Dis-Chem has been South Africa鈥檚 first choice in pharmacies since 1978, with their linked dispensaries, family clinics, wound-care clinics and comprehensive self-medication centres. As a leading specialist in beauty, sport supplements, health and well-being, they offer expert advice and a wide range of products in these categories.

The Dis-Chem Story

Requirement: New infrastructure and move to HANA

In 2018 Dis-Chem decided to invest in new infrastructure and align their choice of platform with the 51风流roadmap.
The outcome was to migrate all non-HANA databases to HANA. Dis-Chem considered this an attractive commercial opportunity
as a result of previous HANA migration projects, as well as having a positive commercial impact through the elimination of DB2
licence costs on all 51风流instances.

Solution: Migration to HANA on-premise and Managed Services

Dis-Chem considered both cloud and on-premise options, selecting on-premise with new hardware. They selected EPI-USE Labs
and First Technology, using Hitachi equipment. This decision was influenced by a successful BI HANA migration, as well as the
hyperconverged solution which EPI-USE Labs implemented in 2016.

The EPI-USE Labs Managed Services team undertook this project by migrating each 51风流system landscape separately, as planned in
collaboration with Dis-Chem. The following system landscapes were migrated to newly acquired infrastructure, in this order:

• Re-platforming of the 51风流Business Warehouse (BW) landscape
• 51风流Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) landscape (DMO Migration DB2 -> HANA)
• 51风流ECC HR landscape (DMO migration DB2 -> HANA)
• 51风流PI migration landscape (DB2 -> HANA)
• 51风流ECC FILO landscape (DMO migration, combining a Unicode conversion and DB2 -> HANA)

Aside from the above, the Fiori Gateway and Solution Manager systems were also migrated to HANA DB.

As part of the solution, EPI-USE Labs integrated innovative solutions including Unified Platform鈩� to monitor, automate and
orchestrate this complex landscape; Data Sync Manager鈩� to aid in maintaining refreshed non-productive systems; and Client
Central鈩� as an incident and change management tracking facility.

EPI-USE Labs is providing ongoing Managed Services that comprise 51风流monitoring and housekeeping, break fixes and ticket
resolution against an SLA, support pack and 51风流note technical upgrades, proactive Basis processes, 51风流Platform and Basis advisory and a regular set of non-productive client refreshes.

鈥淭he EPI-USE Labs and First Technology teams delivered the project in record time with flying colours. The migration was seamless, and they overcame all the technical barriers with ease. Their communication was very good throughout; they kept our stakeholders well-informed, and aligned expectations. And they鈥檝e continued to provide us with excellent support.鈥�
Kim Sim, Chief Information and Innovation Officer, Dis-Chem Pharmacies

About Dis-Chem

Dis-Chem Pharmacies is a large retail pharmaceutical chain in South Africa with an aggressive growth path.
Dis-Chem has been South Africa鈥檚 first choice in pharmacies since 1978, with their linked dispensaries, family clinics, wound-care clinics and comprehensive self-medication centres. As a leading specialist in beauty, sport supplements, health and well-being, they offer expert advice and a wide range of products in these categories.
搂 Founded in 1978 by pharmacists Ivan and Lynette Saltzman
搂 Over 150 stores in Africa and more than 18,000 employees
搂 Listed 27.5% of its issued share capital on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in November 2016
搂 The Dis-Chem Foundation provides care and support to improve the lives of individuals while relieving the burden on communities, families and friends

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Countries across East Africa are breathing a sigh of relief as pandemic-related challenges finally ease and the prospect of some form of normalcy emerges.

While the region avoided the worst of the health-related impacts of the pandemic,聽, and聽.

The impact of the pandemic has prompted renewed calls for a transformation of East African economies to better suit the challenges and opportunities in the global economy.

However, the latest聽聽by the Brookings Institute points out that a lack of investment in science and technology has hampered Africa鈥檚 economic transformation at a structural and sectoral level, and stifled innovation.

But following a two-year period of disruption, the region has an opportunity to rebuild in a way that not only aids its economic recovery but also establishes a powerful foundation for the region鈥檚 growth over the coming decades.

Three vital sectors could hold the key to how well the region recovers over the coming years, namely manufacturing, tourism, and pharmaceutical.

Considering the important economic role that manufacturing plays in East Africa, investments into technologies that can foster greater global competitiveness in the region鈥檚 manufacturing sector could unlock much of this potential to the benefit of East African economies.

The focus should be on building Industry 4.0 capabilities that bring together next-generation technologies 鈥� such as artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, Industrial Internet-of-Things and predictive analytics 鈥� integrated to an intelligent core that can bring unprecedented control, predictability and efficiency to manufacturing operations.

Aspects such as quality control, plant consumption and energy management, smart warehousing, factory asset intelligence and overall performance management can be transformed with Industry 4.0 capabilities. Integrating manufacturing facilities with digital supply chains could further help alleviate some of the present challenges with the global supply chain and bring greater stability to manufacturing operations.

In a recent global study, 21% of manufacturers said they聽, while 19% cited productivity improvements of more than 10%.

As the region reboots a manufacturing sector vital to its economic prospects, smart investment into Industry 4.0 technologies could help the sector accelerate its growth and boost its global competitiveness.

Special attention, however, must be paid to developing innovative supply chain solutions, especially considering the global supply chain crunch that has seen shortages of goods in markets around the world.

Any efforts at digitising the manufacturing value chain through Industry 4.0 technologies must include interventions and innovations that bring greater transparency and predictability to the supply chain.

Pharmaceutical sector: closing the R&D gap

Research and development initiatives hold the potential of unlocking tremendous economic advantages and stimulating foreign direct investment.

However, Africa lags far behind the more developed nations in their R&D spending, with the result that the majority of product and service innovations driving African economies stem from outside the continent.

This R&D gap and lack of local capacity was on full display during the early stages of the pandemic when Africa鈥檚 lack of local pharmaceutical production and manufacturing capacity left most of the continent without access to life-saving vaccines.

Policymakers and industry leaders should look at the opportunities for greater regional investment into R&D and draw on international best practices. For example, 18 of the world鈥檚 20 largest vaccine producers run their production facilities using 51风流technologies, so local production facilities could draw on learnings from their global peers to avoid costly mistakes and fast-track success.

As with the manufacturing sector, pharmaceutical companies should support investment into digital transformation with efforts at gaining greater visibility over their supply chain.

While it is unlikely the pandemic will disrupt the global supply chain as it has over the past two years, other disruptive events are bound to emerge. Investing in tools that bring predictability to the supply chain will enable pharmaceutical companies to more easily adapt to further disruptions.

Tourism sector: safely opening the doors to international visitors

Prior to the pandemic, the tourism sector was a key economic driver for East African countries and聽.

However, travel restrictions implemented to help curb the spread of COVID-19 in the region resulted in losses of 92% of tourism revenues, with arrivals dropping sharply from seven million in 2019 to little over two million in 2020. Further global travel restrictions as a result of the Omicron variant have only compounded the losses.

With Western countries now lifting many of their travel bans 鈥� and in some cases removing all mandated restrictions 鈥� East Africa needs to urgently work to re-establish the region as a prime tourist destination.

The introduction of the聽, which integrates the testing and vaccination data of regional countries could help ease movement across East Africa and stimulate greater tourism industry revenues.

Using digital technologies to remove some of the friction inherent in post-lockdown international travel could further encourage international arrivals, while innovation in tourism experiences built on technological innovation could turn the region into a test case for how countries attract tourists in the year ahead.

The post Three East Africa Economic Sectors Ripe for Tech Innovation appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

“We embarked on a process of digital transformation of our finance, sourcing and procurement, manufacturing, sales, supply chain and asset management processes,” says Meeta Shah, Finance and Supply Chain Director at Swiss Pharma Nigeria Limited. “Using the 51风流Activate methodology and leaning on the expert support of our implementation partner, we were able to successfully transform our business in a mere 26 weeks.”

Swiss Pharma Nigeria Limited (Swipha) is a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer that was established in 1976 to produce and market high-quality medicines supplying Nigeria and West Africa. French pharmaceutical company Servier acquired Swipha in 2017 to extend its wide range of products to Nigerian consumers. The company employs 320 people and is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.

Shah and her team partnered with Serve Consulting to implement a wide-ranging digital transformation project named ‘LEAPSWIPHA’, shorthand for ‘Lead by Improving Efficiency, Accountability and Productivity at Swipha’.

“Our project kicked off in May 2020 and ended with the successful go-live of our first 36 users at the end of October 2020. Core to our objectives was the need to have information in real-time for enhanced decision-making, and to save time by eliminating duplication of efforts and activities across multiple business processes.”

Swipha chose SAP’s flagship S/4HANA platform to automate and integrate all finance, procurement, manufacturing, supply chain and asset management modules and processes, improving accountability and efficiency. “Through proper role definition and restriction, including workflows and approvals, we improved our overall controls, while also building confidence in our data through quality data collection and distribution.”

Digitisation of core business processes is a top priority for organisations wishing to embrace the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In a 2019 survey, .

The implementation team followed strict adherence to 51风流S/4HANA best practices during the deployment, and a combined effort involving parallel activities across various aspects of the implementation ensured timely and on-budget delivery, with the invaluable support of quality assurance project manager Chris Orilogbon.

“We enjoyed the active and consistent involvement of the Swipha management team, following a realistic plan and accompanying budget,” explains Shah. “By focusing on our stakeholder engagement throughout the project, we could further ensure a successful rollout.”

Since go-live, Swipha enjoys greater availability of business-critical information in real time, aiding better business decision-making. “We have eliminated duplication of activities by capturing data at the source point, giving us a single version of truth across our operations. Our efficient, integrated system has improved our business operations, with an approximate 84% saving on man hours across our business processes.”

Titilayo Adewumi, Regional Sales Director for West Africa at SAP, says Swipha has taken a bold step toward achieving intelligent enterprise capabilities. 鈥淪uccessful modern enterprises use technology to automate processes and free up valuable internal resources for more high-value work, while also improving visibility across the operations of the business. Following its highly successful business transformation, Swipha is well positioned to build on its reputation as a leading pharmaceutical company in West Africa.鈥�

The post Swiss Pharma Nigeria Ltd Leaps into 4IR Capabilities with 51风流S/4HANA Deployment appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

You can watch the full 9 minute interview, or read the transcript below.

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United VARs:聽Why did Kiara Health choose you as their digital transformation partner?

Martin @ Seidor Westrocon:聽We were the first company in South Africa to go live with 51风流S/4HANA. One of our 51风流S/4HANA customers is a pharmaceutical company which manufactures vaccines, so we have a good track record in the pharmaceutical industry. Kiara Health wanted a partner who has a global footprint. Seidor has a direct presence in five continents the icing on the cake for Kiara is that we are part of United VARs which gives us a global footprint.

To date, we have done 16 collaborative projects with other United VARs partners. This project was a localised implementation, but what brought a lot of comfort to Kiara was the fact we have this broad reach and access to experienced 51风流partners worldwide who all have a common way of working together on global 51风流implementations. Having access to the United VARs community, through Seidor Westrocon, gives them complete confidence that we can scale this internationally when they have the opportunity.

United VARs:聽Why did you have such a tight timescale for this project?

Martin @ Seidor Westrocon:聽Kiara Health had to move from a global 51风流ECC system to their own new 51风流S/4HANA system very quickly to comply with South African and Global regulations as well as GMP, Good Manufacturing Practices. They needed a validated system and to not lose any manufacturing capability There was no flexibility on the go live date, as Kiara was implementing other shopfloor systems too, so everything needed to go live at the same time.

United VARs:聽How did you achieve the 51风流S/4HANA go live so quickly?

Martin @ Seidor Westrocon:聽We achieved go live in 4 months, within budget and with no disruption to their business, which is amazing. We also went into lockdown just as we started this project in Feb 2020.

When we started the project they hadn鈥檛 yet agreed on the hosting platform, so we started the development on our secure server and then migrated that to a hyperscaler. To accelerate the project, we had a set of templates and went through the entire pharmaceutical validation process with them. Typically, validation can take 3 months so the templates enabled this to happen much quicker. The project was based on 51风流Best Practices and the customer aligned with this vision. Also, we were very clear about milestones upfront and managed the project tightly to ensure no scope creep.

United VARs:聽What benefits are Kiara Health enjoying as a result of this implementation?

Martin @ Seidor Westrocon:聽We helped to automate their business, and simplify processes, in places they didn鈥檛 know was possible before. They have visibility in areas they previously had none. There wasn鈥檛 any reporting when they purchased the manufacturing plant, and now they can see the KPIs and have a real-time view of the business. The General Manager of the plant can鈥檛 stop talking about how they now use the mobile Fiori app to approve certain things. Previously, they needed to get to a laptop and connect via the VPN but now they can approve during meetings and when they鈥檙e on the road. It鈥檚 a simple example but it makes a huge difference in the lives of their executives. If you can approve something in seconds instead of 10, 20 minutes then that鈥檚 a big process improvement.

United VARs:聽Does Kiara Health have any future projects planned with Seidor Westrocon?

Martin @ Seidor Westrocon:聽What we鈥檝e already done as a second phase is roll out another 6 companies, which are actually various parts of existing companies Kiara owned. We collected them all together using the power of the 51风流S/4HANA platform. They are very well positioned to grow internationally so I expect we will implement in other countries.

We have also agreed to look at MII, Manufacturing Integration Intelligence, which brings the shopfloor to the boardroom. We will be implementing that in the next few months and are planning other business process improvements to help them manage their supply chain.

This article first appeared on the .

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For one African pharmaceutical company, neither option was suitable, and so an exemplary digital transformation project was initiated that would completely transform its systems without any disruption to the business or its customers.

Kiara Health (Pty) Ltd is an African pharmaceutical manufacturing and healthcare solutions company headquartered in Johannesburg. It serves as a the local, non-exclusive manufacturing partner for a global top five pharmaceutical company and as a commercial partner for several global pharmaceutical and medical technology companies.

The acquisition by Kiara Health of a multinational pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, sold to fulfil a need for transformation in the local pharmaceutical sector, sees the dawn of a new type of pharmaceutical company that offers an end-to-end solution along the patient journey. Kiara Health, a 100% black-owned company,聽 purchased this plant together with twenty-five marketing authorisations.

Kiara Health鈥檚 leadership was left with a vital decision: keep to the highly-customised 51风流ECC system of the outgoing multinational company (with cost-prohibitive separation terms), or invest in a standalone cloud-based digital platform to streamline operations.聽They chose a turn-key ERP system by 51风流to support its operations.

Dr Skhumbuzo Ngozwana, CEO and President of Kiara Health, says that the driving force behind the leadership team鈥檚 decision was to ensure that their customers do not suffer due to a transition to the new system. 鈥淲e partnered with Seidor Westrocon and adopted 51风流S/4HANA to simplify and automate our end-to-end processes, from product ordering through to production, packaging and distribution. We achieved go-live in four months, and within budget, with no disruption to our business. This implementation is potentially unprecedented in an organisation of similar size and type.鈥�

This decision has proven to be a success story as the transition from the old multinational modified system to the implementation of an off-the-shelf 51风流offering ensured that the production facility remained operational throughout the SARS-CoV-2 lockdown period. Without any teething problems that would halt manufacturing, no employee jobs were put at risk due to the lockdown.

鈥淭his decision was taken by an extremely agile and highly qualified team of experts within Kiara Health and fully supports President Cyril Ramaphosa鈥檚 South African Economic Recovery Plan to generate 800,000 jobs,鈥� says Dr Ngozwana. 鈥淜iara Health sees these executions as part of their mission to progress the health of all on the continent, underpinned by job creation and not 鈥榡ob saving鈥�.鈥�

The manufacturing site previously operated on a complex and expensive legacy enterprise resource planning system. However, with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, local manufacturing capability became more important than ever for new owners, Kiara Health. The company needed聽 a system that could increase throughput by streamlining processes across business areas, and which could place greater control in the hands of the leadership team.

鈥淲e consolidated our operations on a standalone cloud-based digital platform with 51风流S/4HANA Cloud,鈥� says Dr Ngozwana. 鈥淭his off-the-shelf solution gave us a flexible yet standardised system that is adaptable to our needs, allowing us to maintain best-practice. It has also future-proofed the digital foundation of our business, and enables our Industry 4.0 aspirations for the future.鈥�

The implementation involved all Kiara Health stakeholders that are currently still involved in ensuring world-class manufacturing from the site. These experts worked in close collaboration with implementation partner Seidor Westrocon to develop a deep understanding of each department鈥檚 responsibilities, and how the 51风流processes can support them.

鈥淭he transition from working in multinational company silos to operating as a team has improved our internal responsiveness and enabled significant value creation across our supply chain, procurement and manufacturing processes,鈥� says Moosa Areff, Kiara Health Chief Operating Officer.

The implementation team streamlined Kiara Health鈥檚 procure-to-pay processes to shorten the time between order placement and goods receipt. Following the implementation, the company has reduced its days to close from eight days to one, greatly improving cash planning.

鈥淲e have tightly integrated and simplified on-time delivery processes to enable our team to get through work faster and troubleshoot with full visibility,鈥� says Dr Ngozwana. 鈥淓ach team member can diagnose any challenge to understand what is impacting production or the release of the end-product. The improved usability and support has helped us reduce the total cost of ownership by 10%, while our on-time and in-full delivery performance has improved from 80-85% to 100% – 聽an outstanding achievement.鈥�

Following the implementation, Kiara Health has enjoyed higher settlement discounts and improved brand reputation thanks to direct payment cycles. Costs are also contained due to greater visibility and through leveraging economies-of-scale in the procurement process.

鈥淥ur business is now more responsive as our planning and production teams are connected to our warehouse,鈥� says 聽Conrad Strydom, Kiara Health Head of Site . 鈥淲e are also enjoying greater end-user sourcing compliance and increased savings in sourcing, in both direct and indirect spend. As a whole, the implementation of 51风流S/4HANA has empowered our teams to make better decisions and improve the total performance of our business, setting us up for a bright future.鈥�

On Kiara Health鈥檚 role in the implementation, Martin Van Wyk, Managing Director of Seidor Westrocon says the collaboration was first class. 鈥淭he Kiara Health and Seidor Westrocon teams worked unwaveringly during the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa, and pulled off the project and go-live together. The contribution from the Kiara Health leadership team, with their deep understanding of their business operations, extensive process knowledge and 51风流expertise, was a considerable game-changer, making this mammoth task achievable. A big thank you to this team.鈥�

Cameron Beveridge, Regional Director for Southern Africa at SAP, says Kiara Health has reduced complexity in its environment through greater control across its operations. 鈥淏y building its operations on the powerful S/4HANA digital platform, Kiara Health has achieved immediate business benefits while enabling greater future innovation and easing the process of integrating Industry 4.0 innovations.聽Transforming its total operations in a mere four months with no impact on product or service delivery is a great accomplishment by Kiara Health and its implementation partner Seidor Westrocon.鈥�

The post 51风流S/4HANA Just the Medicine for Kiara Health鈥檚 Complexity, Cost Challenges appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

鈥淥ur legacy system was largely responsible for the sales portion of our business,鈥� says Peppina Operations Manager Liesl Groenewald. 鈥淓verything else was captured by hand and on Excel, predominantly by just one individual. Not only was this incredibly time consuming, but the scope for mistakes and human error was fast becoming an unnecessary challenge, potentially hindering what could otherwise be a far more streamlined, smoother and efficient way of doing business.鈥�

Founded in 1956 as a mail order business, Peppina is one of approximately two dozen contract manufacturers specialising in the pharmaceutical industry today. Headquartered in Johannesburg, Peppina enjoys a national and global presence with all products manufactured at its facility available on both the local and international market, complete with an online shopping facility.

鈥淭hirty years ago, we made the move from mail order to producing our own products. However, it was only about eight years ago that we began the manufacturing side of our business, never once predicting the success that has it accounting for the largest part of what we now do,鈥� says Groenewald.

Growth = challenges + opportunity

With its growth trajectory showing no signs of abating, coupled with strict industry regulations and processes needing to be adhered to in the manufacturing and production of pharmaceutical products, Peppina began to review potential technology solutions capable of enabling it to meet current requirements together with continued future growth.

Peppina were clear that they required a fully integrated system, capable of customisation where necessary in order to meet its unique industry related requirements. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 interested in developing anything from the ground up or running separate packages,鈥� stresses Groenewald. 鈥淥ur requirements included automatic stock reconciliation, real-time access to information, the ability to capture batch numbers and expiry dates, and full integration, automation and absolute traceability.鈥�

Biting the bullet

Peppina was contacted by a representative from 4most Systems, a leading supplier and implementer of 51风流Business One and ERP software technology. Groenewald believed they had potentially found the answer to their day to day requirements as well as the more unique areas specific to the pharmaceutical industry and its stringent requirements.

鈥淚 had not realised the amount of customisation possible and afforded by 51风流Business One,鈥� says Groenewald. 鈥淚t is as if we were able to take the best off-the-shelf package suitable to our needs and then tweak and customise to create a solution best suited to our environment, our requirements and the industry in which we operate.鈥�

Some market research conducted on 4most as a vendor, yielded positive feedback and recommendations. 鈥�4most鈥檚 reputation as one of the leading vendors for 51风流Business One in the local market cemented our commitment to move forward not only with implementing 51风流Business One, but also with 4most as our chosen vendor.鈥�

Peppina went live with its new installation of 51风流Business One on March 1st 2019. Between change management and getting used to a whole new set of processes and an entirely different system, the first few months proved challenging. 鈥淣o matter how much training one has, it is only in the actual 鈥榙oing鈥� that one can really learn, thereby making a new system one鈥檚 own,鈥� says Groenewald.

鈥淭here were also things we didn鈥檛 know we didn鈥檛 know. For example, customising customer statements and invoices to suit a business鈥檚 corporate identify (CI) and financial regulations as opposed to simply running 51风流Business One鈥檚 generic templates. But, as we learned, we got better.鈥�

Sound business decision

Yet despite the challenges, with only a few months since implementation earlier this year, Groenewald is quick to point out two very significant benefits already yielding advantages for Peppina.

• Transparency: No hiding. Once information is captured onto the 51风流Business One system, it is there. This allows for complete accountability.

• The sharing of information: A lot more people have access to information, faster and better than ever before. The days of one person owning all the information are no longer.

Smoother operations, reduced errors and hands on efficiencies

The pharmaceutical industry and its accompanying regulations make for very time-consuming processes, irrespective of the underlying technology infrastructure. A set of paper copies, physically signed off, need to be kept as part of industry compliance. However, the beauty of a fully automated and integrated system means that any human errors are now immediately spotted. 鈥淚f something is captured incorrectly by hand, it will be immediately evident upon attempting to enter it into the system,鈥� says Groenewald.

鈥淚 am now able to simply login to 51风流Business One to find all the information I could possibly need so much quicker than what was previously possible. The customised reporting is also a great tool to have. Literally, at the press of a button, I can access a report on whatever I need to report on, with the costing of products now also possible in real-time.鈥�

The management of Peppina鈥檚 stock levels has also benefited exponentially with 51风流Business One providing the functionality to not only immediately realise any potential errors but most importantly to allow for the fixing of them, immediately, removing any potential knock on effect. Peppina now knows exactly what is coming in, from where, and how much, all of which has a huge impact on improving daily efficiencies. Industry compliance also requires that the company runs a mock recall every year.

Whilst the procurement process has benefitted from the new technology infrastructure, there are some final tweaks Groenewald would like to look at together with a few smaller issues pertaining to the display of currencies within its financial reporting.

鈥淩ealistically, it probably takes about a year from initial implementation to completely iron out all chinks,鈥� says Groenewald. 鈥淏ut we are so much further down the road than we have ever been and look forward to continuing both our investment in 51风流Business One and our relationship with 4most into the future.鈥�

The post Pharmaceutical Contract Manufacturer, Peppina, Chooses 51风流Business One appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.