Van Sales System Selection for Major Irish Dairy Co-Op

Project Summary : IT Systems Selection Process for a New Van Sales Solution

Future Project spend : Confidential

Business case : Confidential

Business Sponsor : Business Development Director

Customers Included : M&S, Henderson

Client Website : https://lakeland.ie

Lacpatrick Dairies is now part of Lakeland Dairies following a merger in 2019, which is now the second largest dairy processor on the island of Ireland with a cross-border milk pool of 1.8bn litres, produced by 3,200 farms from a catchment area covering 16 counties. The co-operative has a combined annual turnover in excess of €1bn.

As part of a wider business development plan, further investment in process and system is planned, and one area identified for focus is the Van Sales Distribution network, which currently has 3 operations based out of Lakeland, Town of Monaghan, and Lacpatrick.

Several existing van sales solutions are already in place, but given these are due for an upgrade, the timing was right for an independent assessment of potential future solutions.

The shortlisted suppliers included both existing incumbents and potential new suppliers.

In my role as Consultant, I was able to use a carefully structured selection process to help guide the busy Lakeland & Lacpatrick team to a decision they could have confidence in, despite the short 4 week timescale.  The works included…

• Creation of RFI documentation for circulation to suppliers
• Creation of systems requirements specification and scoring matrix
• Shortlisting and liaison with suppliers
• Attendance at supplier interviews to ensure consistency
• Working with the wider Lacpatrick & Lakeland teams to rate and score each supplier in a consistent and inclusive way
• Documentation and creation of results pack for board review, standardising assessments to a “like by like” basis
  • Vendor evaluation
  • Systems evaluation
  • Costs evaluation
• Provision of documentation capturing risks and issues to feed into any future system deployment.