CAS has played a vital role in supporting Agristo’s export markets, which generate 98% of the company’s revenue. It has served as a valuable information hub, helping the company achieve AEO certification and facilitating smoother movement of goods internationally. Additionally, CAS has enhanced the efficiency of Agristo’s customer service department by significantly reducing the need for constant communication with the shipping department and the hassle of emailing invoices and packing lists to customs brokers.
“CAS helps us support our rapidly expanding export operations. We are realising significant improvements in the time-critical export shipment process. With the investment in our Wielsbeke plant, we have increased our capacity by 50%. CAS helps the shipping department keep pace with our growth and realise bottom-line customs duty savings”, said Carmen Wallays, Supply Chain Director at Agristo.
Over time, Agristo has transitioned to managing approximately 90% of its standard operational flows through CAS. This change has allowed the company to free up time to explore opportunities to shift from an operational to a tactical approach to customs. Additionally, it has transformed the company’s relationship with customs agents.
“Before CAS, customs knowledge within Agristo was limited, so we engaged one of our customs agents to assist us. This allowed us to move from a transactional process with them to a tactical collaboration, focusing on sharing knowledge and entrusting more complex flows to this customs agent. While some might assume that automation requires significant resources, with CAS managing 90% of our operational customs flows, we’ve been able to streamline our processes without the need for additional headcount”, explained Stefanie Decaluwé, Customs Project and Process Manager at Agristo.
