What are "Activity Worksheets"

The “Activity Worksheets” can be used by Food Distributors and Manufacturers to help manage various operational activities such as Order Processing, Inventory Control, Routing and Manufacturing. If you are currently performing these activities manually, the FREE worksheets we are providing will be very useful. If you are already using Excel or other software to manage your operations, feel free to request our worksheets to compare.

CLICK HERE: REQUEST EXCEL WORKSHEETS

Operational Activity Worksheets

Many organizations that feel they are too small to implement WinFDS are still using manual processes or generating their own worksheets. As it has always been our mandate to help ALL Food Distributors and Manufacturers with their daily operational challenges, we have created a series of templates and worksheets that can be used FREE of charge. Although we are confident that these templates and worksheets will help solve many of the daily operational challenges of a Food Distributor or Manufacturer, they cannot replace all the built-in functionality provided by “WinFDS”.

Through our many years of experience, we have determined that operational activities in Food Distribution or Manufacturing companies can be broken into five main categories. Therefore, we will be creating worksheets for these activities.

• Customer Ordering Activities
• Delivering Order Activities
• Inventory Control Activities
• Manufacturing Activities
• Food Recall Planning

The worksheets can be used by themselves or with current Excel worksheets that you are already using.

Customer Ordering Activities

“Customer Ordering Activities” are those functions performed within an organization that are related directly to managing your Customers' needs. As an example Customer Ordering Activities include:

• receiving an order
• managing the price of products
• knowing when each Customer is expected to order, and
• knowing what the Customer previously ordered

When we considered the needs of Customer’s and how those needs related to the activities that are performed within an organization, we determined the best way to categorize them would be to call them “Customer Ordering Activities”. If you take a look at what is required to manage your Customer, you will find the following:

• What do Customer’s need to help them place their order? (Order Form)
• How do you make sure that your Customer’s place their order when expected? (Calling Schedule)
• How do you make sure that your Customer’s get contacted? (Calling Schedule)
• How do you make sure that your Customer is ordering the right product? (Purchase History)
• How do you make sure that your Customer gets charged the right price? (Product Price Levels)
• Do your “Order Takers” know what the Customer purchased in the past? (Purchase History)
• Can your “Order Takers” process a Customer Order quickly and accurately? (Purchase History)
• How do you know what the Customer Ordered? (Customer Order)

We created five (5) worksheets for yor convenience:

• Product Price Levels
• Calling Schedule
• Order Form
• Purchase History
• Customer Order

Delivering Orders Activities

Once an order is received, having the order filled and delivered with accuracy and efficiency is the next step. If an order is received but the picking and/or delivery process fails, Customer satisfaction will be poor and there is the potential for your Customer’s to search for another distributor. Delivery activities such as accurate transfer of the order to the warehouse for picking or efficient delivery of the order to the Customer are all “Delivering Orders Activities”. With the use of the “Delivering Orders Activities” worksheets, your company will be able to transfer orders to the warehouse and manage the delivery of the Customers’ order.

Inventory Control Activities

Sales and delivery of orders are activities that generate profits for your company. Ensuring there is enough inventory of your products to sell to your Customer’s and managing how much inventory investment you have in your warehouse is what we call “Inventory Control Activities”. As an example, purchasing products, receiving goods into your warehouse and Inventory Management are all “Inventory Control Activities”. These activities relate directly to supporting the sales activities and ensuring there is product to sell when it is needed.

Manufacturing Activities

Although manufacturing is an extension of making sure there is enough inventory to sell, there are specific activities that must be performed to ensure you are managing your production properly. We call these “Manufacturing Activities”. As an example, scheduling of production, managing what raw materials were used and how much finished goods were produced are all activities that must be managed properly in a production facility. These activities relate directly to production or “Manufacturing Activities”.

Food Recall Planning

As food traceability and being able to properly manage a food recall are required by the FDA in the US and CFIA in Canada, having the ability to track products as they are received or manufactured and then knowing where they have been shipped to is not just a necessity, it’s the law. Activities such as knowing what raw material lot number is used in a specific finished good or knowing what to do and who is responsible to take action if a recall is activated are just a couple processes that our “Food Recall Planning” templates will help you achieve.

WinFDS® is a registered trademark of Food Decision Software Inc.