AG Barr sign new contract with Maxima

AG Barr, the FTSE 250 listed plc, Scottish based soft drinks manufacturer and distributor who are enjoying unprecedented success have signed a contract with their IT partner Maxima www.maxima.co.uk to upgrade their existing MFG/PRO ERP business system to QAD Enterprise Applications 2009 in order to form a strategic IT pillar alongside their earlier investment in Siebel CRM and the Oracle based Swisslog Automatic Storage & Retrieval warehousing system.  In parallel QAD's Trade Management solution will be implemented.

Competition for retail floor space is intense; making it extremely difficult for UK based manufacturers to compete with the perceived global manufacturers. Major retailers are using their tremendous buying and IT power to squeeze out higher margins and extract the maximum benefit from expected trade funds received.

To further complicate matters, the introduction of IFRS regulations has placed even greater reporting and tracking requirements on all areas of the business, including pressure on the Sales and Finance areas to implement tighter control of Trade Management processes. These need to be automated, easily audited, and well documented.

QAD Trade Management (QAD TrM) allows manufacturers and distributors to more effectively plan, manage and track trade (promotional) spending activities. QAD TrM provides the information to analyse and monitor promotional programs, track revenue and costs, compare them to budget and last year, track sales by customers and products, plus process and track claims and rebates.

QAD Enterprise Applications 2009 is the latest version of QAD's elegant ERP software. QAD 2009 is a comprehensive fully integrated end-to-end solution designed to equip manufacturing companies with robust financial capabilities, supply chain management, enterprise asset management, and transportation and logistics management. QAD 2009 enables corporate excellence; strong enough for the global enterprise, yet flexible enough for small- and medium-sized companies