Sunblest Commodities is a Canadian distributor and wholesaler of food and food products that was looking for the best ERP system for its business, and it found Sage X3 Version 7. Like many food distributors, it needed an ERP solution capable of handling a large number of transactions, tracking ingredients and inventory, and collecting and presenting data in a useful manner to those that need it the most.

As an importer, wholesaler, and distributor of natural and organic ingredients, Sunblest handles a large volume of items and transactions with a small number of employees. To be precise, since starting out in 2010, Sunblest has grown to $18 million in revenues with only ten full-time employees. They are growing, and growing fast, and needed a company-wide and fully connected software solution to support operations and growth.

“We face a mixed-bag of challenges,” says Sunblest’s President Anisha Virani, “Global logistics, we are dealing with different governments, different regulations, lot traceability, tracking inventory, terms… It’s all been a bit of a challenge.”

Global Logistics: Software for Today’s Food Distributor

Sunblest’s global logistics challenges included dealing with different customers and governments, so they needed an ERP system that would be able to handle multiple legislations. Their logistics requirements also included being able to track and locate both ingredients and products, as well as manage inventory in third party warehouses. As a distributor and wholesaler, Sunblest needs to know where all items are stored, where they are once they are moving, and the most efficient way to distribute them, and Sage X3 provided just that.

Inventory Tracking and Lot Traceability: Key ERP Components for Food Companies

Sage X3 lot tracking and traceability functions have made it a successful solution in the food and beverage industry. It provides traceability of ingredients and in-depth lot tracking. The solution has also spread through a global community of users, due to its multi-legislation and multi-currency capabilities. If a company wants to expand operation to a new country, odds are Sage X3 is already being used there, and configurations exist to make it compliant of local legislation and accounting practices.

Efficiency in Reporting with Sage X3 Centralized Database and Flexible Dashboards

The company also had issues with efficiency. Employees were dealing with data from multiple sources, having to manually pull and compile reports in Excel before they could be used.  To make the life of the team a lot easier, The Answer Company developed and designed reports and dashboards in Sage X3 that present the information needed by Sunblest’s employees. These reports can now be accessed from any device at any time. Since Sage X3 all business activities, the info is pulled from the central database, eliminating redundancies and ensuring accuracy of the information. For a small team, improvements in efficiency go a long way in improving productivity.

Small Team and HR Limitations No Challenge for ERP Project

Sunblest’s small team also meant that human resources towards an ERP project were limited. With The Answer Company’s experience though, that wasn’t a big concern as they were able to go in and help build what was needed for the structure of the company’s information systems.  They worked together to design and create the architecture of Sunblest’s business processes within the engine of Sage X3 Version 7. The process started out by examining Sunblest’s current processes, finding what worked and where there was a desire for improvement, then drawing out the path to the ideal situation.

For these reasons, The Answer Company deemed Sunblest was a perfect fit for Sage X3 version 7, and they began working together as a part of Sage’s Early Adopter Program.  Two other Sage X3 partners, in India and France, were also part of the program, and the results were presented at the Sage X3 Global Convention on May 13, 2014.

In Sage X3 Version 7, Sunblest found a solution that brings all business practices together as it is a fully integrated business solution capable of handling end-to-end business processes and it can be accessed from anywhere with any device. It meets their logistic needs, provides a way to eliminate redundancies, and organizes their data so that it can be accessible and provide value to the company.

“We found that Sage X3 actually provided all the solutions that we were looking at. It was a thing of beauty,” completed Ms. Virani.

Selecting Sage X3

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Configuring Sage X3
(Video featuring Glenn Charlton, Sage X3 Principal of The Answer Company)

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