Case Study: Ottawa Food Bank achieves accurate inventory, efficient order picking and automated reporting with Blue Link Associates Limited

Ottawa Food Bank - Customer Case Study

The Ottawa Food Bank, founded in 1984 and now the second largest in Canada, handles about 12 tons of food a day and supplies 140 Member Agencies to feed roughly 48,000 people a month. Rapid growth exposed operational problems: inaccurate warehouse inventory, manual pen-and-paper picking and receiving, no way to distinguish donated versus purchased stock, and an inability to generate reliable reports for its volunteer board.

To address this, the Food Bank implemented Blue Link’s integrated ERP with wireless barcode scanning, set up codes and order templates to track donated versus purchased items, and automated reporting. The result was real-time inventory accuracy, faster and more efficient picking and receiving, elimination of manual data entry, and monthly reports for stakeholders — improvements Gary McCarthy describes as transformative, enabled in part by a Trillium Foundation grant.

Ottawa Food Bank

Gary McCarthy

Operations Manager