huge contract to distribute the poultry, meat and dairy products to all 100 of their superstores
and smaller stores both in Southern and Northern Ireland in January 2007.
The contract winner, Ireland’s Sam Dennigan Ltd, had to start delivering from March 1st 2007, so the race was on to recruit personnel, set up the warehousing and vehicles needed and to select a computer system.
They immediately approached Prophet and asked the question – can it be done? The solution had to integrate with the Multiples systems and safely manage the automated processes essential
to the daily processes of receiving stores orders electronically from the different store departments, automatically placing orders on suppliers and then receiving and storing, picking the goods and distributing to the stores on time.
And all the new staff had to be trained from scratch.
Mr Sam Dennigan explained; “The circumstances of the contract change meant our customer had to place their trust in us. And in turn, we had to place our trust in Prophet. – we went that extra mile and so did they.
We got our deliveries to store right from day one and together we justified the enormous trust placed in all of us by our customer."
March 2007
Chennels Farm Holdings signed as a QXprophet client
Chennels is one of the biggest grapefruit exporters in South Africa they play a leading role in the South African citrus industry.
Expo Fruit signed as QXprophet client
Expo Fruit is part of the Univeg group of companies. It is a South African business unit for the Univeg group of companies and serves as a commercial and marketing arm.
Expo Frut coordinates its own produce to the Univeg Group import companies and procures additional fruit for the Group. All fruit is traded with firm prices.
Univeg Cycle of Freshness
Freight Logistics signed as QXprophet client
As a logistical service provider to the perishable industry Freight Logistics use QXprophet to gain an edge over their competitors.
Feb 2007
Mooigezicht Estates signed as a QXprophet client
Mooigezicht Estates is a specialist grape producer, packer and exporter.
Jan 2007
Top Fruit Robotic Revolution With Prophet At Fruit First
Fruit First Ltd is a new independent venture bringing together fruit packing expertise from Great Cheveney Farms, Gaskains Packing Services,
Clockhouse Farms, Worldwide Fruit and Richard Hochfeld Limited.
£7 million is being invested to build a state of the art top fruit storage, grading, packing and distribution facility in Faversham, Kent.
A further £1.5 million is being invested by Fruit First Select Ltd in building a similar facility to handle grape, kiwi and stone fruit on the same site.
Grading equipment from Greefa and Marco Systems is being installed to take advantage of the latest grading and sorting technologies to provide customers with a highly efficient,
effective service. This technology will allow us to ensure that all produce exceeds the quality expectations of our customers while maximising the usage of the fruit and the returns to the grower. A fully automated pallet storage and handling facility is being installed by Univeyor which optimises the usage of space and handles all produce far more efficiently than traditional methods.
Sitting above all this technology will be a Prophet IT system.
This system will effectively control all movements within the site whilst providing management with real time information to allow efficiencies of operation to be maximised at all stages of the process. This will be the largest single investment in the UK top fruit industry for some years and provides us with a platform to provide our customers with improved quality and service whilst increasing efficiency and maximising crop usage and grower returns. The Fruit First Select facility was opened for business in April 2007 with Fruit First's packing operation to follow shortly after in July.
All facilities will be operational by August 2007.
Dec 2006
Prophet Plc Acquires Controlling Interest in South Africa’s 5Degrees
Prophet plc has announced the acquisition of a controlling interest in the leading South African Produce software specialist, 5Degrees.
The move signals Prophet’s decision to expand the reach of its software throughout the global supply chain for fresh produce.
The key directors of 5Degrees have been retained with Mr Paul Stofberg taking over the role as Managing Director of the new company which has been renamed Prophet Systems SA (Pty) Ltd.
Piet Engelbrecht Trust signed as a QXprophet client
The Piet Engelbrecht Trust is a specialist citrus producer, packer and exporter.
SA Fruit Brothers signed as QXprophet client
SA Fruit Brothers was founded in 2006 and as a specialist exporter they choose QXprophet as their preferred software solution.
Nov 2006
Flamingo UK Ltd Choose Prophet Pr2
Flamingo UK, the specialist imported vegetable arm of Flamingo Holdings,
have gone live on the Prophet Pr2 ERP system. Using it for all of the accounting and operational activities
including live stock and wireless scanning throughout their warehouse operations in Stevenage in Hertfordshire in the UK.
This is the second Prophet system in the group after Lingarden,
one of the largest suppliers of fresh cut flowers and bouquets, selected Prophet in 2004.
Oct 2006
Pr2 Mushrooms for Monaghan’s
Monaghan Mushrooms Europe’s largest mushroom supplier has signed a long term deal to use Pr2
throughout its extensive marketing, packing and distribution operations in both the UK and Ireland.
New Vision Fruit signed as a QXprophet client
Part of the Karsten Group of companies.
New Vision Fruit was established as the export and logistics arm of the Karsten Group, fulfilling the Group’s vision to control its own product.
Located in Durbanville, north of Cape Town, Pieter Karsten Jnr has build New Vision Fruit into a streamlined,
focus export and logistics company that can compete with the best around the world.
Karsten Farms Background
June 2006
NewFresh signed as QXprophet client
As a Joint Venture company between Freshworld and Newvision (Karsten).
Following the success of the QXprophet as the preferred solution for both Freshworld and Newvision it was the obvious choice for their new Joint Venture Company.
Apr 2006
Manor Fresh Limited choose Prophet’s Pr2 software for newly merged M & S vegetable dedicated supply business
Manor Fresh Limited who manage 100% of the fresh potato supply to Marks & Spencer and also supply a major share of their
fresh vegetable business, both conventional and organic, have selected the Pr2 ERP system from Prophet plc.
Jan 2006
Prophet to sponsor Re:Fresh conference 2006...
Prophet Plc announces it is proud to be sponsoring the Re:Fresh Conference for the
second year running as well as "Marketing Campaign of the Year Award"
which will be presented at the conference on May 11 2006 at the London Marriott Hotel.
Dec 2005
Norman Collett Ltd
English top fruit packer and distributor Norman Collett have selected the Pr2
ERP system from Prophet plc to replace their legacy system.
Having selected the software in the Spring of 2005, they went live in the summer
of 2005 prior to the move to their new state of the art premises in Paddock Wood in Kent in 2006.
Sept 2005
Norton Folgate Limited
Britiain’s leading independent cherry importer Norton Folgate has selected Pr2 from Prophet plc to replace their legacy
business system at its London offices. The company has decided to introduce not just the main ERP applications but also
a fully scanned warehouse to ensure it has complete traceability throughout its warehousing operations near Spalding in
Lincolnshire line in real time to its trading desks.
Aug 2005
Donnelly BWG Spar Distribution
BWG Spar Irelands fresh produce supplier, Donnelly’s, have selected Prophets Pr2
ERP solution to manage their distribution business
to the country’s 350 plus Euro Spar and the smaller local Spar convenience stores.
Mar 2005
Fresh Direct to revolutionise food service with Pr2 hand held scanning technology from Prophet...
After much searching for the right system and a careful look at the general software packages being offered,
one of the UK’s leading independent food service catering suppliers, Fresh Direct Ltd, has signed to replace its
existing Unix based systems with Pr2 from Prophet plc. As befits this very innovative company, the decision has
been made to adopt the live scanning software that is an integrated feature of Pr2, bringing all aspects of the
warehouse receiving, packing and picking online instructing operator instructions and achieving live data capture.
Jan 2005
Wilsons Country Ltd select Pr2...
Wilsons Country Ltd, Northern Ireland’s largest independent potato and speciality prepared fresh produce company
have selected Pr2 from Prophet plc. The company worked with a leading IT consultancy to evaluate all of the leading
systems available to the sector before settling on Pr2 because of its exact fit to the requirements of the trading and
manufacturing business and its incomparable flexibility, a key feature for any company going through the pains of fast
growth. The implementation process began in December and the company aims to be live in the Spring of 2005.
Jan 2005
Prophet to sponsor Re:Fresh conference 2005...
Prophet plc has signed up as the main sponsor for the Re:fresh Conference 2005.The software company, (which changed
its name from Blass plc this year), has decided to use the conference as a platform through which to communicate the
increasing importance of its Pr2 supply chain software to the fresh produce marketplace and the challenges that
it faces.
Managing director, Mark Peachey, told the Journal: "After six years of development, and a substantial investment in Microsoft
standard technology, Pr2’s significant gain in market share within the produce sector in the UK is having a substantial influence
on the way in which business is done and on the ability of companies to achieve least cost operations. Our growth reflects the
success of our customers. At this time, because of the pressure to find efficiencies to maintain margins, most fresh produce
companies are considering their software systems and more companies are in the market to change their systems than ever
before."
Peachey added: "Even now, many companies are being burned by going with systems that do not suit the challenges of fresh
produce, but understanding what a system has to do to give competitive advantage is very difficult. Distinguishing the
technology of Prophet software from the other software in the marketplace is imperative when many software companies
will say what it takes to get the business. We have to give everyone a chance to look below the marketing speak and at the
detail, and we have many small, medium and large fresh produce companies willing to share their experiences of live systems
and help us communicate our message.
We intend to use this year’s Re:fresh Conference as a focus over the next six months to speak to those key people throughout
the industry to ensure they understand why this next system change is the most important that they will make and why Pr2 is
their choice," said Peachey.
Dec 2004
Prophet Plc announce completion of new HQ premises
Prophet plc have announced the completion of its new purpose built HQ at Meriden Business Park, close to Birmingham
airport and the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham. The company, which will has grown by some 60% since 2003,
has invested in a state of the art building to house the ever burgeoning development and implementation teams for its Pr2
software and to provide more space for the company’s training centre.
Dec 2004
Milne Foods switch to Pr2
One of Ireland’s success stories. Milnes, a company that specialises in the manufacture of processed and prepared fresh
produce products, has upgraded its core back office and trading systems to Pr2 from Prophet plc. The move marks a period
of change for Milnes, who see the software as a platform for the implementation of the full live scanning and Materials
and Requisition Planning software available within Pr2.
Nov 2004
International Produce Ltd order new warehouse management system.
International Produce Ltd, the business formed from the amalgamation of Thames Fruit Ltd and the import division of English
Village Salads (a division of Geest plc) to supply imported produce to Asda, have selected Pr2 as their core system and have
signed up to implement the new automated warehouse of Pr2 into the existing warehouse operations in Kent and into their
new state of the art warehouse and packing facilities near Leeds in 2005.
Nov 2004
Richard Hochfield implement Prophet.
Leading supermarket top fruit supplier Richard Hochfeld Ltd have signed up to Prophet Plc’s Pr2 ERP solution. The company,
which operates from premises near Paddock Wood in Kent, has begun the implementation of the system after deciding to
update its systems in the summer of 2004 across all of the companies in the group.
Nov 2004
Dublin Meath Growers upgrade to Pr2.
One of Tesco’s key Irish suppliers, Dublin Meath Growers, a co-operative based in North Country Dublin, have upgraded
their back office, trading and warehouse systems to Prophet plc’s Pr2 software after almost a decade of use of a Unix
system following an extensive review of the systems available to the UK and Irish markets.
Oct 2004
Barfoots of Botley Ltd implement scanning.
The UK’s largest specialist fresh corn company, Barfoots, have implemented Pr2’s live scanning software into
their warehouse, packing and distribution facilities at their south coast site in the UK. This roll out was an extension
to their existing Pr2 system and was achieved using Psion Teklogix hand helds in eight weeks from the start of the
project.
Oct 2004
Direct Produce Supplies Plc choose Prophet for Planning and Quality Control.
Leading Tesco supplier, Direct Produce Supplies plc, have signed to extend their Pr2 system to manage their integrated
quality control data capture and analysis and sales forecasting and supplier requirements planning. This implementation
involves the use of hand held devices by the QA team with live quality status reporting internally and to suppliers and
accurate rotation date management at the third party sites used for packing and distribution and the trading team using
Pr2 to provide an integrated calculation of their inventory position and availability and their buying requirement for any
period forwards, allowing seasonal and live trading within the same integrated data.
Oct 2004
Sunking Flowers Limited opt for Pr2.
Sunking Flowers of Moulton in Lincolnshire, suppliers of fresh cut flowers and bouquets have signed to
change their systems to Prophet plc’s Pr2 to manage the trading, warehouse, production and back office accounting
for their business.
Sept 2004
Florimex (UK) Ltd switch from Navision to Pr2.
One of Europe’s leading flower importers, Florimex, has decided to switch from the Microsoft Navision software that they had
tried to implement into their specialist business and move to the Pr2 ERP software from Prophet plc. After some years of trying
to make the previous software fit, the managers at the UK business began to realise that industry knowledge and software
designed specifically for their business challenges was going to be essential for their continuing success.
Aug 2004
Kentish Garden Marketing Ltd move to Pr2 for live warehouse scanning.
The largest berry co-operative in the UK, Kentish Garden Marketing Limited, which represents over 70 growers and has a
turnover in excess of £100m, has changed to the Pr2 ERP system from Prophet plc for its main trading and accounting
functions and implemented the live scanning software into its warehouse and packing operations in Kent. The warehousing
implementation was commenced in August of 2004 and was live by the end of September.
July 2004
Lingarden Flowers go live on Pr2.
The fresh cut and bouquet divisions of Lingarden have gone live on Pr2 from Prophet plc. The roll out of the system began
with the Asda business unit and followed throughout the division eight weeks later. The businesses required complete control
of the stock used in the production process integrated to real time materials and resource. This was delivered using scanning
technology throughout. Given the substantial size of the business and the many and varied production processes, this was
no mean feat. Now the business has accurate real time control over what stock it has, what it has used, the true cost of what
it has produced and the vital analysis of wastage and its causes. And the software delivers to the buyers, instantaneous
information as to what needs to be bought by when.
June 2004
The Class Produce Group upgrade to Pr2.
Based in Jessup in Maryland, USA, the Class Group is one of the most respected names in fresh produce in the American
market. When the time came to consider changing systems after 8 years of using a Unix system based on proprietary
software, Dave King, the financial controller of the company, was clear that he wanted “flexibility”. After contracting the
American Express consulting division to help with the system selection, the team settled on upgrading their systems to Pr2
from Prophet plc. The group operates more than six divisions, from banana and tomato ripening and wholesale market
businesses to a logistics company and multiples distribution. The first companies went live on the SQL Server version of
Pr2 in 2003 and the rest followed this summer.
Feb 2004
Greencell Ltd chose Prophet and never looked back.
Greencell Ltd are a specialist supplier of product for the Waitrose and Ocado retail businesses and for processors and
wholesale markets in the UK, handling a range of products, most of which require high care and ripening. The company
operates from a main trading and back office site in London and a warehousing and packing site in Lincolnshire, as well as
using other third party distribution sites. The system was required to run both sites in real time, providing accurate stock
information at all times and the ability to sell live from stock. The ability for the warehouse and packing operations to use
scanning has provided this. A tall order but one that the Prophet staff were used to delivering. After a intense period of
training and live implementation, the business now enjoys true control, exploring the powerful analysis of their profitability
and how the system can help improve their margins.
Jan 2004
Donnellys upgrade to Pr2.
One of Ireland’s leading produce companies, Donnelly Fruit and Veg Limited, has upgraded from their existing Unix system
to the latest Pr2 software from Prophet plc. Donnelly’s have the exclusive rights to fresh produce into the Superquinn chain
and operate from a state of the art 80,000 sq ft facility with their own fleet of distribution vehicles, all now managed on Pr2.
Oct 2003
JO Sims Ltd go for Prophet.
Leading fruit importer for the multiples and for processors and agent supplier of berry products for Ocean Spray,
J O Sims Ltd , went live on Prophet plc’s Pr2 software solution this month. The company had been using a proprietary
Unix system for 10 years and went to the market to find the most configurable “Windows” based system running on
SQL Server with the closest fit to the businesses operated by Sims.
July 2003
Lingarden Onions implement "Live" Pr2.
Lingarden Onions, as well as their sister company, Veridian, have gone live on Prophet plc’s Pr2 ERP system with the integrated
scanning warehouse management system for all aspects of their operations including live scanning onto and off the production
lines. The system selection process pitted Pr2 against SAP for the first time and demonstrated the need for specialised
knowledge and experience in the sector to achieve real competitive advantage within a realistic budget. As a result the
company has moved away from a standard costs approach to management accounting as they have accurate actual cost
based management figures each day, week and month. The success of this first stage has ensured the roll out of the software
to the other division of the business.
June 2003
Tony Gagliano makes Milwaukee prophetable.
After many years of searching the globe for the right system, Tony Gagliano, CEO and owner of A Gagliano
and Sons Inc out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has selected to move his company’s distribution, packing and ripening
businesses to the Pr2 ERP system from Prophet plc. The move to change systems from the existing DOS based
proprietary software was made as part of Tony’s vision to have the very best and follows a decision in the previous
year to seek out an Irish based company for his new ripening facilities as he recognised that the expertise just wasn’t
available in the US.
June 2003
Geest QV Ltd made the grade.
Geest QV, the joint venture company between Geest plc and QV Foods Ltd to supply loose and packaged potato products
to Marks and Spencer plc, have updated their system to Pr2 from Prophet plc. The company was operating a series of stand
alone applications prior to this and has made the move to benefit from an integrated system. As well as this, they
automated data collection from the grading machinery and implemented a fully scanned processes throughout the
grading and packing operations. The company placed the order for the software in January 2003 and after extensive
enhancement to allow a more automated buyer settlement process as well as all of the integration of the grading equipment
and new RFID tag programming were delivered on time for the June live running.
Jan 2003
Hedon Salads upgrade to Pr2.
Hedon Salads, a leading supplier of salads to the major multiples has gone live on Pr2, the ERP and warehouse
management solution from Prophet plc. The company sources and supplies lettuce, peppers and tomatoes for the
major multiples, processors and food service companies from its main HQ on Humberside, operating its own growing
operations under glass in the area and importing to ensure year round supply.
