Revolutionizing Supply Chain Management with the KeHE Connect Platform
Download PDFOverview
As one of the largest organic and natural food distributors in the United States, KeHE's growth was putting significant strain on legacy technology systems. The compounding risk of an aging IT workforce and less market-available technology skills, as well as the increasing need for robust and user friendly systems to keep scale with the business demanded that KeHE make a change. KeHE sought out experts in software engineering and architecture to design a bespoke solution, seeing this opportunity as a future competitive advantage in the marketplace. A forward thinking vision on data visibility, stakeholder collaboration, and end to end business process automation is what led KeHE to work with MadeLabs staff.
About KeHE
KeHE Distributors, headquartered in Naperville, IL, is a leading organic and natural food distribution company, boasting an annual revenue of approximately $10 billion. KeHE Distributors is one of the nation's top wholesale food distributors with 18 distribution centers across North America. KeHE helps natural & organic, specialty and fresh brands get onto retail shelves and online for sale across thousands of grocery stores. KeHE has grown significantly since COVID both organically and through strategic acquisitions. It is paramount that the dedication and innovation of over 6,800 employee-owners is not inhibited by a complex technical environment with several legacy and disparate systems.
Outcomes Snapshot:
- $2B/year retailer digital platform and growing
- Lowered supplier onboarding time by 30%
- Master data management with single source of truth shared by retailers, suppliers, and employees
- Extensible data integrations to critical systems throughout KeHE
- Reduced labor costs
The Challenge
KeHE needed to handle rapid growth while maintaining industry leading fill rates and without adding significant headcount. Without changes to the technology strategy, KeHE's growth could have been its downfall.
The Solution
A modernization initiative was established to provide a secure and user-friendly platform for all stakeholders, including retailers, suppliers, and internal staff, to interact with KeHE's systems. This solution streamlines core processes such as procurement, sales, and shipping, while increasing revenue, decreasing costs, and improving transparency throughout the supply chain.
In collaboration with MadeLabs staff, a modernization initiative was undertaken to provide a secure and user-friendly platform for all stakeholders that interact with KeHE's systems including retailers, suppliers, and internal staff. The collective system is called the Connect Platform. This solution comprised purpose-built portals for retailers (Connect Retailer), suppliers (Connect Supplier), and internal staff (Connect Enterprise). Connect Retailer facilitates product discovery, purchasing, and access to invoices, while Connect Supplier streamlines supplier onboarding and provides analytics on brand performance. Connect Enterprise serves as a back-office solution for securely accessing transactional and master data. The entire system is governed by a comprehensive set of APIs, ensuring scalability and seamless integration to their technology ecosystem and participating partners.
Conclusion
The collaboration between KeHE and MadeLabs staff exemplifies how innovative technology solutions can revolutionize supply chain management, amplify competitiveness in the industry, and ultimately drive business growth, profitability and value. If you would like to learn more about how MadeLabs can help your organization, please contact us to set up an appointment.