In a very competitive FMCG market it is hard to function without automating some operations. Our customers have remarked on the following aspects:

Different names of the same merchandise

Problem: Large customers and suppliers often force their contractors to place orders or issue invoices according to their own product indexes.

Example: AKA is a cosmetics supplier. It purchases products from domestic and foreign manufacturers but sells them both to wholesale stores and chain customers. With a great deal of effort the company has established its own base of product indexes which is clear and comprehensible to the employees. Unfortunately, each trade chain has got its own index base, which significantly differs from the name scheme adopted by AKA. Moreover, there is a growing tendency among suppliers to demand that all the orders should be placed according to their own, very often expressed in foreign languages, indexes. AKA employees devote more and more time not to winning new orders, but to registering an order or an invoice in the sales system in the correct way.

Problem Solution: in the SAP Business One system it is possible to enter any number of additional names for each product. The additional names are associated with a given supplier or customer, and on the contractor’s card we specify whether on the trade document there should be only our index or also the index given by the contractor, or maybe the system should place a bar code next to the roduct.

Electronic documents

Problem: Customers and suppliers often force their contractors to place orders or issue trade documents and forward them in an electronic form.

Example: More and more frequently AKA faces contractors’ demands to make it possible for them to place orders in the electronic form and is asked to generate trade documents in this form. It is partly successful thanks to the update versions of the existing warehouse software applied by the company. Unfortunately, in the market a few formats of data transfer are applied. What makes things worse is that new versions of the warehouse software come out from time to time and they have to be updated on a regular basis.

Problem Solution: SAP Business One is prepared for an electronic exchange of data. It is an open system to such an extent that it may be connected to any EDI system, and what makes it interesting is that it will allow loading documents, e.g. Excel files.

Additional advantage: the electronic exchange of data is a futuristic solution for the reason that, among others, it offers an opportunity to reduce the copying of data from one source to another (a fax machine, a computer), and, consequently, minimizes the risk of the employee’s mistake. Moreover, it reduces the time spent on processing each order.

Merchandise Register

Problem: Quality standards established by companies make thorough inspection of each lot of merchandise necessary. It applies both to the manufacturer (because of the quality standards) and to the suppliers (the shelf-life date register, promotional packages register).

Example: In its product line AKA has mainly got merchandise with extended shelf-life dates. In this connection, for a long period of time the company has not paid special attention to the dates placed on the packages. However, it turned out at some time that in the Polish market there are two suppliers of the same cream. The point is that one is a company operating only in the Polish market, whereas the other one is a large international ‘‘player.’’ And it is the latter one that in the Polish market started offering creams, with shelf-life date approaching expiration date, at extremely reduced prices. Because of the considerable difference in the prices, AKA has decided to purchase a part of its merchandise from this supplier. At that point of time the shelf-life date register became of crucial importance because, not only in theory but in practice as well, the merchandise with a shorter shelf-life date should leave the warehouse first. It turned out that both the traders found it difficult to remember which merchandise has shorter shelf-life dates and the warehousemen lost a lot of time processing the order looking for a given batch of merchandise all over the warehouse. In this way, the money saved thanks to lower purchase prices was wasted on the sales procedures.

Problem Solution: SAP Business One makes it possible to register the number/ the name of the merchandise batch, its shelf-life date, as well as its location in the warehouse. Thanks to it, while issuing a trade document, a trader has information on the shelf-life date, and a warehouseman can plan its optimum warehouse path while preparing merchandise for dispatch.

Additional advantage: Stock control staff always know how much merchandise with shelf-life date approaching expiration is in stock. In this way, they have a tool which enables them to consciously shape the order policy and the discount policy of the company.