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| System Highlights ! |
| We often get asked by owners and presidents who are not everyday users of the system, where they can find the key, high level information they need for making better business decisions. As part of each newsletter in 2011, we’ll share tips for getting the information you need. |
| Maximize Revenues and Avoid Missed Opportunities |
| Are you using your own trucks for deliveries? Take advantage of Minotaur’s routing abilities to maximize orders and ensure your trucks are full when driving a given route. The Route Missing report (Keystrokes IOEU) can be run for a pecific route and be used as a call sheet for your order desk. This report will show you all customers on a given route that have not placed orders as of a given date, giving you the |
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opportunity to call these customers and get additional orders. Since your trucks are driving the route anyway, why not ensure your trucks are full and maximize revenue. Route reports are available to assist you with managing the overall weight and number of deliveries on trucks. |
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| Short shipments lead to lost revenues, profits and potentially lost customers. A review of the Fill Rate Report (keystrokes IORAF) which can be run by item, customer or invoice, will highlight issues that need to be addressed. Ensure your top customers are being shipped what was ordered. Are you continually short shipping certain items? |
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| If so, utilizing minimum inventory quantities on the item master and Minotaur’s various inventory requirements reports may be the answer. |
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| Minotaur Welcomes New Customers |
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Bothwell Cheese Inc., located in New Bothwell, Manitoba, is a producer of award-winning quality cheese since 1936. Bothwell produces a variety of cheeses including, Gouda, Cheddar, Monteray Jack, Mozzarella as well as various specialty cheeses. Their product can be found at major retailers such as Sobeys and Loblaw or check out their online store at www.bothwellcheese.com |
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EZ Food Group, located in Scarborough, Ontario, caters to the needs of the Home Meal Replacement industry. They currently produce garlic spreads, chicken wings and chicken products for food service and private label. Their new state-of-the-art processing plant is a multi-line facility, that is both HACCP certified and Federally licensed. To learn more about their products or for information on co-packing, please call their broker, Gino Tomasi, at Bi-Mor Foods at
1 800 263 1964, or 1 905 903 3030. |
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE |
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Ontario Independent Meat Producer’s Finest Meat Competition |
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| Minotaur Customers Clean Up! |
This year’s event was held Saturday, March 5, 2011 at the OIMP 31st Annual Awards Banquet and Gala. Over 149 entries were submitted from 21 different meat possessors and Minotaur customers came out on top.
Competitors were judged across fourteen categories which included Side Bacon, Back Bacon, Coiled, Black Forest Ham, Bone In Ham, Cold Cuts, Beef/Veal Deli Roast, Poultry Deli Roast, Fermented Sausage, Premium Dry Cured, Fresh Sausage, Cooked and/or Smoked Sausage, Premium Wiener and Health Trends. Judges based their decisions on taste, aroma, texture, consumer and visual appeal. Awards were given to the top three entries for each category, and were based on the judges' combined score. |
| Halenda’s Fine Foods captured the highest overall score winning the 2011 Ron Usborne Award of Excellence. Halenda’s Fine Foods also won an additional ten awards, taking home platinum awards in Back Bacon, Fermented Sausage, Health Trends and Premium Dry Cured Categories. Drop by one of their retail locations and enjoy some fabulous products. Visit their website for various retail locations. www.halendasmeats.com/locations/index |
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| L’Orignal Packing Ltd. was recognized by the Ontario Independent Meat Processors for their 25-year OIMP membership. L’Orignal Packing is a wholesale meat distributor supplying fresh meats, poultry and deli products serving eastern Ontario since 1971. Visit their website for more information. www.lorignalpacking.ca/ |
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| Holly Park Meat Packers’s, Tony Facciolo, who was president of the OIMP for 2 terms, was presented a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the meat processing industry. Holly Park Meat Packers was also acknowledged for their 25-year OIMP membership. Holly Park Meat Packers operates an abattoir in Bolton, Ontario as well as a further processing facility in Cookstown, Ontario. Operating a farm, abattoir and further processing facility, Holly Park supplies beef, veal, white veal, lamb and bacon. Visit their website for more information. www.hollypark.ca |
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| Congratulations Minotaur Customers! |
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| Minotaur Participates in 2011 OnTraceability Conference |
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| Minotaur Software, as one of four OnTrace Verified Partners, participated in the 2011 OnTraceability Conference on Thursday April 7th in Cambridge, Ontario. Minotaur shared with attendees the benefits of a One System Approach to traceability and full business management. In addition, Minotaur through their partnering with OnTrace, was able to demonstrate integration between Minotaur Software’s ERP system and OnTrace’s Premise ID Registry; that is, the ability to seamlessly reach out from within a company’s business management system to retrieve information from an external system. Minotaur looks forward to future partnering projects as the direction of the Ontrace Verified Network unfolds. |
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Speakers from within the food industry met to discuss the future of Traceability in Canada from a variety of perspectives; producers, processers, inspectors, etc. Canadian chef and restaurant owner, Jamie Kennedy, enlightened the audience with a different perspective on traceability; that is, traceability tales to enhance the theatrical component of the dining out experience. Learn about the fisherman who caught your dinner!
Through an interactive panel session, conference attendees and speakers reinforced the idea that while government might be needed to initiate improved traceability among the masses, industry will be a very important driver in achieving compliance and demonstrating the many benefits to be gained. Panelists were in agreement that many business improvements can be realized as a by-product of traceability initiatives such as improved quality of products, lower cost of managing materials, increased access to foreign markets, improved business information in terms of manufacturing yields, costing and ultimately profitability of the company. |
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THE FIGHT AGAINST CHEQUE FRAUD CONTINUES |
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| More and more we are hearing about how companies are struggling with cheques going missing or being cashed by someone other than the intended payee. As mentioned in our January edition of the Maze, we have already offered payee match abilities, a flat file generated by your Minotaur system which is sent to your bank to verify who the cheques were issued to and the amount.
We are now pleased to offer yet another mechanism that will help avoid fraud and speed up the payment process. Minotaur now offers the ability to pay your suppliers through a clearing house, such as Travelex. For suppliers, rather then physically sending them a cheque, you can instead arrange for a clearing house to deposit funds directly to your supplier’s accounts.
All suppliers who have agreed to sign up with the clearing house would be flagged using one of the supplier type fields in the supplier master file. Payments are made by the user as they are today; except that the system will not print physical cheques for these suppliers. At the end of the day you can generate a file for all Travelex payments.
Take action and safeguard your cash. Call your bank and your Minotaur project manager for more information. |
| Generate Sales Reports Training-Level 1 |
| If you aren’t already writing your own sales reports on a regular basis, then this course is for you. Learn how to create your own sales reports quickly and easily.
Minotaur will be offering a 3 hour course which will explore User Generated Sales Reports using Minotaur’s report writing wizard. This level 1 course will take you through using filters and subtotals to create sales reports sorted how you want and displaying only the columns of information you need.
The course will be held on Tuesday June 14 from 9am to 12pm and is open to all Minotaur Users. The cost of the course is $100 per person. To register, please contact Shannan Andrews at 905-458-7575 Ext. 101 or email shannan@minotaursoftware.com. |
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At Minotaur we are always looking for ways to improve our user’s experience. Here are just a few of the changes you can expect to see with your next system build.
*2 Skipping: * 2 skipping is now available. Some of you may remember that in our old DOS version *2 description fields would automatically be skipped and the cursor would be placed in the next line. This allowed for quicker data entry. This feature is now available in MBS7. This feature is set by a system parameter, which can also be used to program additional skips for other *comment lines. Ask your Minotaur account manager for more information.
Numbers and Dollars formatting on reports: We are currently in the process of modifying all generic Minotaur reports so that numbers, and or dollar amounts will now have the comma separator. This is set by a parameter so you can choose whether to set it for numbers only, dollars only or both. This feature can also be added to your custom reports, ask your Minotaur account manager for a quote.
Amount Column on Invoice: Currently the invoice screen shows quantity and price with no extension. We have added a system parameter that will allow you to have an Amount column on the invoice screen. Ask your Minotaur account manager for more information on setting this parameter.
Read Only Fields: You asked for it, we delivered. Read only fields are now darker. The old grayed out read only fields are now easier to read.
We want to hear from you. Let us know of any special features you would like added to your Minotaur system.
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Find all the words in our spring crossword puzzle for your chance to win.
Solve our Spring time crossword and be eligible for your chance to win a $50 gift card to Canadian Tire.
In an effort to share winner’s photos with other Minotaur customers, please enter the contest only if you are comfortable submitting a photo. |
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Fax your entries to 905-458-5585 by May 17, 2011.
Name: _______________________ Company: _____________________ |
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| The information in this newsletter is provided to customers to use at their own risk. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice. |
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