Founded 85 years ago in the small town of Ashton in South Africa’s Western Cape, Langeberg Foods is one of the world’s great deciduous fruit canneries. The business processes roughly 70,000 tonnes of deciduous fruits each season, primarily apricots, peaches, apples, pears and guavas, packing them into cans and drums and exporting 80% of output to more than 35 countries worldwide.
The facility is among the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, stretching across two factories with a river dividing them. With roughly 4,000 employees at peak season, mostly seasonal workers drawn from the surrounding Langeberg region, Langeberg Foods is more than a food manufacturer. In Ashton, a town of 15,000 people, it is the economic engine of the community.
In October 2025, the business entered a new chapter. Previously owned by Tiger Brands, Langeberg Foods was acquired by a consortium of farmers backed by Norfund, a Norwegian government investment fund focused on sustainable economic upliftment. A young management team, all experienced executives who had left JSE-listed companies, took the reins with a clear North Star: honour our heritage, and grow our future.
The season went live without major incident. For a business that had never had integrated scanning and warehouse management, the step-change in how operations are run is already visible across the factory floor.
The most tangible example is the receiving and transfer process. Previously, product coming off the line would be labelled manually, a forklift driver would stack a pallet, and the movement would be captured in an admin office. A process that could take up to two days for a complete cycle. Today, the same process runs in a matter of hours, all handled electronically via scan at the point of receipt and transfer.
The scanning process does more than save time. Full traceability, the year of production, the batch, the line, is now captured electronically from the moment product comes off the line. This matters enormously for BRC compliance, quality assurance, and recall preparedness. In a sector where buyer quality teams are growing and traceability requirements are tightening, having an electronic audit trail is not optional.
Beyond specific processes, the broader benefit is one of confidence and visibility. A management team that took over a business with no systems in place can now see what is happening across a complex, high-volume operation in real time.
The partnership with the implementation team was equally central to the project’s success. Based in Ashton for the duration of the implementation, S Consulting brought hands-on knowledge of both the platform and the industry.
The timing could hardly have been more demanding. The new owners took over on 1 October with no bank account, no ERP system, and an immovable deadline: the first fruit of the new season, apricots, arrives in late November.
The business faced pressures on multiple fronts. Food processing at this scale is working-capital intensive: the cost of cans, fruit, and labour is paid upfront, product moves into the warehouse, and revenue only flows back over the following 12 months. On top of that, the business is exposed to a range of uncontrollables – currency fluctuations, port delays, global supply and demand – that cannot be managed away. What can be controlled must be executed to a high standard.
Prior to the transition, IT infrastructure was dated and off-boarded entirely from the previous owner’s systems. There was no ERP in place, no scanning capability, and no warehouse management. Receiving, stock movements, production recording, and traceability were all handled manually. A paper-heavy, labour-intensive approach that carried significant risk at the volumes Langeberg Foods operates.
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