Case Study - Calder Foods

Working in the food manufacturing industry is a 24/7 time critical business which places unique demands on the IT capabilities of production lines and site operations.

It’s crucial that innovative and market leading companies such as Calder Foods stay ahead of the game by ensuring they have resilient server infrastructure and appropriate systems back up solutions.

That’s precisely why the Carlisle based company turned to Smart IT when their existing arrangements started to let them down. It resulted in a major piece of infrastructure support, working in tandem with Ronnie Auld from Software Options. Both are now playing a key role in overseeing Calder Foods’ day to day IT requirements across six production lines and shifts.

“Our rationale for change was the increasing number of IT glitches with our servers and software which basically wasn’t doing what it should,” explains Nicola Chandler from Calder Foods.

“We had issues with slowness and errors creeping in, coupled with a lack of appropriate IT support to fix the problems. The kit was basically not up to the job of handling our data and we needed high quality advice to move us forward quickly.

“Smart IT came in like a breath of fresh air. They immediately recognised the importance of our automated technology and the need to secure the integrity of our production lines with a more resilient data centre and disaster recovery system.

” With Ronnie and Nicola at the helm, Smart IT’s support now covers Calder Food’s entire network, looking after their virtual servers, back up systems and disaster recovery planning to help keep production lines running. It allows the company to focus on delivering fresh food to major clients countrywide - from marinades, sandwich fillings and salads to mayonnaise, sauces and dips.

Nicola adds: “Smart IT takes a real interest in helping our business run smoothly – theirs is a collaborative, partnership approach with Ronnie and I, and they look to nurture client relationships and move forward with us as we continually seek to protect our IT assets.

“Nothing is too much trouble for them and someone is always there on the other end of the phone to help. It can save us a huge amount of time and hassle when we know they are there in the background to manage and monitor our IT systems and production lines.”