British Bakels rolls out Axapta

British Bakels Ltd plumps for 236,000 pound roll out of Microsoft Business Solutions - Axapta

Microsoft Business Solutions partner, Index Computer Systems, has won a 236,000 pound (exc.

VAT) contract to supply Microsoft Business Solutions - Axapta to British Bakels Ltd.

British Bakels supplies ingredients to the bakery and confectionery industry across the UK and has purchased modules from the Microsoft Axapta suite to provide a fully integrated ERP system spanning its core business functions - logistics, accounting, and warehouse management.

Ade Abass, Financial Controller of British Bakels Ltd, said: "Axapta will provide employees across the company with accurate, up-to-the-minute information on how our business is performing.

Our decision-making, production processes, cost control and provision of customer service will all be improved with our roll out of Microsoft Axapta.

Moreover our previous system gives very little information to the manufacturing environments, but with Microsoft Axapta, we will be able to bring process sheets, inventory management of raw material and finished goods, production scheduling, label printing and quality control all under much greater control.

This will facilitate better communication of plans and process instructions and represents a number of the benefits we expect to reap." The legacy ERP systems to be replaced by Microsoft Axapta consisted of over 3,000 separate programs written in three different programming languages over a fifteen year period.

Such a system is invariably very inflexible and can often become a constraint on the business processes the system was originally designed to fit.

The Microsoft Axapta implementation will allow British Bakels to fundamentally review its internal business processes in the light of the increased breadth of functionality afforded by the solution, and achieve a much tighter fit between process and IT.

Index is providing a 40-user Microsoft Axapta licence, hardware and 170 man-days of implementation.

British Bakels Ltd considered a number of applications including Sage Line 500, Exchequer and EFACS.

However, the breadth of functionality exhibited by Microsoft Axapta and the knowledge and experience of the food industry demonstrated by Index convinced the company that this was the best solution.

The reputation and financial security of Microsoft Business Solutions, and its commitment to continue to develop and support Microsoft Axapta were also influential factors in the decision.

Ade Abass said: "It had become abundantly clear that our IT infrastructure was no longer adequate for the demands of our business.

The lack of integration between our bespoke solutions caused difficulties in both warehouse management and product traceability, it also meant that end user reporting was particularly challenging.

Combined with the high maintenance cost of such a personalised solution, these difficulties led us to seek an application that could integrate all areas of our business." Clyde Bennett, Microsoft Axapta product manager, said: "The decision of British Bakels Ltd to streamline the information vital to its core business functions using Microsoft Axapta is a glowing testament to the application's flexibility and robustness.

With its investment British Bakels Ltd has acquired a complete solution to make crucial business information visible and accessible to employees across the company.

In business terms this allows more efficient financial reporting and supplier interaction because information can be viewed and updated across the company by all relevant parties.

With actionable information being available much more quickly, the company can expect to enjoy significant productivity gains.

What's more, the commitment and experience of our partner, Index Computer Systems, will ensure that British Bakels gains the most from its investment." Bernard Godward, MD of Index, welcomed this new customer to Index: "We have traditionally been very strong in the food manufacturing and processing industry and are very pleased to add British Bakels to our growing customer list.

We are confident that our business-driven approach to meeting customers' needs will ensure British Bakels is successful in its adoption of Microsoft Axapta.".

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