About Origin Fruit Direct
From their distribution center located in the Rotterdam harbor, Origin Fruit Direct (OFD) ships fruit to retailers and juice manufacturers in all of Europe. OFD is a specialized trader in grapes and citrus fruit, most of which they source from South Africa and Latin America.
The challenge: customer-specific labeling
“We work closely with our customers and growers,” explains Bert van Leeuwen, Account Manager at Origin Fruit Direct. “Our core values are transparency, reliability and quality. Together with the farm managers, we develop custom propositions for every retailer we do business with. It is important for OFD that our customers feels involved with the farms they source their products from. We work in a tightly knit and flexible team to offer our customers the best support and advice. By using this approach, our retail customers know exactly what they can expect,” explains Bert van Leeuwen, Account Manager at Origin Fruit Direct.
Tailored logistics
“We give our customers the option of purchasing products with customized labeling. That can be the original grower’s label, a neutral label or their own private label. We also offer our customers a range of different packaging options. Thanks to our dedicated packaging and warehouse facilities in Venlo, same-day delivery to for instance Southern Germany is definitely possible. Together with our logistics partners, we are able to deliver shipments quickly, which is one of the things our customers particularly appreciate.”, adds Charika Sundermeijer, Account Manager at Origin Fruit Direct.
Retailers require pallet labels
“This year, several European retailers approached us with the request to apply GS1-compliant labels to our pallets. On top of that, a number of customers asked for so-called box-end labels sporting the GS1 trade item number (GTIN). This was uncharted territory for us,” continues Bert van Leeuwen.
“After asking GS1 Nederland for advice, it became evident that GS1 labeling was a lot more complex than we thought. Through the Solution Provider Finder on the GS1 web site, we got in touch with a number of GS1 partner companies that could help us to take up this challenge.”
Working with Type 2 Solutions
“As a company, Type 2 Solutions appealed to us right from the start. Their result-driven approach and transparant pricing model made us feel comfortable right away. After a demo Type 2 Solutions gave at our offices, our choice for Palletlabel was clear.
As a GS1 Solution Provider, Type 2 Solutions has access to the global GS1 network. During the Palletlabel implementation, they first contacted our different retail customers and the GS1 chapters in their respective countries.
As a product, Palletlabel is very user-friendly. It is a smart web-based application that enables us to fulfill the specific labeling requirements of each of our retail customers. Type 2 Solutions maintains and hosts the solution, so that we do not have to worry about anything.”
The solution: palletlabel.com
Palletlabel offers affordable, simple and accessible GS1 SSCC labels for all types of business. A customized user environment on the web makes it easy to generate the GS1 trade item numbers (GTIN) that are needed on a box or a product label. Every recipient is identified by a unique GS1 location number (GLN). The combination of those two codes is the key to a correct GS1 pallet label, for which the web service automatically generates a Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC).
Judith de Witte, Sales & Marketing Manager at Type 2 Solutions, explains that “Besides the requirements related to GS1, every retailer has specific labeling requirements as to what information needs to appear on the label. For one retailer that might be the packaging date, for the other the expiration date and the order reference. Palletlabel handles these situation effortlessly: the appropriate label is generated based on the selected recipient GLN.”
The result: Customer-oriented approach
“With Palletlabel we are able to centrally manage all our information. We can see who generated what code or label, for which customer and at what time. This user-friendly and smart web application enables us to fulfill the specific labeling requirements that our retail clients have. Palletlabel nicely fits in our customer-oriented approach,” concludes Bert van Leeuwen.
Mediclabel for Confexion & JOYinCARE 
Webinar EDI and SSCC labels