Alcoholic Beverages Company: SAP-Based ERP Solution

Accenture helped a leading global alcoholic beverages company successfully deploy a new SAP-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in North America. This implementation now provides the company with more accurate product planning, inventory management, customer order allocation and visibility throughout its supply chain.

To facilitate product planning and gain transparency throughout its supply chain, the company identified the need for a new ERP system to help meet its current information, finance and performance, and supply chain management needs. In 2009, the company set about deploying an SAP-based ERP solution for its operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. However, the systems integrator originally selected by the company failed to deploy the needed ERP solution.

This stalled its plan for new systems integration within a tight time frame. The alcoholic beverages company turned to Accenture to bring the ERP implementation project back on course.

Accenture took over the project in May 2011. Our team of skilled professionals:

• Created a new deployment plan using a streamlined design, build, test and full deployment methodology.
  
  
• Reviewed, adapted and processed the work done by the previous vendor in less than four weeks.
  
  
• Collaborated with the company to establish the strong commitment required for making changes involved in moving to the SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) 6.0 solution.
  
  
• Assessed all existing business objects and functionality and then redesigned, rebuilt and retested the ERP system. To help confirm a successful rollout to nearly 2,100 users, Accenture put into place effective change management, project management and cutover procedures.
  
  
• Deployed a new radio frequency (RF) barcode scanning suite—for improved product tracking during shipping, inventory management and warehousing—to hundreds of users across three countries, using both legacy and new equipment. This step activated RF scanning as a new function at the company’s facilities in Canada.
  
  
• Created a global template that helped connect warehouses by using common functionality.
  
  

This SAP implementation also allowed the conception and roll out of finance and controlling shared services to the company’s North American operations.

The project team consisted of members from various geographies, and leveraged a competitive cost strategy and 24/7 delivery schedule. This concept was extended to production support, where the solution was extended to dedicated teams in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the Philippines for ongoing system maintenance and enhancements.

Accenture has helped the client successfully deploy the new SAP ECC system in the United States, Canada and Mexico in six months.

• This implementation provides the company with accurate product planning, inventory management, customer order allocation capabilities and improved visibility throughout the supply chain—providing improved services to its customers.
  
  
• By enhancing inventory visibility, third-party integration and RF scanning, the warehouse management module of this project has increased the information available to the business.
  
  
• This SAP implementation also allows global batch management to fully manage production and distribution warehouse throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.
  
  
• Accenture’s SAP delivery model maximizes delivery efficiencies of higher speed, lower costs and reduced risk while enabling more predictable, repeatable and reliable service, and boosting productivity.
  
  

When the alcoholic beverages company deploys this SAP-based solution to all its divisions, the full benefits of a global system will be realized. These include gains in supply-chain efficiency and reports; improved transportation cost analytics and savings; and increased efficiency within the warehouse using the SAP RF scanning solution.