Microsoft Dynamics NAV in agricultural trade.

Success story:

GFS requires an individual solution for mapping different departments and companies. The core business of the Genossenschaft zur Förderung der Schweinehaltung e. G. (GFS) provides for the supply of high quality boar semen to farmers in terms of fertility and genetics. The ZBH / GFS GmbH belongs to the JRC to 50% and supplies farmers with boar semen as well. The GFS Top-Animal-Service GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of the GFS selling more than 3900 articles for pig and beef farms.

An introduction of a company-wide solution, which optimally combines the ERP and financial accounting, became inevitable. Together with anaptis, the GFS introduced the ERP solution Dynamics NAV.

Initial situation

“We were facing a number of challenges. We used different island solutions that didn’t meet the technical requirements. In particular, the separation of inventory management and accounting resulted in partly inefficient processes.

Our customers ordered both boar semen from the GFS, and accessory products from our subsidiaries. So far, the subsidiaries were not connected on the system side. The provision of business-relevant data currently took a lot of time because data has to be recorded twice and processed multiple times. This led to a poor level of information, especially with regard to the degree of fulfillment of customer wishes.

Another problem was time-consuming inventories due to an immature system-side warehouse management. In addition, the control of logistics so far took place only in the head of the warehouse manager, which created unwanted dependencies. We hade considered some ERP systems that were ultimately out of the question. After all, we had to make a lot of customization because our business does not compare to a traditional dealer.”

Challenges at a glance:

Use of different stand-alone solutions (merchandise management and accounting separately)
Unlinked systems per subsidiary
Inventory takes a disproportionate amount of time (warehouse management system is not fully developed on the system side)
Unwanted dependency in the area of logistics control/tour planning on the warehouse manager (takes place solely in his head)

Objective

“We needed a system in which our merchandise management and accounting are linked. We also needed to connect our subsidiaries. Special functions that we needed were warehouse management including inventory and route planning.“

Result

“By switching to anaptis, our departments are now networked in just one system and, as a result, merchandise management is finally integrated with accounting. Today, our subsidiaries are connected on the system side, so that we can now map financial accounting flows between our companies and have a common database at our disposal. The cross-client financial accounting as well as a multitude of evaluation and analysis options provide a quick overview of important company key figures and serve as a basis for our decisions and targets. Repeat orders are even processed automatically. The logistics processes are managed system-supported.

Through all these improvements, we save time, which we can invest in a constantly improved customer relationship management – the focus here is on fulfilling as many customer wishes as possible. We have thus made the way to a combined solution on a common data basis and our wishes have been fulfilled to a large extent.”

Improvements at a glance:

Replacement of isolated solutions with a combined solution
Connection of subsidiaries (domestic and abroad)
Better basis for decision-making
Holistic information through interfaces to other applications
Simple compliance with documentation requirements for register keeping (automatic keeping of the inventory register in accordance with the Traffic Ordinance (VVVO)

Meike Friedrichs, Managing Director, GFS – Genossenschaft zur Förderung der Schweinehaltung eG

“anaptis has helped us become more efficient. We now manage our data across companies and departments in one system. In addition, we have gained a strong partner – we very much appreciate the continuous personal collaboration.”

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