Johannesburg, 29 Jun 2005
Leading Mauritian business, the Food & Allied Group of Companies, has implemented Softline Enterprise's Sage Line 500 Business Management Solution (BMS) to boost efficiencies and assist in increasing market share in its core business areas.
The deployment is in line with the group's belief and commitment to use leading technology throughout its business to gain maximum competitive advantage.
"Softline Enterprise's Sage Line 500 offers all the advantages of a traditional ERP solution as well as tight financial control with full visibility of costs and powerful reporting tools," says Ashley Ellington, Director: Africa Softline Enterprise.
"It includes an evaluation of market trends, assisting customers to make informed strategic decisions and manage cash flow through close budget control and efficient purchase requisitioning. It also supports international business with multi-language, multi-currency, multi-company features."
New Edge Solutions, an IT supplier within the Food and Allied Group, was selected to carry out the massive Sage Line 500 deployment across group businesses as diverse as poultry production, KFC franchising, animal feed production, dairy processing, some of the most prestigious hotels in Mauritius, shipping and advertising.
According to New Edge Solutions managing director Bernard Koenig, the company underwent a significant change before deployment, bolstering its competencies specifically around Sage Line 500. The project, which began in 2003, is still under way as the solution is being implemented throughout group companies, one at a time.
"New Edge Solutions has already integrated a weighbridge system, an animal feed formula builder and a front-end freight clearing and forwarding system using Sage Line 500 - demonstrating the breadth of the deployment and the multi-faceted nature of the roll-out," says Koenig.
"We're also working to interface with a poultry management system, handheld devices for warehouse management, logistics, distribution and CRM."
The Food and Allied Group is expecting to see real competitive advantages through the deployment of Sage Line 500, which will be translated into capturing a greater share of the poultry market, for example. It is also expected to enhance levels of service provided by the group of companies.
"We are already seeing benefits in the manufacturing area where production has increased and the deliveries of finished goods and receipt of raw materials around the weighbridge system have increased substantially," says Koenig.
"Additionally, we are enjoying advantages of using a single application throughout the group despite the fact that the various businesses within the group are so diverse. There are commonalities within the supply chain itself, and it is vital that we get a similar view on all the information."
Koenig says the real return on investment will be realised once the supply chain management aspect of Sage Line 500 (EDI) is in place between the various business units of the Food & Allied Group.
"This coupled with business intelligence will be the icing on the cake," he concludes.
Share