Coca-Cola bottler SLMG Beverages adopts Dynamics 365 for business integration and operational efficiencies

The new organization faced the humongous task of merging the operations of four bottling businesses. This entailed replacing different IT systems with a single integrated IT ecosystem. The company implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 in collaboration with Acxiom Consulting. The result was a seamless transformation, without interrupting day-to-day business transactions of the company. 

Four companies from the Ladhani Group had been involved in the bottling business with Coca-Cola. Once SLMG was incorporated, HCCBPL, the bottling subsidiary of CCI decided to sell the territorial rights of parts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand by means of a Business Transfer Agreement to SLMG. 

SLMG is now the flagship company of the Ladhani Group and the largest franchise bottling partner of Coca-Cola in India. It has seven manufacturing plants, 33 warehouses and depots, 1,500 distributors, and more than 250,000 retailers across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and some parts of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar (including the four legacy units and the new business unit). 

Identifying the right ERP system for the new business

The formation of a new company meant reconfiguring the existing computing environments of all the units into a single, central integrated system, including the existing Distributor Management System (DMS) that covered 1,500 distributors and more than 250,000 retailers. The SLMG leadership has onboarded Power BI, thereby further streamlining decision making capabilities and collaboration. 

The formation of SLMG and the acquisition of the territorial rights of parts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal in October 2019 by SLMG from HCCBPL meant that SLMG was required to upgrade and integrate its sales & distribution systems substantially within a short span of time – a Herculean task. 

The Agra unit had been using Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations since 2018. Implemented in collaboration with Microsoft Partner Acxiom Consulting, the cloud-based ERP solution had significantly transformed operations and processes for the unit. The SaaS model had helped eliminate IT infrastructure challenges for their remote locations and enabled them to carry out seamless transactions 24X7. Given their diverse requirements, SLMG saw it as a powerful game-changing application.

SLMG reached out to Acxiom Consulting in a bid to replicate this successful model and implement Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations for the combined operations of the entire organization.

Dynamics 365 for automation and centralized control

The biggest challenge for SLMG was to create a new digital ecosystem with the existing functional and IT resources, who would continue their day-to-day tasks whilst working on the project. The other challenge was to introduce the new system seamlessly during the incubation period when the users are transferred from legacy systems to new ones. Since ERP is an integrated system, any delay on the part of users would delay the ensuing processes. 

The project team consisted of SLMG’s IT associates and Acxiom consultants. They understood the challenge and delivered the implementation on time. Dilip Kant Jha, CIO of SLMG, says, “We decided to implement Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations in a phased manner. In the first phase, we implemented the sales and distribution system to ensure that sales are not impacted by the change in the business structure. This was satisfactorily completed and executed in time.” 

Once the sales and distribution system was stabilized, the team moved on to cover business functions of raw material-to-finished goods, quality assurance, procurement-to-pay, order-to-cash, and finance. These were implemented in three existing units and the newly created company in three months, starting January 2020. The four units, which covered 33 warehouses and seven manufacturing plants, went live on April 1, 2020. Simultaneously, integration with the DMS was in progress and completed in May 2020. The phased and strategic implementation allowed the organization to serve 1,500 distributors and more than 250,000 retailers without interruptions. 

Here are some of the benefits SLMG has experienced with Dynamics 365:

• Greater visibility allows increased and effective control on business
• With all locations integrated, the head office can monitor sales and inventory in real-time
• Better quality control
• Improved visibility into accounts and fewer billing and delivery errors
• Teams can get more work done in lesser time with increased accuracy
• Elimination of several manual processes has resulted in time savings and the resources can be utilized for more value-added tasks
• Real-time inventory visibility has increased the supply chain team’s efficiency up to 88 percent and reduced inventory losses by 97 percent through timely actions
• Timeline for consolidation of financial data has reduced by 25 to 35 percent
• Overall customer service has improved up to 90 percent    
• Product Freshness Index and consumer happiness have improved due to timely product deliveries (real time ‘Goods in Transit’ visibility)

“Our IT personnel devoted long hours to make this integration a success. When the pandemic hit India and the lockdown was announced, we were one week away from all the units going live with Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. This would have been an impossible feat within the planned timeline, had it not been for the single-minded focus and dedication of the IT and Acxiom Consulting teams,” notes Jha.

The SLMG and Acxiom Consulting teams worked together on the Power BI project to create relevant and best-in-class dashboards. These are now used by the organization’s senior management to get insights into the business for better and faster decision-making. The organization has also witnessed revenue growth with better control in markets. Here’s how Power BI allows SLMG to do better business:

• Tracks sales and growth on all time horizons (Daily, MTD, YTD) for primary and secondary sales  
• Identifies top-selling SKUs and customers 
• Identifies fast-moving and low-selling products 
• Determines Net Sales Revenue 
• Tracks AR and AP 
• Offers real-time visibility of inventory status (all SKUs) in plants, warehouses, and distributors across the country, which ensures stock freshness and allows better production planning 
• Live production tracking
• Higher customer satisfaction and retention with a reduced lead time of delivery and higher fill rates
• Order to Service Time (OST) has improved up to 98 percent 
• Increased speed to market due to the integrated system 
• Increased savings by rationalizing inventories through better planning and tracking 
• Reduced finished goods write-offs by having aging data readily available in the system 

“We followed a business-first ERP strategy and set our goals, metrics, and milestones to enable the business become process-driven, system-controlled, and transparent. This was not a one-time project. It will be an ongoing strategy at SLMG to achieve complete digital transformation,” adds Jha.

Looking forward

SLMG is currently working on the planning, budgeting, demand forecasting, and transportation management processes as part of its next phase. With Microsoft CRM and Microsoft Fleet Management and Transport Logistics system, the organization will achieve higher efficiencies in planning and execution. This is in continued collaboration with Acxiom Consulting.

“There will be a continuous stream of innovation from SLMG as we achieve more milestones in creating an integrated computing environment,” concludes Jha.