Leading Agro-Chemical Company Eliminates Planning Errors and Builds for the Future
Notore Chemical Industries Limited is a pioneering chemical and agro-allied company headquartered in the port town of Onne, Rivers State, Nigeria. Its main activities include the supply of best quality fertilizers, education about best practice for farming and the proper deployment of these practices for optimal results.
Data Inaccuracy
The company’s business processes were not automated which was leading to business inefficiency. For example the different units within the company such as manufacturing, accounting and procurement worked separately from each other. Consequently reporting between the units, to dovetail activities and carrying out joint planning, was difficult. It did have a Sage-based system in place but collating the data was not only time-consuming but was also leading to data inaccuracy. In short, it was bringing data from different units and attempting to capture it on an Excel spreadsheet. The difficulties associated with this, and the inaccuracies, were increasing business risk. Overall this was having an impact on Notore’s revenues, adversely affecting the bottom line while also stymieing its growth plans.
World-class modules
Notore invited Oracle, Sage and Microsoft to pitch for an ERP system that would not only automate manual processes but also link to the company’s two other Nigerian locations. The company chose Microsoft Dynamics Navision. Its decision was based on the comprehensive functionality offered by the suite, the first-class support that was available, its affordability and an understanding of the how the world-class financial modules in particular would provide a foundation for growth. Over a nine month period Notore’s partner, Gems Consulting Company, implemented the Financial Management, Sales & Marketing, Manufacturing, Jobs, Purchase, Warehouse Management, HR and Payroll modules.
Platform for growth
The overall result is a significant and in some cases dramatic improvement to operations. For instance, it now has immediate visibility into user and partner transactions across the enterprise units. This enables it to calculate the cost implications, which in turn has led to much more accurate financial planning. It can easily generate reports across the different units and gain accurate insight into all levels of the business. This has led to both a reduction in operational costs and business risk. As a result Notore is now in a much stronger position to focus on and drive the next phase of its growth.
