Full transcript
La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe: film transcript, translated from French
La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
It handles anything from 50 parcels a day to 1,000 without difficulty, which is hugely valuable.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
The company started in 1974, and we produce organic vegetable, flower and herb seeds. We have sold by mail order ever since, first through a print catalog and then, gradually, through a website. Today we sell online.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
We moved to Anjou, and now we grow on this eleven-hectare site. You can see the production tunnels behind us. Everything happens here: growing, seed packing, packaging and preparing customer orders. We deliver across France and elsewhere in Europe on a smaller scale.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
We have a very broad catalog, with more than 1,200 varieties.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
We grow more than 5,000 square meters under cover and three hectares outdoors.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
Our production facility is next door, which is convenient, and it’s a separate warehouse in myFulfillment. Once the plants are well rooted and ready, we can take orders and ship them. We create a warehouse transfer, or an order between our own locations, to move them from one to the other. The plants you see here will soon move into sales stock, ready to ship.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
myFulfillment gave us solid control over our inventory, our shipping in waves and our purchasing.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
In this building, we have our 1,200 seed varieties, with one bin for each SKU. Orders land in our order system, then come into Boostmyshop, that is, myFulfillment. We set rules so we can release orders at the pace we want. We work in batches, or pools of orders, which we call waves, and process them eight at a time.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
Rules let us separate different types of order, such as orders containing only seeds. We told Boostmyshop to build batches, or waves, made up only of seed orders. That means we can set off with a small cart that takes up less room, because seed packets do not usually take up much space.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
Eight orders are involved. We follow the pick path: one item from A32, one from A53 and two from A98, for example. I collect them, then sort them. The A32 item goes into bin two and the A53 item into bin seven. Each bin matches a customer order.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
All our packets are barcoded, so we scan them. At the end, the label prints automatically. We know these orders may be packets only, which makes it simpler. Boostmyshop adds the tracking number right away and sends it back to our order system, which passes it on to the customer.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
We used to spend time preparing a large order, then the check took just as long. Now we put a large order into one bin and check it as we prepare it. We do not have to go back over it, which saves close to half the time.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
With eight orders on one cart, there is still a risk of mixing them up. At this stage, we want to keep checking every bin. The tool replaces the paper and gives us the tracking information and pick path. If the sales team changes something, you do not have to search through sheets of paper. The update is there straight away, which is useful too.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
It fully meets our seasonal needs and handles volumes that vary considerably. I see no slowdown whether we have 40 parcels, or 40 orders, in a day or 500. The system stays stable. It lets me keep tight control of inventory, which is extremely important, and it connects very well to Shopify, the system we use today.
Arnaud Darsonval
Managing director, La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe
I spend very little time trying to figure out how to improve Boostmyshop because it’s not the part that causes me trouble. It’s the part that takes work off my plate. It meets my need to ship quickly, keep tight control of inventory and run our checks, with less paper over time, and handhelds to manage it all.