Supporting Growth

Effortless Point Of Consumption network control

ZX Ventures, the division responsible for innovation, growth and sustainability of the world’s largest brewer, runs on LOVIS EOS. Providing effortless Point Of Contact (POC) network control, LOVIS is the trusted partner of ABInBev.

Created in 2015, Zx Ventures’ mission is to develop new products and businesses to meet emerging users’ needs. These include: delivering extraordinary experiences, beverage personalisation and new purchase/delivery formulas, plus ensuring widespread availability.

Its Brand Experience hub (BEx), offers a rich variety of artisan beers and new experiences to consumers through pub-type POCs – ie food, merchandising and local brewing. BEx also supports  large events, like the Corona Capital annual music festival in Mexico City.

The problem

Fragmented systems meant little communication between procurement, distribution, sales (POCs) and finance, compromising BEx’s operational control.

There were no clear procurement processes; head office was responsible for 60% of purchases and  POC 40% (usually communicated via email, without detailing the workflow, procedure or transactional history), impacting the financial return and wasting raw materials.

Excel spreadsheets were used for inventory control and reporting on beer freshness, consumption and sales, omitting detail such as the POC’s merchandise quantity, quality, location and purchase information.

POC managers used spreadsheets to produce their expenses and purchase reports, and once emailed to finance, they were manually collated and the data used for wider income and expenditure documents.

Sales information was downloaded from POC software and  aggregated in order to meet business and holding company reporting requirements.

Having analysed ABInBev’s enterprise software, Zx Ventures concluded it was complex, inflexible  and incompatible with its current and future, more agile, business model.

The implications

Innumerable manual tasks were carried out in an attempt to produce usable information. Each area had its own version and a lack of detail made it hard to make decisions, compromising the growth of  BEx.

Over 25,000 person-hours were dedicated every year to low on none added- value manual tasks. There were no new business models and existing ones failed to expand. Money was lost.

Communication breakdowns between POCs, procurement and distribution centres were common and reactive, often emergency purchases (sometimes buying Group’s products from retailers), happened frequently, incurring unnecessary logistical expenses.  Beer and food freshness was lost due to expiration and costs soared.

POCs, events, initiatives and business lines’ EBITDA lacked visibility, and little could be done.

The solution

Zx Ventures middle americas, needed integrated, powerful and flexible enterprise software to support its  current activity and future unknown developments. After analysing several systems, the team concluded it needed something very different from the well-known industry 3.0 solutions. An innovative company required an innovative solution.

LOVIS EOS was selected for its power, flexibility, end-to-end business processes support and simultaneously connected, cloud-integrated system.

After analysing, modelling and documenting all operational processes, LOVIS EOS was configured to support the entire business. Master data was prepared and uploaded, process and technology training sessions were delivered and integral tests run. In less than five months, the system went live.

Brewers, pubs and restaurants’ POS software was integrated via LOVIS’  APIs and the EOS system automatically created POS software for sales, income, recipe-based consumption/ variations, raw materials, purchase receipts and costs. Inventory, procurement and freshness information was on every POC, including First Expiry First Out (FEFO) control mechanisms.

Procurement, distribution, sales, finance and accounting was synchronised with information accessible directly from the LOVIS EOS integrated database, via the cloud.

Manual operations were eliminated. Procurement requests were converted into purchase orders which triggered an integrated procurement-to-pay business process, ensuring transparency re; what’s on the system and where it’s going. With results readily available online and in real time, users could see  how Zx Ventures performed on a daily basis. Organisational-wide workflow and transactional transparency ensured central, regional and distributors’ tasks and authorisations were in place immediately, optimising resources and finances.

By being flexible and scalable, LOVIS EOS is allowing  Zx Ventures’ other businesses to evolve; something crucial to an ever-changing innovative business.

Benefits

Zx Ventures is using those past-wasted 25,000 person-hours to run and grow its business. The time is spent on information analysis, innovation, developing new business models and saving costs. Personal and professional satisfaction is growing and stress, reducing.

Centralised purchases, better distribution processes and negotiations with providers, simple, yet formalised business frameworks and enforcement, and food/beverage expiry controls, amongst others, reduced supplies’ costs by 30%. Reductions in POC and business line EBITDA investment risk, from 8m to 5m, allows ZX Ventures to open new POCs in a more intelligent way.

Zx Ventures middle americas, now has a platform for all its business and operating areas, giving users access to real time data, 24/7, informing their decision-making and increasing responsiveness. Now LOVIS is a partner, strengthening its operation with 70 new profitable POCs in 2020 requires less investment .

LOVIS EOS gives the pioneering and innovative, Zx Ventures, the speed, security, flexibility and integration it needs to support new and highly-diverse businesses.