Struggling to keep up with the growing demand
The company used an unintegrated system that slowed down their processes’ efficiency, and thus limited the company´s ability to keep up with the constantly growing demand. They struggled with manual processes, functional coverage, poor integration of their business processes, low levels of automation, a lack of end-to-end connectivity of data, and a lack of transparency across the business processes – all of which were holding ASKU back from realizing its full potential.
Due to the limitations of their old solution, ASKU experienced growing challenges to scale production and get a proper overview across their production processes. For instance, without easy access to production data, it was difficult for them to identify costs and wastage in their high production volume. Furthermore, their sales people lacked the right tools to efficiently keep track of existing customers and better identify new business opportunities, and more.
Avoiding the roadblocks for efficiency with technology
Realizing that their business processes represent their key assets when it comes to coping with the increased pressure of their impressive growth, ASKU began looking for new ways to optimize their operations. Hiring more people would not have solved the problem. Instead, ASKU had a vision of how they could successfully create a more efficient and profitable beverage company – a vision in which modern and intelligent technology would play a pivotal role. “We were determined to go for an innovative solution,” says Million Gizaw, CITO of ABIG Group.
"With the beverage management solution we can easily keep up with our rapid growth without increasing our resources"
On top of their list was a solution that – out-of-the-box – would provide rich, intelligent functionality to support and streamline, as well as simplify and automate their entire value chain. ASKU decided to invest in a beverage management solution – a decision that has taken the company´s efficiency to a new level and paid off big time for them.
“The beverage management solution has enabled us to be a much more effective company. Today we can easily keep up with our rapid growth without increasing our resources,” says Million Gizaw.
Boosting production efficiency
By investing in a beverage management solution, ASKU has tied together all their processes into a coherent, automated and digitalized process flow across sales, production, quality assurance, purchasing, warehouse, distribution, plant maintenance and support.
Running their business on new technology, ASKU can work significantly smarter across all their processes. This has had a huge impact on their efficiency.
For instance, it has boosted their production and plant maintenance processes, enabling them to improve their end-to-end operational efficiency and, in turn, reduce idle time. The production teams have a complete summary of how the processes are progressing, and can easily follow the entire material flow through the entire business, from raw material to finished product.
Reducing material wastage significantly
ASKU also benefits from significantly reduced material wastage thanks to easy monitoring of the exact material consumption versus the quantity produced.
"Drink-IT has made it easy for us to identify hidden costs and take the right actions."
“We have reduced our material significantly. It represents a huge cost reduction,” says Million Gizaw. “Actually, going forward I think we may reduce our wastage even more. Our beverage management solution has made it really easy for us to identify these hidden costs and take the right actions.”
Making the most of every sales opportunity
Selling its products to a number of sales outlets, around 12,000 in the city of Addis Ababa and surrounding regions, ASKU´s sales team needs to know how each single product sells in each single outlet, city area or region. Instead of searching for sales data in spreadsheets, ASKU´s sales force benefits from a united, clear and complete overview that shows exactly how well a product sells across all their sales channels.
“The overview makes it easy for our sales people to identify potential upsells and cross-sells. This helps us ensure a steady stream of new business,” says Million Gizaw.
Lean warehouse and distribution
By integrating and streamlining their warehouse and distribution processes, ASKU gained easy access to accurate, real-time information that enables smarter management as well as coordination of transportation and optimal vehicle deployment.
“With Drink-IT as our new beverage management solution, we have enabled ASKU to transform into a modernized and streamlined beverage company,” concludes Million Gizaw.
