Drink-IT has helped us prepare for and manage the explosive growth we have experienced.
Paddy Smith
Company Accountant, Westons
About Westons
It all started in Herefordshire in 1878. Henry Weston came to 'The Bounds' at Much Marcle, Herefordshire, in 1878 and continued the tradition of using fruit from the farm orchards to make cider and perry.
Making and drinking cider and perry was part of life in the country - and Henry Westons local entreprenureship made it into a famous, global business that exports to more than 40 countries worldwide and employs more than 200 people.
Optimizing efficiency, management, and transparency
Westons is one of the best known cider and perry makers in the UK. The company exports to more than 40 countries worldwide, employs more than 200 people, produces over 30 different ciders and perries, sells approximately 46 million pints a year and has an annual turnover of over £58 million. Not bad for something that started out as home-brew.
Needed more than an accounting solution
When Westons Cider found out that their softwareplatform for their accounting needs would no longer be supported, they decided to make a full review of their softwareplatform. They found out that what they needed was more than an accounting solution, and, in turn, they started to look for a software solution that not only supported accounting but could also be used to manage the many moving parts of a beverage organisation and could be used internationally, supporting their export business in Australia.
All about efficencies
Drink-IT has taken Westons Cider’s processes to a whole new level that has optimised key business areas such as operational efficiency, production management and business transparency.
Thanks to Drink-IT, Westons Cider has increased its operational efficiency, enabling the cider company to manage a heavier workload – due to an almost doubled turnover – with the same headcount.
“I think that says it all about the efficiencies we have been able to achieve with Drink-IT,” says Paddy Smith, Company Accountant, Westons Cider. "With Drink-IT we can manage a heavier workload with the same headcount," says Paddy Smith.
Besides the ability to manage increased workloads with the same number of staff, Drink-IT also enables Westons Cider to improve its production management with access to better production planning and forecasting.
On top of that, Drink-IT also helps Westons Cider to gain from Business Clarity across the entire organisation, including its Australian export business.
"Drink-IT provides us with transparency across the entire organisation," says Paddy Smith.
Delivering beverage industry functionality
Westons Cider selected Drink-IT as their business software platform because it could deliver specific beverage industry functionality and fulfill their needs for production, quality and recipe management, management of returnable packaging, sales agreements and marketing, distribution and tax management and reporting.
An example of how Westons Cider uses Drink-IT is that the entire production and all the cider and perries produced by Westons Cider are made using Drink-IT’s workflow processes within the Production module, and the company ensures that the drinks have been correctly produced by testing using the workflow processes within the Quality Control modules.
