Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Solution for a Food Production & Retail Business

A transformational story of Food Production and Retail company to overcome their production wastage and Retail operational challenges and Reduce spoilage by 20% & Order fulfillment time by 30% and increase retail sales by leveraging Microsoft Dynamics Business Central ERP Solution.

About Business

The thriving food production business dedicated to growing fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs embarked on a journey of expansion and growth. The company focuses on the production, storage, retail sales, e-commerce and export of its products, while also maintaining a strong local and online sales presence.

Business Challenges

The company faced several significant challenges across departments, process and the staff that impeded its growth and operational efficiency leading to loss of customers and reduction overall sales.

Product Costs: The company struggled with inaccurate cost estimates, which often led to outdated pricing. This issue became particularly problematic during peak trading seasons when margins were thin, and mispricing directly impacted profitability.

Quality of Products: Ensuring the highest quality of produce was difficult due to inconsistent inventory tracking. For example, some batches of fresh vegetables and fruits were not stored under optimal conditions, leading to spoilage and waste.

Customer Satisfaction: Customer complaints about delays and inconsistent product quality were common. This was especially problematic for local and online sales, where timely delivery and fresh produce are critical to maintaining customer trust and satisfaction.

Supplier Management: Managing supplier data manually resulted in significant delays and errors. For instance, purchasing staff often spent hours cross-referencing supplier information, leading to procurement delays and missed opportunities for cost savings.

Supply-Chain Management: The use of multiple, disparate systems created integration issues. This was evident when coordinating between the production manager, purchasing staff, and suppliers, leading to miscommunication and inefficiencies.

Retail Sales Management: Inefficient sales processes and lack of integration with inventory and supply chain systems led to stockouts or overstock situations, affecting customer satisfaction and sales performance.

E-commerce Integration: The lack of integration between the company’s e-commerce platform and its inventory management system resulted in discrepancies, leading to stockouts, overselling, and poor customer experiences in online retail sales

Business Solution

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Solution

To address these challenges, the business decided to implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, an all-encompassing ERP solution that seamlessly integrates various business functions into a unified system. The modules implemented included Financial Management, Sales, Purchase, Inventory, and Manufacturing.

As part of the implementing Dynamics Business Central solution, Covalense Global’s team of Functional and Technical consultants followed an enterprise solution execution and roll-out strategy

Financial Management: Provided accurate and real-time cost assessments, enabling better pricing strategies and profitability analysis.

Sales: Enhanced sales processes to improve order management and fulfillment, directly addressing customer complaints about delays.

Purchase: Optimized procurement processes, ensuring better supplier management and reducing time wastage.

Inventory: Improved inventory management, reducing costs and ensuring product quality by preventing spoilage through better storage tracking.

Supply-Chain Management: Integrated supply-chain operations, enhancing overall efficiency and coordination.

Retail Sales Management: Integrated retail sales with inventory and supply chain systems to ensure accurate stock levels, timely replenishments, and improved customer satisfaction.

E-commerce Integration: Seamlessly integrated the e-commerce platform with the ERP system, ensuring real-time synchronization of inventory, orders, and customer data.

Solution Highlights

Supply-Chain Management:

Integrated System: Dynamics 365 Business Central provided a unified platform, integrating all aspects of the supply chain. This eliminated data silos and provided end-to-end visibility across the supply chain, from procurement to production to distribution.

Real-Time Data and Communication: The ERP system automated and streamlined communication between purchasing staff, suppliers, and production managers. Real-time data updates ensured that everyone had access to the latest information, reducing delays and improving decision-making.

Accurate Inventory Management: The system offered real-time tracking of inventory levels, enabling better inventory management. Automated alerts for low stock levels and expiring products helped maintain optimal inventory, reducing both overstock and understock situations.

Improved Demand Forecasting: With integrated data and advanced analytics, the company could perform accurate demand forecasting. This alignment allowed for better planning of production schedules, reducing bottlenecks and ensuring timely fulfillment of orders.

Financial Management:

Accurate Cost Management: Dynamics 365 Business Central provided real-time cost assessments, enabling the company to maintain accurate and up-to-date pricing strategies. Automated cost tracking ensured that all expenses were accounted for accurately. All production-related expenses were tracked in real-time. This enabled the company to adjust pricing strategies promptly, ensuring competitiveness in the export market.

Effective Budget Control: The ERP system allowed for comprehensive budget tracking and management. The company could set budgets for different departments and track actual expenses against the budget in real-time, helping to prevent overruns and optimize spending. The company often exceeded its budget for storage and transportation. Post-implementation, the finance team could monitor expenses in real-time and adjust budgets as needed, reducing overruns.

Enhanced Cash Flow Management: Real-time visibility into cash flow helped the company manage its working capital more efficiently. During peak seasons, the company faced cash shortages due to delayed receivables. With the ERP system, the company gained real-time visibility into cash flow and could better manage receivables and payables, ensuring sufficient working capital during critical periods.

Streamlined Financial Reporting: Automated financial reporting capabilities reduced the time and effort required to generate reports. The management had access to real-time financial data, enabling them to make informed decisions quickly. Generating quarterly financial reports took several weeks due to manual data consolidation. With Dynamics 365 Business Central, the process was automated, reducing report generation time to a few days and providing management with timely insights.

Retail Sales Management:

Integrated Retail Sales System: The ERP solution integrated retail sales with inventory and supply chain systems, providing real-time visibility into stock levels and enabling accurate replenishments. This reduced stockouts and overstock situations, improving sales performance and customer satisfaction.

Automated Sales Processes: Sales processes were automated, reducing manual effort and errors. Sales representatives could access real-time inventory data, speeding up order processing and fulfillment.

Enhanced Customer Service: Customer service representatives could provide accurate information on product availability, leading to improved customer service and increased sales.

Streamlined Sales Reporting: Automated sales reporting capabilities provided real-time insights into sales performance. This enabled the sales team to make informed decisions quickly and develop effective sales strategies.

Stock Management: Previously, the company faced frequent stockouts of popular herbs during peak seasons, leading to lost sales. With Dynamics 365 Business Central, real-time inventory tracking ensured timely replenishments, reducing stockouts by 25% and increasing sales.

Sales Order Processing: Manual order processing led to delays and errors, affecting customer satisfaction. The ERP solution automated the sales process, enabling sales representatives to process orders faster and more accurately, reducing order fulfillment time by 30%.

E-Commerce Integration and Issues Resolution:

Seamless Integration: Dynamics 365 Business Central provided seamless integration between the e-commerce platform and the ERP system. This ensured real-time synchronization of inventory, orders, and customer data, eliminating discrepancies.

Automated Updates: The system automated updates across all platforms, reducing errors and improving efficiency. Inventory levels were updated in real-time, reflecting accurate stock availability online.

Consistent Customer Experience: Customers often faced issues with out-of-stock products that were shown as available online. Real-time data synchronization resolved this, providing customers with accurate product availability information and improving trust in the online store, their shopping experience and satisfaction.

Efficient Order Fulfillment: During peak sales periods, manual order processing led to significant delays. With the integrated system, online orders were automatically processed, reducing fulfillment times by 40% and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Sales Performance: The lack of integrated sales data made it challenging to track online sales performance. With the ERP integration, sales data from the e-commerce platform was automatically consolidated, providing the sales team with real-time insights and enabling better strategic decisions.

Business Benefits and Value-adds

The implementation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central resulted in substantial improvements across various aspects of the business and led to the sustained growth.

Cost Optimization: Accurate cost assessments and real-time data enabled better pricing strategies.

Quality Assurance: Enhanced inventory management ensured the highest quality of food produce. The company saw a 20% reduction in spoilage rates as better tracking and storage practices were implemented.

Customer Satisfaction: Improved sales and order management processes led to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty. The number of customer complaints decreased by 30% as delivery times improved and product quality became more consistent.

Efficient Supplier Management: Streamlined procurement processes reduced communication bottlenecks and time wastage. The purchasing team reported a 40% reduction in the time spent managing supplier data, leading to quicker procurement cycles and better negotiation opportunities.

Retail Sales Management: Integrated retail sales processes with inventory and supply chain systems, ensuring accurate stock levels and timely replenishments, which improved overall sales performance and customer satisfaction.

E-commerce Integration: Real-time synchronization of inventory, orders, and customer data between the e-commerce platform and ERP system eliminated discrepancies, reducing stockouts and overselling. This enhanced the online shopping experience and increased customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP solution transformed the company’s operations, addressing critical challenges and paving the way for sustainable growth and expansion. The integrated system not only optimized costs and improved product quality but also significantly enhanced customer satisfaction and overall operational efficiency. The seamless integration with the e-commerce platform ensured accurate inventory management and streamlined order fulfillment, leading to improved online retail sales and customer experiences.