Thatchers Cider

Bringing the Thatchers vision to life

Thatchers Cider was established in 1904, when William Thatcher made his first batch for the staff working on his farm. Demand for his cider was such that, 115 years later Myrtle Farm is at the heart of a business employing over 200 people and selling into 22 countries worldwide. Thatchers remains a family-owned business. Their award-winning range of ciders are still matured in the original oak vats, which help to give the cider its distinguishing taste.

A solution for the future

In 2012, Thatchers decided that they had outgrown their existing system.  They needed a new solution to support their expansion plans. They set out to find a solution that could meet their specific needs as a beverage producer and enable them to drive increased automation and integration.  Thatchers selected TNP, who have a broad knowledge of the beverage industry, to implement Microsoft Dynamics NAV with beverage-specific add-on, Drink-IT. Functionality includes managing and coordinating vehicle deployment and monitoring the movements of excise goods.

Thatchers went live in 2013 and after a few years decided to upgrade to take advantage of some of the newly available functionality. Alongside this they deployed some on TNP’s own nHanced IP. 

Deep understanding

Ian Dorling, Head of IT at Thatchers, remarked that, “TNP have a deep understanding of the business processes within the cidermaking industry; this coupled with their expert knowledge of Drink-IT software were the deciding factors in the selection process. Since implementation, TNP have continued to work closely with us to optimise the solution as our business has grown and evolved, enabling us to digitise business processes and maximise efficiency”.

The quality of partnership between the companies is also apparent when speaking to TNP’s Director of Key Accounts, Paul Wellingham, who’s been with TNP since 2008. He agrees that they work well together, saying, “it’s a really strong and trusted relationship. Thatchers have one of our developers there almost every week. They use lots of our resources and we have taken their ideas on and jointly turned them into tools, sharing the cost. They are a clever bunch of guys and have demoed back things they have done with our nHanced tools that is very impressive”.

Ian said, “Our relationship with TNP extends beyond the IT system, they are an integral part of our business. Together we are driving digitisation to improve processes and maximise efficiency across the organisation. The breadth of interaction has delivered massive benefits and is bringing the Thatchers vision to life”.

Continued success

We love what Thatchers have done with the solution.  They are a great exemplar of what is possible when business systems are seen as strategic. Their success over the last 18 months has been a testament to the flexibility they built in. We look forward to continuing to work with the team at Myrtle Farm.

Cheers!

Learn more about ERP for the brewery and beverage industry and how we can offer one of the best solutions.