Rossi

Rossi in Russia: Axapta boosted turnover significantly

Most of Russia's large supermarket and fast food chains rely on Rossi to deliver their packaging materials. Since 1993 Rossi Distribution has rapidly grown into a major player in packaging and logistic. To manage their business processes and to prepare for future challenges the company turned to Columbus IT Partner for a new ERP system.

“We wanted a long term partnership and we needed a vendor who had experience with large scale projects such as ours”, says Maria Danshina, IT director at Rossi Distribution. “We visited several of Columbus' other customers and became convinced that they were the right partner for us”.

Strategy for the future

Before choosing systems and selecting a partner to implement it, Rossi Distribution had mapped out a strategy for the company's future development. The main objectives were outlined and implementing a modern ERP systems were among the key issues in the strategy. Then Rossi's top management began a detailed examination of the available systems and the potential solutions providers. They finally settled on Microsoft Business Solutions Axapta and contracted Columbus IT Partner to implement it. During the implementation phase, Rossi Distribution underwent some organizational changes that affected the system implementation. Columbus adapted to the changes with out delaying the project.

The first stage

The first stage of the implementation was to get the logistical framework up and running. This included automation of a number of processes concerning inventory and invoicing. The logistics module handles sales, inventory management, supply chain management and so on. The sophisticated Free Planning module of the Axapta system was also implemented.

“We're probably the first company in Russia to embrace Free Planning both technologically and organizationally”, says Evgenij Iljinsky, MD of Rossi Distribution. “During 2003 our turnover grew by 26% and with growth rates like that, we can't rely on last year's statistical data. We need very precise planning tools to navigate forward and Free Planning provides the functionality we need”.

Major benefits

Being a successful distributor demands more than just delivering goods. You also have to consistently deliver high quality services that meet the changing demands of your customers. Knowledge of your own business and your customers business is the key component in good service. For Rossi the Microsoft Axapta solution helps them maintain a clear picture of their operations. Business processes have become transparent, inventories are managed more efficiently and the result is better customer service. Rossi's Executive D