Svarog

Svarog: Axapta says “Na Zdorovie” all across Russia

When people across the Russian Federation toast “Na Zdorovie” (which means “Cheers”) it is a fair bet they are enjoying one of Svarog Ltd's alcoholic beverages. Established in 1992 Svarog have since expanded their business to cover 75 regional markets from Europe to Asia. In 2004 they needed to consolidate all business processes on one system. Columbus IT Partner and Microsoft Business Solutions Axapta provided the technology.

“We chose Columbus IT Partner because of their solid position in the market, their professionalism and their experience with similar implementations projects for other clients”, says Aleksei Semonov, MD of Svarog Ltd.  

Transparency

Svarog's operations have expanded steadily for more than 10 years. Besides importing and marketing fine wines and spirits they also run a chain of wine boutiques in St. Petersburg and Moscow. As their business grew Svarog found it increasingly difficult to maintain an overview of their operations.  Since they were using separate IT systems they experienced a lot of double entry which resulted in duplicate information and lack of clarity. The solution was to invest in a new, fully integrated ERP system that could provide the transparency they needed in order to maintain reliable distribution and develop strong customer relations.

Planning and automation

The main objectives for the new solution were to improve Svarog's planning and to automate a number of processes. After an in depth evaluation of different ERP systems and implementation partners, Svarog chose Axapta and Columbus IT Partner. The first stage of implementation concentrated on inventory management including the ability to plan turnover of the individual products, estimation of costs and automating the logistic control procedures.

On time

The first stage of implementation lasted five months and all deadlines were met on time. Svarog now had a system that supported warehouse management, supply chain management, free planning functionality and integration with suppliers. During the implementation, specialists from Columbus worked hard to design a planning tool that would support Svarog's multi-supplier environment and also their multi-step calculation system. With the first stage completed the benefits were evident. Svarog could now plan with much better precision while using less time and fewer resources in the process.

New strategy

The Axapta solution has also made way for a new inventory strategy at Svarog that has increased turnover and improved the liquid cash flow.

“Now we can control the logistic routes of our inventory very closely”, says Yuri Romadanov, purchasing manager at Svarog. “By checking dates at several control points we can see if we are on time or if we need to take action. At the same time the system is automatically planning and managing the inventory which saves us a lot of labor intensive manual estimation”.

More to come

Although the benefits have been many and valuable, Svarog Ltd. is not going to sit back and relax. The second stage of implementation is already underway. The objective is to automate the sales processes and to integrate the control and auditing of warehouse/inventory and accounting. After that comes CRM and financial modules.

Long term

“At Columbus IT we always strive to establish lasting relationships with our clients”, says Egor Ivanov, Project Manager from Columbus IT Partner in Moscow. “Therefore it's a pleasure to be working with Svarog Ltd. who has always taken the long term approach to their business. That is certainly one of the main reasons for their continued success. We hope to be able to help them grow and become even more profitable in the years to come.” 

About Svarog

Svarog Ltd. imports, sells and distributes fine wine and spirits across 75 regional markets in the Russian Federation - from Kaliningrad to South-Sakhalin and from Norilsk to Ulan-Ude. They were established in 1992 and are now ranked among the top 5 companies in their market. In addition to their import business they also operate a chain of wine boutiques in Moscow and St. Petersburg called Svarog-M. This retail enterprise is ranked among the 10 strongest companies in the Russian capital. Svarog Ltd. employs over two hundred people.