Aptean Food & Beverage ERP Case Study: Joseph Gallo Farms

In 1946, Joseph E. Gallo realized his dairy business dream with the official founding of Joseph Gallo Farms. As the operation expanded, it grew to own 25,000 heifers and 25,000 bulls and is now one of the largest dairy operations in the world. Seeing a natural progression into cheese-making, the business opened its first manufacturing plant in 1982.

Joseph Gallo Farms quickly established itself as an industry visionary, becoming the first American cheese maker granted approval by the U.S. government to label its products as containing no artificial hormones. This forward-thinking approach hasn't compromised quality—its jack, mozzarella, provolone and assorted cheddars have garnered over 160 awards and accolades in the past decade alone. Joseph Farms' acclaimed cheeses are enjoyed across the United States, Mexico and around the world.

The Challenge

Understanding the importance of software in maintaining the company’s standards of excellence, the people at Joseph Gallo Farms were no strangers to the enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools that bring all areas of business together under one platform.

In 2005, the company worked with a version of Microsoft’s ERP, Dynamics NAV. However, as the years passed, the NAV version the company was using became increasingly outdated to the point where Microsoft no longer supported it.

In 2023, the IT and management teams began to look for an upgrade due to following reasons:

• Current software solutions became increasingly outdated

• Operations lagging when it came to modern technology

The Solution

When it came to the software itself, Joseph Gallo Farms did not have to search far. Because the people at Joseph Gallo Farms had been comfortable with the Microsoft Dynamics application and knew that the solution was intuitive and flexible, it was only logical that they would continue to work with it.

The real search was on the service side. Joseph Gallo Farms had grown dissatisfied with its existing software provider, and wanted to find an organization that would be able to meet its commitment to improving processes and staying up to date. And so, the company turned to Aptean.

With more than 30 years of experience implementing ERP solutions for food processors, manufacturers and distributors, Aptean, along with its food ERP built upon Microsoft Dynamics, Aptean Food & Beverage ERP, immediately impressed Joseph Gallo Farms, with its industry expertise and commitment to doing the right thing for its customers.

“With Aptean, it was clear we found an organization with expertise, both in terms of the food industry and in terms of consultancy and best practices,” Pete Lundrigan, Director of IT and Automation and Jospeh Gallo Farms commented. “There was a great connection with Aptean. They genuinely care and have always been responsive to our needs and requests.”

The Results

Joseph Gallo Farms has benefited greatly from the integrated nature of Aptean Food & Beverage ERP; while the software stretches across all areas of business, everything remains part of one solution, with the data that is recorded in one particular area influencing activities and transactions elsewhere in the environment. This presents users with what is sometimes referred to as “a single version of the truth.”

• Leveraging out-of-the-box features specifically designed for food companies

• Mobile solution, allowing users to record information via hand-held devices

• Increased efficiencies in other areas of the business

Aptean Food & Beverage ERP’s license plating capabilities allowed Joseph Gallo Farms to obtain tight control and visibility of warehouse contents. License plating allows users to define pallets and their contents and track them throughout the warehouse—significantly streamlining warehouse moment activities.

Possibly the most significant improvement to performing warehouse activities was the implementation of Aptean’s Mobile solution, which allows users to record information via mobile hand-held units. By implementing mobile devices with barcode scanning capabilities, Joseph Gallo Farms gave their users the ability to capture data from the warehouse floor in real-time, ensuring instantaneous, error-free updates to the available quantity and location of their items.

Additionally, Aptean Food & Beverage ERP’s catch weight feature is essential to Joseph Gallo Farms. This feature allowed the recording of exact weights on variable weight items. This weight is recorded alongside a primary unit of measure, making it possible to simultaneously maintain an item according to two different units. In practice, this allows Joseph Gallo Farms to produce, move and sell cheese by the block but price each block according to its exact weight.

Joseph Gallo Farms has also taken tremendous advantage of the Power BI capabilities, producing informative reports and dashboards that allow managers in all business areas to see critical data in real time and make necessary business decisions. The company has also deployed Aptean’s electronic data interchange (EDI) application, significantly reducing the time between receiving a customer’s purchase order and its conversion to a sales order.

The benefits to Joseph Gallo Farms extend beyond the obvious improvements brought about by its new modern ERP system, however. As a result of the evaluation of the business during the implementation, Joseph Gallo Farms has worked together with Aptean to improve processes in areas that have nothing to do with software, be it the execution of new procedures or finding more efficient ways to do things.

Regardless of what changes and projects lie down the road, Joseph Gallo Farms can rest easy knowing that, in Aptean, they have a software solution and a business partner that will allow the company to reach its goals.

Ready To Unlock the Potential of Your Food Business?

Our purpose-built food ERP is jam-packed with specialized features designed to conquer the unique challenges of your business—from food traceability and allergen tracking to catch weight and grower management.

These food-specific capabilities, combined with the expertise of our in-house teams and our cloud-native platform help you future-proof your food business—enhancing efficiency, boosting performance and increasing profitability.

Plus, to complete your digital transformation journey, we have a full software ecosystem of complementary solutions including product lifecycle management (PLM) software, transportation management systems (TMS), and business intelligence (BI) tools.

So, if you’re ready to enhance your operation get in touch with our team of food industry experts today to get more information or arrange a software demonstration.