Download PDF
IBM Sterling B2B Integration Services: A Game Changer for Bonnie Plants
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries
Applicable Industries
- Consumer Goods
- Retail
Applicable Functions
- Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
- Retail Store Automation
- Supply Chain Visibility
Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Bonnie Plants, a national plant wholesaler based in Alabama, was grappling with the challenges of manual data processing which made them vulnerable to human errors and long delays. The company was using IBM Sterling's Gentran:Director® for EDI and Sterling Collaboration NetworkSM for their VAN services since 1994. However, the sales data took up to three days to process, leading to a feeling of being overwhelmed with data. The processing of sales orders could take an entire day and was subject to human error. After pulling information across a dial-up modem, Bonnie often discovered the data was incomplete. The company was continuously facing the challenges of trading electronically with little visibility. Moreover, 70 percent of their business occurred between the months of March and May, which required a scalable solution that could handle a large influx of data during a short period of time.
About The Customer
Bonnie Plants began in 1918 in a backyard and has grown to include 68 growing stations around the country. The company currently has 450 sales representatives servicing more than 13,000 accounts. As a national plant wholesaler based in Alabama, Bonnie is dedicated to supplying retail stores throughout the United States and Canada with the best herb, flower, and vegetable plants available. As part of Alabama Farmers Cooperative (AFC), a regionally federated supply and marketing agricultural cooperative, Bonnie has brought top-quality plants to gardeners across the country throughout the company’s history. AFC acquired its most profitable division, Bonnie in 1975.
The Solution
In 2007, Bonnie Plants recognized that Sterling B2B Integration Services would allow them to remain competitive while reducing their overall costs. The implementation process began in September, and by December, all trading partners were moved. The solution was deployed in phases to ensure Bonnie’s business would not be interrupted during implementation. Sterling B2B Integration Services now enables Bonnie to connect people, processes, and technology across boundaries. Each time a Bonnie product is scanned at a retail store, the information is collected, put into a common layout, and then processed immediately. This real-time visibility allows salesmen to drop off new plants where and when they are needed. Sterling B2B Integration Services processes invoices, adjustments, payment orders, remittance advice, purchase orders, product activity data, and customer text messages for Bonnie. Bonnie now processes, on average, 90,000 documents per month, with around six million transactions during their peak season of March through May.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Related Case Studies.
.png)
Case Study
Improving Vending Machine Profitability with the Internet of Things (IoT)
The vending industry is undergoing a sea change, taking advantage of new technologies to go beyond just delivering snacks to creating a new retail location. Intelligent vending machines can be found in many public locations as well as company facilities, selling different types of goods and services, including even computer accessories, gold bars, tickets, and office supplies. With increasing sophistication, they may also provide time- and location-based data pertaining to sales, inventory, and customer preferences. But at the end of the day, vending machine operators know greater profitability is driven by higher sales and lower operating costs.
Case Study
Improving Production Line Efficiency with Ethernet Micro RTU Controller
Moxa was asked to provide a connectivity solution for one of the world's leading cosmetics companies. This multinational corporation, with retail presence in 130 countries, 23 global braches, and over 66,000 employees, sought to improve the efficiency of their production process by migrating from manual monitoring to an automatic productivity monitoring system. The production line was being monitored by ABB Real-TPI, a factory information system that offers data collection and analysis to improve plant efficiency. Due to software limitations, the customer needed an OPC server and a corresponding I/O solution to collect data from additional sensor devices for the Real-TPI system. The goal is to enable the factory information system to more thoroughly collect data from every corner of the production line. This will improve its ability to measure Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and translate into increased production efficiencies. System Requirements • Instant status updates while still consuming minimal bandwidth to relieve strain on limited factory networks • Interoperable with ABB Real-TPI • Small form factor appropriate for deployment where space is scarce • Remote software management and configuration to simplify operations
Case Study
How Sirqul’s IoT Platform is Crafting Carrefour’s New In-Store Experiences
Carrefour Taiwan’s goal is to be completely digital by end of 2018. Out-dated manual methods for analysis and assumptions limited Carrefour’s ability to change the customer experience and were void of real-time decision-making capabilities. Rather than relying solely on sales data, assumptions, and disparate systems, Carrefour Taiwan’s CEO led an initiative to find a connected IoT solution that could give the team the ability to make real-time changes and more informed decisions. Prior to implementing, Carrefour struggled to address their conversion rates and did not have the proper insights into the customer decision-making process nor how to make an immediate impact without losing customer confidence.
Case Study
Digital Retail Security Solutions
Sennco wanted to help its retail customers increase sales and profits by developing an innovative alarm system as opposed to conventional connected alarms that are permanently tethered to display products. These traditional security systems were cumbersome and intrusive to the customer shopping experience. Additionally, they provided no useful data or analytics.
