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FEATURE: TAILORED ERP
Independently owned
logistics company Bakers
S.A. Limited serves all
southern African countries,
boasting more than 1,500
employees. But with
growth and expansion
came challenges.
T
he company is a fully-
equipped logistics partner
for clients requiring value-
added distribution channels
within South Africa and
neighbouring countries.
It has a comprehensive infrastructure
catering to line-haul operations and local
distributors and high-volume Fast-Moving
Consumer Goods (FMCG) packaging
products and White & Brown goods, as well
as containerised and warehousing services.
Challenging business
environment
The company had been gaining
considerable market share and expanding
over the past 10 years, signing key
international clients. But the business was
not as joined up between the front and
back-office functions as it needed to be.
In addition, slowing demand, cost
pressures for sustainability and tough
trading conditions meant that a continued
programme of growth would depend on the
company’s ability to process high volumes
of transactions with clear visibility and
accuracy. In addition to this, South Africa
is a major crime centre and the company
needed to get greater visibility and control
of stock management to minimise fraud.
Making decisions for growth
Bakers S.A. Limited turned to its local IT
partner – New ERA Solutions Pty (Ltd) – for
advice. They worked together to review
relevant enterprise resource planning (ERP)
systems and concluded that the latest
version of Epicor ERP would not only solve
the business challenges faced today but
would also enable future growth.
“We moved to Epicor ERP due to the
growth of the business and the consequent
requirement for improved reporting directly
from our ERP system,” said Abdool Kader
Tayob, Chief Executive, Bakers S.A. Limited.
“We needed a competitively priced, dynamic
business intelligence tool that provided
the performance monitoring, reports and
analytics that enabled better decision
making for the business. We had direct
involvement from the senior team at Epicor
as well as professional local support from
reseller New ERA Solutions.”
Epicor ERP is used for ordering, sales and
debtor management, cash management
and analytical reporting. It also integrates
with the company’s payroll and vehicle
scheduling solutions.
According to Kader Tayob, minimising fraud
and error through system security and
maintaining data integrity through system
controls were essential for regulatory and
statutory compliance, as well as
controlling costs.
Bakers turns to
Epicor for
ERP solution
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