Qlik Cloud empowers food manufacturer Whitworths

Whitworths has been a Qlik customer since 2014 when they started using QlikView, implemented by Qlik partner Catalyst BI. This was Whitworths’ initial deployment of data analytics, and the company benefited from improved production planning, scheduling, and inventory control across its operations.

Whitworths has now taken the next step in its data journey by moving to Qlik Cloud for more advanced analytics capabilities. The move to cloud analytics will play a key role in Whitworths’ continued innovation as it embarks on its journey towards Active Intelligence, where continuous intelligence with context-rich, real-time analytics will proactively offer information for action in the business moment. This move is enabling Whitworths with the ability to:

• Offer consistent access to real-time information. Storing data across multiple locations was hindering decision-making for Whitworths’ manufacturing operations team. Now, Qlik Cloud ensures everyone has access to a single, up-to-date, and accurate version of the truth regarding performance and inventory levels, providing clarity from the manufacturing floor to the boardroom.

• Empower teams with the latest innovations in analytics. Qlik Cloud will enable Whitworths to rapidly deploy advanced features as soon as they are launched. These new capabilities will enable them to introduce inventory alerts, real-time updates on shipping and delivery, and mobile analytics putting information into the right hands of its teams in a timely way.

• Reduce infrastructure and maintenance costs, thanks to the cloud-based subscription service model which can be consumed anywhere, so analytics can run and scaled throughout the business more efficiently.

• Embed a data-driven and data-literate culture across Whitworths by democratizing access to insights in the decision-making moment, ensuring it is innovating in the face of today’s fast-moving manufacturing industry and unpredictable supply chains.

Further planned expansion of the project will see Whitworths leveraging predictive analytics technology by tapping into historical data to better forecast manufacturing and industry trends. The company also hopes to develop more collaborative dashboards for effective visualization, reporting and joined-up decision-making and to create an analytics command centre in factories so that everyone can understand the data picture in real-time.

“Here at Whitworths, we go to great lengths to source and select the finest ingredients to fulfil our purpose to help everyone eat a little healthier every day,” said Phil Gowland, Commercial Director at Whitworths. “We are proud to be widely recognized and trusted by our working partners, international suppliers, and by millions of consumers, and we have big ambitions to continue our journey of growth.”

“Armed with Qlik Cloud, we are moving closer to becoming a truly data-driven organisation, where our teams take informed actions to drive real business outcomes,” said Jason Simpson, Business Analyst at Whitworths. “Qlik is helping us make strategic decisions across the business; from informing our decisions on when to move the manufacturing of goods to the UK or Turkey, to empowering us to pool inventory and increase volume we can offer retailers during critical times via real-time stock reporting.”

“Global supply chains have been massively disrupted over the last 18 months – and this is still ongoing. In this challenging climate, there’s an ongoing need for manufacturers to prioritize agility, and data must underpin this for commercial teams to feel empowered to anticipate and support their customers’ needs,” said Adam Mayer, Senior Manager at Qlik. “That’s why we’re delighted to support Whitworths as it embraces the real-time, business-ready analytics that Cloud offers, so that it can stay one step ahead to provide the best possible service, no matter what disruption occurs.”