A SOFTWARE firm has won a £500m contract to help a top spice company revolutionise its business across Europe.

Indigo Software, based in Durham, supplied two supply chain management solutions packages to McCormick, the company behind the Schwartz Spices brand.

McCormick has five manufacturing plants across Europe.

Indigo's two flagship applications, Javelin and Skep, are being used by more than 240 European organisations including Dairy Crest, Ring Group, Exel Logistics, Weetabix and Nestle.

McCormick has chosen Skep forecasting, planning and scheduling system, which will take a year to implement and involve a team of Indigo consultants working with the spice firm.

Peter McLane, Indigo's managing director, said: "To know that our systems are behind the leading spice brand in every supermarket across the UK is a real boost.

"Our 20 years of experience in the industry were brought to bear in helping McCormick define their requirements, and through the use of Skep, giving them a platform to significantly improve their overall supply chain."

Indigo won the contract on the strength of its IT package which helped co-ordinate a number of different facets of McCormick's business.

Tim Pymont, European logistics manager for McCormick, said: "We chose Indigo because of their tremendous knowledge and experience with SKEP together with out confidence in them delivering the right solution.

"We were also impressed by their ability to help us bring together the different information and physical processes, the staffing patterns and the needs of our diverse markets, into a cohesive solution that will give us a solid platform for the future."