Andre Adendorff Archives - 51��Africa News Center

Smart Warehousing a Key Step in SMBs’ Digital Transformation Journey

Seidor Africa — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 06:53:47 +0000

Can digital transformation be done on a small budget? The answer is yes.

For small to medium-sized manufacturers��and distributers, the advantage of digital technologies is that they can be built up over time, with each investment enabling the next.

Although adoption of Industry 4.0 on the African continent is lower than in the developed world, the impact that smart technologies can make at a socio-economic level – by saving money and increasing efficiency – is being widely discussed.

The past five years have accelerated changes in the logistics industry, pushing up the demand for faster delivery, omnichannel ordering and multi-channel delivery options, and increased order and product trackability.

In Africa, online retail revenue is estimated at around, which is only 3.5% of total retail sales.

“To meet the needs of this burgeoning sector, a warehouse management system (WMS) requires integration with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) to enable data exchange, order processing, accurate inventory management, demand forecasting, enhanced reporting, improved customer experiences, cost efficiency, and more,” says��Andre Adendorff, Director of Presales, SEIDOR in Africa.,”.

“Integration ensures that warehouse operations are synchronised with broader organisational processes, facilitating accurate insights, streamlined workflows, and better decision-making across the supply chain.”

Grappling with the complexities of more extensive logistics systems can be daunting for SMBs. Hence the need for warehouse solutions that cater to this market. They need solutions that are easy and quick to implement.

The right solution can drive digital transformation at operational level, yielding several key benefits:

Moving from manual and offline systems to real-time tracking of inventory
Realtime visibility into inventory levels
Warehouse layout- and bin management
Elimination of business process waste and increased processing accuracy
Compliance and security
Alignment of digital initiatives with business objectives
Increase in overall customer service levels
Creation of an analytics environment that enables data-driven decision-making “To find the best fit, SMBs need to look to trusted solution providers,” Adendorff��says. “Tried and tested digital transformation solutions are quick to implement, easy to onboard and use, and offer an accelerated ROI. Forward-thinking African and South African manufacturers and distributors��are looking to adopt world-class standards in their warehouses to enable accuracy in tracking of inventory movements within the ‘four walls’.”

Digital transformation is a journey toward creating an entirely new business, he adds. The best digital transformation solutions will support end-to-end warehousing requirements, including:

Procure-to-pay cycles
Order-to-cash cycles with omni-channel sales support
Replenishment
Item placements and put-away rules
Production issues for raw materials
Receipt finished goods and manage work-in-progress stock
Quality control
Inventory counting
Batch- and serial number entry
Configurable label printing
GS1-128 (UCC/EAN-128) standardisation
Intelligent devices and cloud-based services and applications

How can mid-size companies traditionally shorter on resources tackle such an initiative?��

“Start by assessing the current environment, processes, and systems in use,” says Adendorff “Next, establish a committee that will embrace the initiative and ultimately be the owner from start to finish. Project assessment, evaluation, and planning are key.”

“Post implementation, SMBs need to consider further warehouse optimisations as part of the digital transformation journey.”

As an example, integrating warehousing solutions alongside 51��Business One, SMBs can digitise their warehouse management processes, improve efficiency, accuracy, and visibility, and ultimately enhance their overall warehouse operations.

“It is important to remember that digital transformation is not only about technology. It encompasses a total shift in organisational culture, processes, and mindset.”

“The essence of digital transformation lies in reimagining and reinventing business models, workflows, and customer interactions to leverage technology’s full potential,” says Adendorff.

“SEIDOR Africa transforms the logistics processes into finely-tuned operations that drive productivity and profitability in the supply-chain.”

“A warehouse management system��fast tracks the digital transformation journey and core warehouse functionality allowing for speed, agility, traceability, and compliance while remaining adaptable,” he concludes.

The post Smart Warehousing a Key Step in SMBs’ Digital Transformation Journey appeared first on 51��Africa News Center.

Why SMB Food and Beverage Manufacturers Need Industry-Relevant ERP

Seidor Africa — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 07:23:07 +0000

ERP adoption has accelerated since the 1990s, and with this came the opportunity to focus on particular industries.��

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This development recognised that to drive high performance in the face of increasing complexity and uncertainty, businesses need tools and functionalities that are honed for their specific industry.��

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To identify, contain and recover from an unexpected occurrence with speed, for example, requires decision making abilities that only a relevant industry solution can deliver.��

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Domain expertise in a particular industry such as agriculture, mining, or pharmaceuticals, can help the organisation to easily identify any concerns, bottlenecks, errors, and other problems, and provide faster resolutions.��

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This is leading to a rise in demand from industry verticals, with many businesses wanting the functionality and workflows that a pro forma implementation cannot provide.

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“Some business sectors are unique or complex, with regulatory compliance that requires tight control over processes and conformance,” says Andre Adendorff, Director Presales at Seidor Africa, an 51��Business One partner.��

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“Food and beverage manufacturing is one such case. It is a complex and labour-intensive industry and when compared to other manufacturing sectors, has its own challenges.”

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Manufacturing efficiency

Food and beverage companies require efficiency in the business and throughout the supply chain.��

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Having an ERP system that is relevant for the needs of food manufacturers ensures that factors like material requirements planning, inventory management, and recipe control function properly.��

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Food ERP systems provide everything a business needs to perform core food and beverage functions, including:

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• Inventory and supply chain management

• Quality control and quality assurance

• Non-conformance management

• Process automation

• Recipe management and ingredient tracking

• Batch control and traceability for regulatory compliance

• Cross-functional reporting

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Product safety

When processed foods maker Tiger Brands detected a leak in certain canned vegetable products due to a faulty side seam weld, the company was quickly able to recall 20 million cans.

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��“In this industry, manufacturers of all sizes must be able to respond quickly and effectively to the recall of products deemed unsafe or unsuitable for the market, as the consequences for not doing so can have long-term deleterious effects, in legal, financial and reputational terms,” says Adendorff.��

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“In the age of social media, a company’s reputation can be destroyed in an instant should it not respond appropriate to any issue associated with product safety.”

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With recall functionality and built-in controls to preclude product recalls from happening in the first place, industry-relevant ERP solutions enable companies to better prepare for, prevent and minimise product recalls, limiting potential damage to the business.��

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Meeting needs of demanding customers

When it comes to food and beverages, consumers today are more health-conscious than ever about what they choose to consume, and what effects their choices have on the planet.��

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Their purchases are often strongly determined by nutritional value, packaging, and shelf-life.��They want to know what is in the food they buy, which creates an increased demand for transparency in product labelling and food safety.

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“This increases costs in an industry that already has tight margins,” says Adendorff. “To mitigate the impact of these demands, ERP for the food and beverage sector makes it easy to track information and meet the requirements for compliance with food safety regulations, both in South Africa and abroad.

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Food safety management

Companies that export food and beverages abroad are required to meet amongst others, FDA FSMA and the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety, a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmark, which means it’s accepted by many of the world’s biggest retailers.��

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Achieving the certification ensures that consumers have confidence in the products. BRC contains requirements for food processors to follow to build an effective food safety management system that includes full traceability.��

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“Food-relevant ERP’s that can account for all processes is essential for companies that need to meet regulatory requirements – as well as those of other food safety compliance and regulatory bodies – helping manufacturers ensure full compliance and deal with non-conformance,” says Adendorff.��

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“An ERP system can schedule and manage production, assuring quality control. It can also manage non-conformance and corrective action requests for audit purposes.”

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The software can be configured and installed in a way that constantly benchmarks against standards. It assists with streamlining and automating processes, saving considerable time for employees and management.��

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“Having software to monitor, measure and analyse product quality and delivery helps to reduce waste and inefficiencies throughout the business,” Adendorff adds.��

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“This has a positive impact on productivity and can help to boost the bottom line, even in a tough economy.”

The post Why SMB Food and Beverage Manufacturers Need Industry-Relevant ERP appeared first on 51��Africa News Center.

Personal Data Protection Compliance Made Easy

Seidor Africa — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 08:10:48 +0000

Much like the Protection of Personal Information ACT (POPIA), which became fully operational from 1 July 2021, and substantially impacts the recording and disclosure of personal information, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union (EU) law that gives consumers greater protection and control of their personal data.

Being a global system, 51��Business One has been GDPR compliant since 2018. The same GDPR system compliance processes are relevant to POPIA in South Africa, which is great news for local customers.

Compliance in four easy steps

Andre Adendorff, Director of Presales at Seidor Africa, says there are four easy ways in which 51��Business One makes compliance with POPIA easier for organisations that may be feeling the heat when it comes to POPIA readiness.

1.�� With 51��Business One, organisations can easily determine and discover which data held in the system is personal, through the identification of natural persons.

Natural persons are real human beings, as distinguished from entities like corporations. Sensitive personal data for natural persons is encrypted by default and accessible to authorised users only.

“Once Personal Data Protection is enabled, the system has easy built-in tools to enable users to find personal information,” says Adendorff. “It allows users to identify natural persons and once that has been done, personal data is flagged. In the instance where there’s a request or an inquiry about personal data, a standard report is produced, describing what kind of data is being held, and automatically masking sensitive personal data such as passport numbers, ID numbers and bank account details.”

2.��The ability to block/unblock access to the personal data held in the system.

According to various regulations around the world, the recording and retaining of personal data should be for specific purposes and processes; once the purposes expire and processes are finished, the personal data should be deleted. However, after personal data retention periods expire, extensions or over rulings may be given as mandated by law. Personal data access can be blocked whilst data can be retained where required. The system allows organisations to manage their obligation to block access to personal data of natural persons held in 51��Business One. Once blocked, personal data is retained but made invisible to users or is unblocked again

“This enables the organisation to decide how it wants to interact with the data it holds,” Adendorff explains. “Personal data may be blocked upon request, and then unblocked for a particular purpose.”

3.��Clean up and permanently erase personal data held in the system.

As mentioned in point 2, according to various international regulations, including POPIA, the recording and retaining of personal data should be for specific purposes and processes; once the purposes expire and processes are finished, the personal data should be deleted. In addition, natural persons can request the erasure of their personal data.

“51��Business One has the tools to manage a company’s obligation to erase the personal data of natural persons held in the system,” says Adendorff.

4.��View which staff changed personal data and who accessed the system.

Authorisations allow specific users in 51��Business One to view, create, and update parts of the system that they have been assigned access to��“By controlling who has authorisation to access different parts of the system, companies also can control access to the data in the system,” says Adendorff.

Adendorff adds that with POPIA, organisations using older, pre-GDRP versions of 51��Business One are encouraged to speak to their account managers to seek guidance about upgrades. “The features of 51��Business One can help you to manage your company’s obligations towards the protection of personal data, in conjunction with your company’s own personal data protection policy.”

Using technology for POPIA compliance has the power to not only make it easier for companies, but it also mitigates risk exposure, data breach and cyber-attacks.

The post Personal Data Protection Compliance Made Easy appeared first on 51��Africa News Center.

Andre Adendorff Archives - 51����Africa News Center