NetSuite automates Warners gin distillation processes
COMPANY INFORMATION
Founded in 2012 on their farm in Northamptonshire, Warner’s Distillery Limited (Warner’s) makes gin the authentic way: they’re gin farmers. It’s dirty hands, hard work, full hearts, a deep love of the land and respect for the community. Their gins are crafted with nature: water from the spring on Falls Farm, home-grown botanicals, fresh honey from their own bees. They re-sow, replant, give back to nature. As distillers, they question, experiment and invent epic gins, including some never imagined before: they are the creators of the original rhubarb gin. They do it in small batches in their gorgeous bespoke copper stills, Curiosity and Satisfaction.
The innovative approach of Warner’s led to rapid expansion, with the business growing at over 100% year-on-year. This accelerated growth meant that Warner’s needed to implement a new business management system which was both agile and scalable. So, they looked to Catalyst ERP (Catalyst) and the business management software NetSuite.
THE CHALLENGES
Prior to engaging with Catalyst and implementing NetSuite, Warner’s operated on the Sage Line 50 system. This was not fit for purpose as it had no manufacturing capabilities, could not support their reporting requirements and system performance was already an issue, especially at peak times in the month. Legacy processes were very manual, Excel-based and unable to match the pace of the business and rate of change.
Warners wanted:
- To support their aggressive growth trajectory
- A complete view of their operations
- Visibility of product availability
- Tools to aid effective Production Planning
- Improved Stock Control and Inventory Management
- Automated Duty and LPA (Litres of pure alcohol) reporting to satisfy HMRC requirements
THE SOLUTION
NetSuite completely satisfied all these requirements. Warner’s now has a platform which fulfils its growth and evolution plans. NetSuite is flexible, powerful and easy to use. It integrates CRM, order processing, manufacturing, inventory management, finance and end-to-end business reporting in a way that really fits the business needs of Warner’s.
Catalyst implemented its Bottle ERP edition of NetSuite which includes a raft of industry specific customisations, including automated LPA reporting. The complex calculations required to report LPA was historically time consuming, very manual and potentially prone to user error. The new completely automated solution includes a custom screen that allows Warner’s to simply enter a date to display all transactions for HMRC reporting, i.e. the LPA in the business, the LPA output and LPA wastage. They can see live LPA numbers and report to HMRC in the required format, at the click of a button.
"We had outgrown the Sage Line 50 solution and it became clear that we needed a more robust solution to take the business through the next five years of growth and beyond. We evaluated a number of solutions, including Sage 200 and SAP business ONE, before settling on NetSuite. The guys at Catalyst very quickly got to grips with the complexities of our business and helped us to define our processes as well as configuring NetSuite to suit our current and future requirements. In particular, the bespoke handling of HMRC duty reporting. Through the purchase, manufacturing and sales process will help enormously in meeting our reporting responsibilities."
THE BENEFITS
Bottle ERP further satisfies the requirement to have visibility across the business of duty to be paid and the ability to automatically report on this, at the required intervals.
Other benefits of working with Catalyst:
- Access to the Catalyst Bottle ERP edition of NetSuite to automate their gin distillation processes
- More efficient manufacturing through a visual Production Planner calendar in NetSuite
- Enabled the real-time capture of Quality Control checks during the distillation process
- Mobile Warehouse Management through the implementation of Catalyst WMS Go
- Warner’s now uses the Catalyst Bottle ERP edition of NetSuite in conjunction with Catalyst WMS Go, a Mobile
- Warehouse Management solution, to manage its entire order to cash operation.