Success story · Sage X3 ERPAgua Sierra Cazorla
Agua Sierra Cazorla is one of the leading mineral water bottlers in Spain. Its production plant is located in the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y las Villas Natural Park, in the province of Jaén, one of the largest protected areas in Europe and declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1983. It bottles natural mineral water and has developed a wide range of functional drinks with water as their base, which it distributes in Spain and in other parts of the world.
When a company grows, the systems it started with stop being enough. At Sierra Cazorla, the increase in activity made it necessary to consider a more advanced technology environment, able to support the organization’s new needs and to integrate invoicing and distribution, which were carried out at different sites.
The key was not just changing software, but gaining a global view of the business, controlling the process and improving the relationship with customers and suppliers. This was the challenge facing Sierra Cazorla.
Situation
Growth that called for integrated systems
The company’s bottling activity began in 2001. As revenue grew, complications arose: in the early days they did not have powerful IT systems and worked with other programs, supported by office tools and with hardly any integration, since invoicing and distribution took place at different sites.
Although they were quality solutions, they did not provide a global view of the company or of customer and supplier management.
In short, we realized that we were losing perspective on the business: we lacked agility and reliability in managing our processes.
What the company needed
The main challenge was to integrate all the IT systems, achieving product traceability while improving the agility and reliability of process management. These were the four starting needs:
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Integrating the IT systems
They worked with other programs, supported by office tools, with hardly any integration.
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Meeting the demands of large customers
Large customers such as Carrefour, Alcampo and Makro demanded an EDI system, and most of the management was done manually.
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Increasing control of the process
As an agri-food industry, they needed traceability for their products and to integrate the different areas of the process.
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Greater agility and reliability
The information was biased, unreliable and, in many cases, arrived too late.
The company works with several sales channels (small distributors, the horeca channel and large retailers) and must meet information-exchange requirements, such as invoices, orders or delivery notes, through an EDI system.
Solution
Sage X3 to manage the whole organization
The company analyzed the market and compared different vendors. After examining their functionality and its own needs, it chose Sage X3, with PKF Attest as its partner. The deciding factors were ease of use, complete functionality out of the box (production, logistics, finance), less time and less consulting investment to implement it, its ability to integrate with customers via EDI, and the flexibility to accommodate its particularities without disproportionate development costs.
Confidence in the partner also counted: PKF Attest had worked with Sage since 2002 and had the backing of the vendor, who supported the company throughout the process. PKF Attest presented the solution, analyzed its needs and provided a very complete requirements document.
It was undoubtedly the best solution for our business and it met the organization’s requirements.
Solution implemented
Sage X3, enterprise management ERP
- Accounting
- Sales and purchasing
- Warehouse management
- Production
- CRM
- Document exchange with customers via EDI
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Benefits
More efficiency, more information and a better relationship with customers
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A 20% increase in administration efficiency
The new platform has increased the efficiency of the administration department by 20%.
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Two sites in sync
Madrid (finance department) and Jaén (plant, invoicing and distribution) work in sync. Previously, invoices were sent by fax and entered manually.
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Real-time information
Improvements in unpaid-invoice management, customer and fixed-asset control, invoicing, accounting and bank reconciliation, plus forecasts based on orders and delivery notes.
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A better relationship with customers
They can meet their customers’ information-exchange requirements via EDI, which improves communication and the company’s image.
Thanks to its implementation with Sage X3, we have reduced delivery times by more than 15%.
Future projects
According to the vendor’s document, the company planned to extend use of the platform as needed: integrating a recently created small trading company into the ERP and launching Sage XRT, already implemented, to improve bank reconciliation.
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