Every year, the list of software and technology companies that provide the product services food and beverage companies need to support the most productive and efficient supply gets longer. For the 12th consecutive year, Food Logistics surveyed software and technology companies that specialize in the unique challenges of the food and beverage supply chain to come up with this key industry resource. These are the companies whose products and service ensure efficient transportation and warehousing, minimize food waste, facilitate safe operations and assure regulatory compliance.
To see the entire list of FL100+ providers and their capabilities, click here.
Company: 3GTMS
Web site: 3gtms.com
Year founded: 2010
Number of employees: 75
Number of food/bev customers: 6
Solution name(s): 3G-TM
Worth noting: 3GTMS has identified the elimination of stock outs without carrying excess inventory as the biggest supply chain challenge facing the food and beverage industry. Hence, the company has addressed the complex optimization and rating for any size shipper, 3PL or larger broker. 3GTMS has noticed that over the last 15 years, the needs of food industry logistics professionals have changed immeasurably. What has also changed immeasurably, however, is the potential to apply technology to address customer needs. 3GTMS has designed its system to address companies looking to achieve higher service levels, lower freight costs or both.
Company: AFS Technologies, Inc.
Web site: afsi.com
Year founded: 1985
Number of employees: 500
Number of food/bev customers: 580
Solution name(s): Trade Promotion Management, Sales Intelligence, Warehouse Management Systems, ERP, Direct Store Delivery, Order Management Systems, Data Synchronization, Systems Integration
Worth noting: AFS believes its WMS is the only software available with single-scan traceability with GS1, GTIN and PTI to support inventory management and product recalls. The WMS also provides companies a foundation of best practices for receiving goods, put-away/flow-through, inventory management, order processing, replenishment, pick/pack, loading and shipping, in addition to improved labor management. WMS is part of an enterprise software suite including ERP, order management and data discovery that is purpose-built for food and beverage companies. This combination of capabilities streamlines key business processes, enables collaboration with partners and delivers visibility into the business.
Company: Allen Lund Company
Web site: allenlund.com
Year founded: 1976
Number of employees: 430
Number of food/bev customers: Not revealed.
Solution name(s): ALC Logistics, TMS
Worth noting: ALC offers a customized supply chain solution. The company takes every effort to ensure the solution fits the customer’s business needs. Multi-tenant applications can make a software provider’s life easier, but the customer has to work with what others are using. This is why many customers seek an in-house solution which they can customize. ALC provides a solution that overcomes the drawbacks of both in-house and multi-tenant systems. ALC seeks to provide best of both worlds.
Company: ARMADA
Web site: armada.net
Year founded: 1890
Number of employees: 400
Number of food/bev customers: Approximately 25
Solution name(s): 24TRACC
Worth noting: ARMADA created 24TRACC as a proprietary supply chain visibility and management application to provide insight into supply chain attributes with the ability to impact these attributes in order to maintain the health of the supply chains. The application is based on commercial integration and data warehousing platforms supporting both internal and external clients. It supports a multi-tenant paradigm and is provided through an SaaS model to clients and trading partners. Armada employs integration tools to support all modes of data transmission. These tools support antiquated batch environments as well as the preferred, real-time data transmission. They also facilitate the validation of the data into actionable information. The company’s integration platform is paired with a proprietary supply chain visibility platform that aggregates the collected data and provides information visualizations and actions to diagnose and remedy supply chain challenges.
Company: Avercast, LLC
Web site: avercast.com
Year founded: 2008
Number of employees: 63
Number of food/bev customers: 20-plus
Solution name(s): Avercast Business Forecasting, Avercast Supply Planning, Avercast Sales & Operations Planning, Avercast Rough Cut Capacity Planning, Avercast Retail Analysis
Worth noting: The forecasting engine is powered by 205 forecasting algorithms. The suite of supply chain forecasting and demand planning software solutions transcends the entire end-to-end value chain. Avercast automatically receives point of sale (POS) data from retailers, provides store-level product analysis, generates forecast (finished goods and bill of materials) based upon a variety of historical data points (POS data, demand history, sales orders, shipping history, bookings history, etc.), manages events and promotions, develops time-phased demand plans to execute the forecast, and shares net projected orders with suppliers/vendors or other trading partners over the web.
Company: Blue Horeshoe Solutions
Web site: bhsolutions.com
Year founded: 2001
Number of employees: 175
Number of food/bev customers: 32
Solution name(s): Supply Chain Suite for Dynamics AX
Worth noting: Blue Horseshoe designed and sold to Microsoft the new warehousing and transportation modules found within Dyanmics AX 2012 R3. The Dynamics AX space put the company in contact with top food and beverage distributors and provided an unmatched supply chain experience. Full visibility into the supply chain allows efficient movement, storage, retrieval and transportation. Blue Horeshoe believes its solution and experience can streamline one or all of these needs.
Company: CAMS Software
Web site: camspro.com
Year founded: 1998
Number of employees: 20
Number of food/bev customers: Not applicable (All are grocery wholesalers or retailers.)
Solution name(s): CAMS Prospero, CAMS Profiler, CAMS Professional, Backhaul Optimizer, Salvage Optimization, Tour Builder, Multi-Site Director
Worth noting: CAMS Software has become a leader in grocery transportation systems by listening to clients and understanding their business, then by providing products and services designed to assist in running the business more efficiently and more profitably. Whether it’s enterprise-wide visibility of transportation data or backhaul revenue optimization programs, or driver efficiency and incentive programs, or increased efficiency in transportation department, CAMS provides solutions to maximize customer investment in technology and gain a competitive advantage in an industry of razor-thin margins.
Company: CaseStack
Web site: casestack.com
Year founded: 1999
Number of employees: 250-plus
Number of food/bev customers: 500-plus
Solution name(s): NA.
Worth noting: CaseStack offers a customized procurement platform (EDI) for processing shipment-related transactions, quoting, shipping records, customized reports, demand planning tools and business analytics. Powerful dashboards allow users to slice, dice, and drill-down to discover trends. Robust data visualizations gives immediate insight into a customer’s supply chain. Real-time visibility technology is available 24/7 and accessible through standard web browsers, anywhere in the world.
Company: Cass Information Systems, Inc.
Web site: cassinfo.com
Year founded: 1906
Number of employees: 1,075
Number of food/bev customers: 25
Solution name(s): NA
Worth noting: Cass transportation expense management services assist in several areas. These include: Reducing expenses through an outsourced freight rating, audit, payment and business intelligence solutions; achieving processing efficiency through process automation such as increased use of EDI, on-line reporting, document and payment visibility, etc.; obtaining operational enhancements through tactical performance improvements and use of metrics; and decision support to aid in strategic planning and execution.
Company: Demand Management, Inc.
Web site: demandsolutions.com
Year founded: 1985
Number of employees: 28
Number of food/bev customers: 150
Solution name(s): Demand Solutions
Worth noting: The flagship product, DSX, is developed on single database, allowing for all relevant information to be readily available and support different integrated business planning maturity models. DSX’s ability to easily merge demand, supply, and financial information allows all levels within the organization time for data analysis, not data gathering. Companies are able to spot trends, develop actions plans to address trends, and measure the impact of implementing various options.
Company: ExtenData
Web site: extendata.com
Year founded: 2002
Number of employees: 25
Number of food/bev customers: 20
Solution name(s): MobileConductor Delivery Management System
Worth noting: ExtenData’s goal is to make its customer’s job easier. With that in mind, the company created a white paper that cuts through the “clutter and noise” of a very confusing and at times misleading market place. This white paper provides common definitions; a company and product “cheat” sheet, and a diagram explaining how all of the supply chain technologies work together. ExtenData believes its knowledge can simplify the process of finding and vetting the right software for supply chain needs.
Company: EXTOL International
Web site: extol.com
Year founded: 1989
Number of employees: 100
Number of food/bev customers: 110
Solution name(s): EXTOL Business Integrator (EBI)
Worth noting: EXTOL believes it provides a better integration experience and that it is ranked higher in customer satisfaction than any North American B2B technology vendor. Its solution does not require custom programming to implement or manage, or specialized skills to run. EXTOL integration solutions onboard new trading partners 50 percent (or more) faster than traditional methods. All integration solutions are built in-house (the company has not acquired or merged with other technologies) with direct influence from customers.
Company: Fleet Advantage
Web site: fleetadvantage.net
Year founded: 2008
Number of employees: 41
Number of food/bev customers: 18
Solution name(s): ATLAAS (Advanced Truck Lifecycle Analytic and Administrative Software)
Worth noting: Fleet Advantage is the only company providing the type of software and data analysis that it provides to its clients. The company is just scratching the surface on the amount of data intelligence and analysis that will become available in future versions of ATLAAS to assist clients in making logical, data-driven decisions that will drive the lowest cost of operations of their distribution fleet. Combining ATLAAS with the company’s financial acumen and industry expertise on truck specifications, utility cycles and cost containment make Fleet Advantage unique in the food service industry.
Company: IFS North America
Web site: ifsworld.com
Year founded: 1983
Number of employees: 2,700-plus
Number of food/bev customers: 88
Solution name(s): IFS Applications
Worth noting: Gartner Research has named IFS a leader in its Magic Quadrant for Single-Instance ERP for Project-Centric Midmarket Companies. IFS has also been named as a leader for its Enterprise Service Management solution in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management.
Company: Intesource, a PROACTIs company
Web site: intesource.com
Year founded: 1999
Number of employees: 27 Intesource, 110 Proactis
Number of food/bev customers: 20
Solution name(s): eSourcing as a Managed Service Offering, Contract Center (contract management), Vendor Management, Commodity Center (commodity tracking and history), Milestone Manager (project management)
Worth noting: Intesource offers the industry’s only enterprise-wide, unlimited, full-service eSourcing package. The company’s proven approach drives double-digit savings (18 percent, on average) without requiring additional staff or process overhauls – an approach that saves time and frees up staff to focus on strategic initiatives. Intesource believes the biggest challenge facing the food and beverage industry is supply chain continuity. Hence, it offers a proven approach to allow organizations to quickly collect pricing and information from multiple, vetted vendors. The company brings a history of success in challenging sourcing climates and expertise in both direct and indirect categories.
Company: Lean Logistics
Web site: leanlogistics.com
Year founded: 1999
Number of employees: 185
Number of food/bev customers: 40
Solution name(s): LeanTMS, Managed Transportation Services, LeanSource, LeanDEX, LeanGlobal
Worth noting: Transportation network intelligence is something that should be top of mind today. In order to improve cost and service, there is a need to have visibility into transparent data. Lean Logistics believes the data should be coming from a transportation network that is much broader than what is seen on a daily basis. A network provides a lens into the trends, metrics, outliers and warning signs. With a transparent SaaS network, a manager can run comparison studies, review best practices, provide predictive analysis and carrier health checks allowing for fact-base decisions to implement intelligent business processes and deploying continuous improvement strategies that teams can execute on.
Company: MercuryGate International Inc.
Web site: mercurygate.com
Year founded: 2000
Number of employees: 185
Number of food/bev customers: 20
Solution name(s): MercuryGate TMS, Mojo, Carma, MercuryProcure, Mercury Fleet
Worth noting: MercuryGate offers the industry’s only cloud-based, single-platform, omni-modal transportation management system. Companies of all sizes quickly locate capacity, select carriers and rates, and significantly reduce their transportation spend. Using any mode of transportation, shippers and LSPs optimize 100 percent of domestic and international shipments. The TMS offers rapid deployment of an easy-to-use and configurable system in any language, currency or unit of measure. Service companies leverage the TMS to support their 3PL, brokerage, or freight forwarding business – or all three.
Company: NCR Corp.
Web site: ncr.com
Year founded: 1884
Number of employees: 26,000-plus
Number of food/bev customers: 500 (1,000-plus sites)
Solution name(s): Power Enterprise, Power Warehouse, Power+ Purchasing, Power Analyzer, Power Data Staging, Power+ MDM, Power OMB, Power Sell, Power Net, Power Mobile, Power Delivery, Power Dock, Power Yard, Power Transportation, Power DAX, Power HQ, Power Inventory, Retail ONE
Worth noting: NCR Corp. solutions have a unique focus on food, and a proven track record of 30-plus years helping companies ensure accurate inventory, fresh and traceable products, strategic pricing and real-time data access across the supply chain. The company’s logistics portfolio optimizes operations within the warehouse enroute with reduced labor requirements, fewer miles driven, and efficient inventory movement at every step. NCR’s CRM solutions drive customer engagement, increase average orders and provide a unified customer experience across channels. NCR’s enterprise solutions provide demand-driven inventory replenishment, proper data governance, and actionable business insights. The company helps businesses better interact with vendors, customers, and associates – providing transparency, accuracy and efficiency for complex supply chains.
Company: NECS, Inc.
Web site: necs.com
Year founded: 1987
Number of employees: 25
Number of food/bev customers: 1,500
Solution name(s): entrée food distribution software
Worth noting: NECS’ entrée ERP software solution includes everything a food distributor needs to be successful. The most recent software introduction is an interface with the Anoto Digital Pen which will save food distributors invoice paper costs and organizes money collections from customers.
Company: Omnitracs
Web site: omnitracs.com
Year founded: 1983
Number of employees: 1,000
Number of food/bev customers: 1,800
Solution name(s): Omnitracs Roadnet Transportation Suite
Worth noting: Omnitracs offers a unified suite of solutions for fleets with a broad variety of operational profiles and technology and service needs. Omnitracs Roadnet Transportation Suite is a flagship routing, planning and delivery solution that represents a core component of Omnitracs’ unified product and business strategy. The company delivers a comprehensive suite of solutions based on the collective strength of its varied expertise, continuous innovation, drive to revolutionize the transportation industry, and ability to deliver best-in-class solutions to customers.
Company: Optricity
Web site: optricity.com
Year founded: 2005
Number of employees: 11
Number of food/bev customers: 25
Solution name(s): OptiSlot DC, Slotting Optimization Software
Worth noting: Optricity leaders bring 30-plus years’ experience leading workplace optimization software companies. They drive market awareness and promote innovation by sharing thought leadership via published whitepapers, speaking at conferences and serving as a resource to trade media. OptiSlot DC utilizes combinatorial and deterministic algorithms to achieve true optimization. Holding patented and patent-pending optimization processes, Optricity demonstrates intellectual capital and innovation. The company’s ability to modify the math to fit the problem demonstrates that the underpinning mathematics of OptiSlot are based on research while the software design promotes use in real distribution environment applications.
Company: ORBCOMM
Web site: orbcomm.com
Year founded: 2001
Number of employees: 400-plus
Number of food/bev customers: 300-plus
Solution name(s): ReeferTrak, ColdChainView, Carrier Datacold
Worth noting: ORBCOMM has a leading position in the transportation of temperature-sensitive cargo for the food industry. In North America, ORBCOMM solutions are used by 90 percent of the fleets with refrigerated tracking services. In Europe and Asia, ORBCOMM is a leading supplier of temperature compliance recording systems for the safe and secure transportation of food throughout the supply chain. The combined global experience and presence enables ORBCOMM to provide food logistic providers access to expertise, experience and knowledge not found in other companies.
Company: Plug Power Inc.
Web site: plugpower.com
Year founded: 1996
Number of employees: 300-plus
Number of food/bev customers: 14
Solution name(s): GenDrive, GenFuel, GenKey
Worth noting: Walmart, Newark Farmer’s Market, Kroger, Golden State Foods – all have high-volume distribution operations and all have adopted GenKey hydrogen fuel cell technology for their fork lift truck fleets. GenKey is an important advance in the industry since it offers a dramatically simplified path to a cost-effective, complete hydrogen fuel cell system. With GenKey, customers have a single-source vendor to enable a smooth transition away from traditional power sources to hydrogen fuel cell power solutions that make sense economically, operationally and sustainably.
Company: Printronix
Web site: printronix.com
Year founded: 1974
Number of employees: 360
Number of food/bev customers: 500
Solution name(s): Printronix T8000, Printronix T4M/SL4M, Printronix T2N, Printronix M4L2, Online Data Validation (ODV™), Print Cart, PrintNet Enterprise
Worth noting: Printronix has been serving global food and beverage companies reliable printing solutions for over 40 years. Its barcode label printers withstand cold operating temperatures, GS1 industry label compliance and high-volume printing requirements. Its exclusive online Data Validator solution ensures real-time label quality assurance and traceability and provides real-time supply chain information required by FSMA and other food safety compliance regulations. The combination of verifying and capturing barcode label output and easily uploading into the ERP system for traceability compliance delivers significant benefits to customers.
Company: Retrotech, Inc.
Web site: retrotech.com
Year founded: 1985
Number of employees: 155
Number of food/bev customers: 59% of clients
Solution name(s): Retrotech WCS/WCS+
Worth noting: Retrotech offerings are primarily in Linux/Unix operating systems to deliver WCS/WCS+ because of its robustness in both stability and performance. The company’s warehouse control system (WCS) can unify and manage all automation control throughout the facility, regardless of the OEM and it works extremely well in an environment with a mix of old and new technology.
Company: SafetyChain Software, Inc.
Web site: safetychain.com
Year founded: 2011
Number of employees: 100-plus
Number of food/bev customers: 100-plus
Solution name(s): SafetyChain for Food Suite, SafetyChain Supplier Compliance, SafetyChain Food Safety Management, SafetyChain Food Quality Management, SafetyChain Regulatory/GFSI Compliance & Audit Management, SafetyChain Mobile
Worth noting: SafetyChain provides a complete FSQA solution in one integrated platform and has powerful mobile applications for anywhere, anytime FSQA. Its solutions go far beyond document management for audit readiness; they actually automate management of food safety plans to help pass audits by ensuring that programs, such as GFSI, are carried out to plan.
Company: Safeway Management Group, Inc.
Web site: smgsafety.com
Year founded: 2004
Number of employees: 14
Number of food/bev customers: 48
Solution name(s): Quality Management Systems
Worth noting: Safeway Management Group’s system has tools for streamlining processes, conducting assessments, identifying root causes and documenting corrective action, which leads to continuous improvement for compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and limiting food safety risk exposures that come from a lack of quality control processes.
Company: Schaefer Systems International
Web site: ssi-schaefer.us
Year founded: 1937
Number of employees: Close to 10,000
Number of food/bev customers: Not available.
Solution name(s): WAMAS
Worth noting: Schaefer Systems International believes it is important for software to keep up with internal logistic trends. The company’s software is continually developed with new functionalities and is upgradeable, providing customers investment security, low maintenance costs, optimal system support and sustainable savings.
Company: Seagull Scientific
Web site: seagullscientific.com
Year founded: 1985
Number of employees: 130
Number of food/bev customers: 4,000
Solution name(s): BarTender by Seagull Scientific
Worth noting: In 2015, AIM, the global industry association that connects auto ID and mobility manufacturers, standards organizations, sellers and users, relied on Seagull Scientific’s leadership and expertise as the organization convened its first food and beverage industry committee. The AIM Global Food and Beverage Track and Trace Committee’s mandate is outreach, educating the global food industry about how automation technology can be used to enable regulatory compliance, and to gain supply chain efficiencies. The committee includes representatives from food producers and processors, GS1 and technology providers, and is chaired by a representative of Seagull Scientific.
Company: Sensitech Inc.
Web site: sensitech.com
Year founded: 1990
Number of employees: 950
Number of food/bev customers: 25,000
Solution name(s): TempTale(R), ColdStream(R)
Worth noting: Real-time visibility that meets the demands of complex, global supply chains has become a major industry concern. A complete integrated solution – hardware, software, data analysis – backed by 25 years of cold chain expertise makes a difference in meeting this concern. Data security assurance can be provided by controlled-user access, PDF download for regulatory compliance, and private cloud data storage. Flexible notifications enable supply chain partners to act immediately. Sensitech supports a culture of continuous improvement for every supply chain partner.
Company: Supply Chain Services
Web site: supplychainservices.com
Year founded: 2002
Number of employees: 49
Number of food/bev customers: 197
Solution name(s): Zebra Technologies, Honeywell Scanning and Mobility, JLT, Datalogic, Advantech DLOG, Panasonic, Cisco, Aruba, Ruckus
Worth noting: Supply Chain Services has received awards from Motorola Solutions, Datamax-O’Neil and Twin City Business for exceptional performance. The company has also been a contributor to trade publications. For the past five years, the company has grown by double-digits, with a CAGR of 23 percent, in an industry growing at 4 percent.
Company: Technology Group International, Ltd.
Web site: tgiltd.com
Year founded: 1990
Number of employees: 30-plus
Number of food/bev customers: 400-plus
Solution name(s): Enterprise 21 ERP
Worth noting: TGI is a unique organization in the ERP industry in that Enterprise 21 ERP is developed, sold, implemented, and subsequently supported directly by TGI. No sales, implementation, software development, and/or technical support services are outsourced to third-party companies or sent offshore. This allows customers to have a single point of contact and partnership with their software provider for all of their software development, implementation, training, and business process consulting needs.
Company: The Raymond Corporation
Web site: raymondcorp.com
Year founded: 1922
Number of employees: 1,622
Number of food/bev customers: NA
Solution name(s): iWAREHOUSE GATEWAY, CustomCare, ACR System
Worth noting: Raymond’s iWAREHOUSE fleet management system contains two solutions tailored to a business’ needs, iWAREHOUSE Essential and iWAREHOUSE Enterprise. These solutions combine fleet efficiency, warehouse optimization and professional services. iWAREHOUSE Essential provides access control and compliance and monitors and collects lift truck and operator data in real-time, allowing warehouse managers to increase visibility of assets and labor. iWAREHOUSE Enterprise turns collected asset and labor information into actionable data that helps warehouse managers identify opportunities for fleet and warehouse optimization. The solution integrates with select labor management systems to help increase productivity and reduce operating costs.
Company: Transplace
Web site: transplace.com
Year founded: 2000
Number of employees: 1,234
Number of food/bev customers: 17
Solution name(s): iWAREHOUSE GATEWAY, CustomCare, ACR System
Worth noting: Transplace provides a variety of offerings and flexible solutions based on customer's unique requirements, desires and strategies. The company’s focus on North America transportation management services, aligned with its core verticals including CPG, retail and industrial manufacturing, is also perceived as a meaningful and sustainable differentiator compared to those that have a broader market focus. Transplace’s other supporting business units also provide value to customers who use the technology platform to operationalize their logistics networks.
Company: Transportation Insight
Web site: transportationinsight.com
Year founded: 1999
Number of employees: 400
Number of food/bev customers: 32
Solution name(s): Technology-Driven End-to-End Supply Chain Solutions
Worth noting: Transportation Insight is one of the largest and most experienced full-service 3PLs in North America, delivering custom logistics solutions to more than 1,000 corporate clients. Its service and technology offerings span domestic transportation, international logistics, and warehousing — creating end-to-end supply chain solutions. The company provides carrier sourcing, logistics-related cost reduction, a web-based transportation management system (TMS), freight bill audit and payment services, and supply chain analytics and business intelligence reporting. The company’s consulting services create winning solutions for clients — maximizing profits, improving customer service, enhancing visibility and gaining more supply chain control.
Company: VAI
Web site: vai.net
Year founded: 1978
Number of employees: 153
Number of food/bev customers: 40
Solution name(s): S2K Enterprise for Food
Worth noting: VAI is a two-time winner of the IBM Beacon Award, recognized for the Most Innovative "Built On IBM Express Portfolio" Solution and for Outstanding Solution for Midsize Businesses. Selected by leading industry influencers and IBM executives from among hundreds of nominations, IBM's Beacon Awards recognize a select number of IBM Business Partners who have demonstrated business excellence in delivering IBM-based solutions resulting in client transformation and business growth.
Company: Wolters Kluwer Transport Services
Web site: transwide.com
Year founded: 2000
Number of employees: 250-plus
Number of food/bev customers: 38
Solution name(s): Transwide TMS
Worth noting: 2015 marked the opening of the company’s newest regional sales and support office in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as well as its first implementation in sub-Saharan Africa. This extended the company’s global deployment footprint and capabilities to 225-plus companies in 80-plus countries across five continents and in 13 languages.
