At Harvest House, connecting applications now works as smoothly as snapping Lego bricks together. Using Azure Integration Services, the growers' cooperative has created a platform that speeds up growth and innovation. "You want to be able to act the moment the strategy demands it, without first having to launch a major IT project," says René van Tatenhove, CFO of Harvest House, in conversation with HSO. "IT shouldn't slow things down, it should accelerate them."
With the integration platform in place, Harvest House can respond immediately to opportunities in new markets, without delays. "Whether it's a retailer in France or a supermarket chain in Eastern Europe, we're ready to deliver exactly what each customer and market is asking for."
Together with HSO, Harvest House has built a strong digital foundation across three interconnected platforms: communication, data, and application development.
One striking example of success comes from their pepper packing lines. Flowpacked peppers must meet a minimum weight. In the past, Harvest House played it safe by adding a margin, but that safety net came at a cost. Now, thanks to the integration platform, the packaging line runs on Power BI data combined with an AI model. The algorithm ensures a far more efficient mix in each bag, landing as close to the minimum as possible without going under.
The strategy for rolling out these kinds of innovations is to start small and let the results do the talking. "We began with a one-week pilot," René recalls. "The improvement was immediate. After that, we extended it to several weeks. Now the system runs year-round, and we expect to see a higher margin per flowpack."
Source: HSO
