Background

This client has specialized in the manufacture & distributing delicious juice drinks from exotic fruits for over 30 years. The client approached Sage to find a developer & integrator and were introduced to introduced Technology Partners Ltd, a Sage Strategic Partner and expert in ERP for Food & Beverage industry.

ERP, MRP & BI

The brief was to deliver an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system with an integrated MRP system (Materials Requirement Planning) as well as planning and managing accounts, sales & CRM, stock, warehousing and labour. After a detailed scope of works exercise, Technology Partners (TPL) developed and delivered the following integrated systems:

MRP (Materials Requirements Planning)

A full materials requirement and stock management system, including:

• An automated manufacturing process – Upon receiving a sales order, the Sage MRP system keeps the recipes for each line. It calculates the raw materials required such as fruit pulp, water & packaging.
• Importing of the existing stock of raw materials and finished product are included in the planning
• The system then calculates machine time, labour and all other manufacturing requirements and generates delivery dates for all orders and customers.
• The system also holds details of expiry dates, batches numbers and stock locations using warehousing management systems.

Sales automation

TPL developed the ERP for Food & Beverage industry system to automate the sales process, including:

• Managing quotations
• Sales orders & Purchase orders
• Integration into the accounts system
• A field sales App using Microsoft Power Apps
• Works orders are run on completed sales each night directly into the MRP system

Microsoft Power Business Intelligence

Technology Partners Ltd were one of the first companies in the UK to roll out the Microsoft Power BI™ technology. By using AI to query the databases in the ERP, MRP & Accounts systems, TPL developed a series of reports using Power BI as well as a fields sales App using the Power App module.

Reporting

One of the most powerful features of Power BI is the ability to deliver live reporting across a range of bespoke criteria. TPL developed a series of individual reports and dashboards, both at the executive summary level and at a more granular level. These included:

• Overall sales reports and manufacturing reports
• Sales reports by region
• Sales reports by product line and region
• Reports direct from the till system at each store by product line and the ability to compare each stores performance.
• The reports can be run in real-time, from any location on any device.

The Food & Beverages App

Using Power Apps, TPL developed a field sales app. The App allowed salespeople to enter sales order directly into the Sage 1000 and the MRP, ERP & accounts systems. Salespeople can now complete sales in the field, delivering greater efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The ability to automate, plan, recommend and report the entire business operation on one system has had enormous benefits to RFP. Greater efficiency across a whole range of business operations has saved time and money and increased RFP profit levels. The ability to accurately plan and deliver orders on time and budget has built trust among retailers across the globe.

The ability for seniors at RFP to monitor the entire business operation from anywhere, at any time, on any device has enabled better business decisions to be made by key personnel by using accurate live data. RFP now have a fully integrated sales, manufacturing, warehousing stock and accounts system the ability to monitor all aspects of the business in real-time.