Quartet Solutions has won a consulting contract against two competitors to implement a customised SAP R/3 and APO (advanced planner and optimiser) supply chain management solution for Distell's primary production processes.
Distell Group Limited is a JSE Securities Exchange-listed South African alcoholic beverage company. The company makes wines that vary from low price bulk to the expensive icon wines, liqueurs and fruit based ciders, as well as distilled spirits such as brandies and whiskies.
Distell previously implemented SAP software, but avoided the primary areas due to the complexity of the environment and the poor fit to standard business processes. Instability and lack of support for the legacy system, however, resulted in the need for a revised solution that can handle the intricacies of the Distell supply chain and cater for future growth.
After a strict evaluation process, Distell engaged Quartet Solutions to design a SAP R/3 and APO solution that could meet challenges such as tracking product from the vineyard to the bottle, planning in a very unpredictable environment, managing all work in process in the different tanks by alcohol content and volume, ensure accurate excise records are kept, as well as to properly track the usage of approximately 120 000 barrels.
According to Hubertus von Petersdorff, director at Quartet, a conceptual design was completed in just two months to prove that a solution was possible using the SAP software. This was followed up by a detail business blueprint, and the project is on track to go live on time and within budget in July 2004. "The solution needed Quartet's consultants to display original thought leadership and to transform what were literally out-the-box innovations into due processes that would tackle all the Distell complexities," he says.
"The Quartet solution delivers technology that will enhance Distell's business processes and improve the company's competitiveness, translating into noticeable benefits to the bottom line," von Petersdorff says.
Share
Editorial contacts