Johannesburg, 21 Oct 2009
CJ Petrow (CJP) Chemicals is a rapidly-expanding supplier of specialised chemical raw materials for the pharmaceutical, neutraceutical, food, baking, dairy, confectionary, personal care, cosmetic, wine, agricultural, paint and industrial markets.
The company is headquartered in Johannesburg, with a web of offices, warehouses and a distribution network that covers the length and breadth of South Africa. The company also has an export department which handles sales and distribution into Africa. It sources vast volumes of raw materials from a long list of primary producers from around the world, making streamlined logistics and effective stock management core to its business.
CJP Chemicals recently implemented SAP Business One, the enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for small to medium businesses, which has allowed the management team to have greater control of the business and improve decision-making.
The company had been using a DOS-based system that was struggling to keep pace with its exceptional growth. This necessitated the implementation of a number of independent solutions to compensate for the system's shortfalls, with the result that the organisation was beginning to grapple with integration issues. The system also couldn't deliver access to accurate, real-time information on the availability of items within the organisation's multiple warehouses, and this is a key business requirement for CJP Chemicals as a trader of stock.
“We needed a scalable, integrated solution that could grow with the organisation, offer accurate insight into all areas of the business and provide easy access to real time information.
“Of the various solutions we evaluated, SAP Business One was best suited to deliver the functionality we required to support our business and its ongoing growth,” says Ian Smit, Financial Director, CJP Chemicals.
The solution was implemented by Bluekey Software Solutions, a South Africa-based technology company that specialises in the implementation of SAP Business One and which was recently named SAP Partner of the Year for the fourth consecutive year.
CJP Chemicals was clear about its expectations which assisted Bluekey in designing a system that fits the bill, is streamlined, and easy to use. The implementation commenced in 2008 and was complete within nine months.
The project had full buy-in from CJP Chemicals' management team and this, combined with the support and know-how of the Bluekey team, contributed to its success.
The result is an all-encompassing, integrated solution that delivers real time information relating to all areas of the business; management gets a realistic view of the business and sales teams can see at a glance what stock is available to sell.
The system also automates many of the processes that were once done manually. For instance, if there's no stock of a particular item available, the system immediately informs the procurement manager and the stock can be updated. Once a purchase order has been generated, sales employees can immediately see what items are on order and are available to sell.
After the implementation, CJP started using the CRM functionality that SAP Business One has to offer to great effect. It has allowed them to track market share, their own efficiency and their sales rep's activities easily which in turn improved their service to their customers.
CJP Chemicals has utilised every module within the SAP Business One system with success, although Smit believes that with the system still being so new, and so vast, the company has yet to tap into all the added benefits.
“There is still so much more to learn and achieve from the new system. Due to the platform we now have in place, the company can be confident that it can grow without being limited by its IT systems,” he concludes.
Company Name: CJP Chemicals
Industry: Chemical Distribution
Number of employees: 180
SAP Business One users: 72
Previous system: Brilliant for DOS
Implementation cost: Not yet finalised
Return On Investment: Not calculated
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