The Irish food conglomerate Kerry Group has implemented the cloud-based e-procurement software SAP Sourcing OnDemand across its global operations spanning 23 countries.
Still headquartered in Tralee, Co Kerry, the company has a market cap of more than €5bn and supplies food ingredients and flavours to the food and beverage industry, as well as its consumer foods range which it sells in Ireland and throughout Europe.
In 2010, the group moved to SAP ERP and its move to the German software group’s sourcing tool was made in a matter of four weeks. SAO says its Sourcing OnDemand software is aimed at companies looking for a more strategic and cost-effective approach to procurement.
Peter Fotios, director of e-procurement Services at Kerry Group, said the company needed an intuitive sourcing system that would be completely integrated with its SAP back office for an end-to-end procurement process.
“SAP Sourcing OnDemand gave us the strong sourcing functionality to capture the end-to-end negotiation cycle with our suppliers, as well as the added benefit of being up and running in weeks, not months,” he said.
Implementation took place in Kerry’s home operations in Ireland first, followed by England and subsequently throughout its global operations in 23 countries.
The latest release of SAP Sourcing OnDemand was launched earlier this year and integrates with SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM) application, building on existing integration with SAP ERP. It claims this allows customers to achieve greater compliance and to realise cost savings.
The latest release specifically aims to reduce costs through enhanced strategic sourcing and contract management, SAP says.
