How Vafo transformed their supply chain with Golden EDI
About Vafo
Vafo Sweden is a pet food company with their parent company based in the Czech Republic, operating in 90+ countries. Until March 2024, Vafo was a Swedish sister company of a Finnish company (Prima Pet Premium Oy, a part of VAFO Group) before establishing their own independent setup, with a tailored IT environment and business systems optimized for the Swedish market.
The challenge
When Vafo Sweden transitioned to their independent operation, they faced some efficiency challenges. Their warehouse system worked in complete isolation, requiring manual work that was both repetitive and time-consuming. Working with their 3PL partner DSV, every transaction required manual intervention, creating bottlenecks throughout their supply chain.
Vafo also needed to integrate their systems to communicate with major Swedish retailers including ICA, Coop, and Axfood, while also establishing connections with their external warehouse management system (Ongoing WMS).
Finding Golden EDI
Based on a recommendation from Fellowmind, their BC partner, Vafo chose Golden EDI to handle their integration needs. The decision was natural, as they wanted to maintain consistency with their existing partner network.
"Fellowmind recommended Golden EDI, and since they were already partners in Finland, it was a natural choice to keep everything aligned," says Jesper Ahlquist, COO at Vafo Sweden.
The implementation process
The project, which took nearly a year to complete, was delivered on time and within budget. Golden EDI worked closely with Vafo Sweden to ensure thorough testing and structured implementation.
"The process has worked really well. Golden EDI kept us within both time and budget. We received quick help whenever needed, and the response has been very positive internally," says Jesper Ahlquist.
They went from a setup where DSV handled most operations independently, to a more integrated approach requiring proper system usage and understanding.
Results and impact
The transformation has delivered benefits across multiple areas. Vafo Sweden has eliminated repetitive manual processes, reduced double work and errors, and freed up staff to focus on what is important. The integration between Ongoing and Business Central now enables automated transaction processing with multiple daily transactions and improved accuracy in order processing and inventory management.
"The people working in the systems have received this very well. They were involved from the beginning, and now they can spend more time on value-added work instead of manual, repetitive tasks," says Jean-Baptiste Mathey, Supply Chain Manager who joined the project in January 2025.
Vafo particularly appreciates Golden EDI's responsive support model.
"The support is 5/5 - they're directly on the case. For our biggest customers and any error messages, the support has been exceptional," says Jean-Baptiste.
Collaboration appreciation
“The collaboration was good and well-tested, with a lot of time spent on making sure that everything fell into place. Given that we're a smaller unit with limited resources, we needed the project to be as self-running as possible, and Golden EDI delivered exactly that. When your system provider has a partner that they recommend and trust, it becomes a natural choice – and the results speak for themselves,” says Jesper Ahlquist.
Vafo's and Golden EDI’s relation continues to evolve, with several areas of ongoing collaboration, focusing on maintaining and optimizing current integrations.
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