Johannesburg, 24 Mar 1999
South African Breweries (SAB) International is utilising the world`s leading business enterprise software, SAP, to enhance its global competitiveness as it expands into Eastern Europe. SAB International has invested in a multi-million Rand international SAP enterprise software licence and will standardise on SAP in its operations in Hungary, the Canary Islands and Russia.
"SAB`s expansion in Europe has been primarily through acquisitions," says Pierre Le Roux of SAB International. "As a result, we inherited a mix of in-house applications and locally developed packaged software. SAB Russia is a start-up operation and has no IT infrastructure at all. We are rolling SAP out to our larger operations to provide a common computing platform to cater for present and future requirements.
"Ultimately we will have the enormous advantage of a standard system across all operations," says Le Roux. "It will meet our complex group reporting standards and yet still cope with local statutory requirements, currencies and operating conditions.
"Even at this relatively early stage, we are formulating policies and procedures to facilitate the eventual establishment of a centrally located, shared European computing resource," he says. "However, we are already enjoying the benefits of shared learning and the ability to move staff between locations."
"Of the top 10 brewers in the world, eight of them now run SAP," says Stefano Mattiello, general manager: retail and consumer products, SAP Southern Africa. "This agreement with SAB highlights the value of a truly global solution that offers organisations access to best business practices."
The SAP implementation is currently at different stages throughout SAB International.
"In SAB Hungary, we have implemented financials, materials management, sales and distribution, plant maintenance and assets management, and our human resources project is now underway," says Le Roux. "SAP is in use at two breweries, and at several large regional distribution centres in Hungary.
"Sales orders generated by SAP are downloaded to hand-held invoicing/delivery note printing devices, which are taken by drivers on their deliveries, and the data is then loaded back at the end of each tour. The devices also provide input into a third party
map-based routing and scheduling package, used to plan delivery tours. A number of our smaller depots in Hungary still run a locally developed invoicing system but these will all migrate to SAP during the next year."
In the Canary Islands, SAB has implemented the financials, materials management, human resources and production planning modules. Plant maintenance, service management, asset management and sales and distribution projects are currently in progress.
"Here the sales and distribution module will be linked to the SM module to control the technicians who service equipment on customer premises," says Le Roux. "It will also be integrated with a third party sales force automation product."
SAB Russia has recently gone live with a limited implementation of financials and materials management at its new head office. A sales and distribution project is currently in progress.
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