Great Plains Coca Cola Completes Multi Suite Lawson Software Implementation
Latest Lawson applications and technology platform help national bottling company optimize business performance
ST. PAUL, Minn. (March 06, 2007) – The latest Lawson Software (Nasdaq:LWSN) applications and technology platform are helping Great Plains Coca-Cola Bottling Company (GPCC) optimize business performance. GPCC completed its beta site rollout of Lawson System Foundation 9 in August 2006. In just four months, the company then implemented the Lawson Human Capital Management, Enterprise Financial Management and Supply Chain Management suites to increase operational efficiencies by providing greater reliability and scalability across its core business systems.
A Lawson customer since 1998, GPCC is an independent bottler and distributor of carbonated and non-carbonated Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper beverages. GPCC is located in Oklahoma City, Okla., and is the seventh-largest U.S. Coca-Cola bottler. The company has seven distribution centers in Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas and more than 1,400 employees.
In November 2005, GPCC realized the need to update its technology platform to further enhance the performance of its core business systems. GPCC also wanted to upgrade its Lawson business applications to support this goal. As a result, GPCC became a beta customer for the Lawson System Foundation 9 technology platform, which became available in late 2006, and chose to migrate directly from Lawson 7.2 to Lawson 9.0 applications – skipping the Lawson 8.1 version.
“A ‘skip’ upgrade was our best option since we wanted to be on the most current technology, but didn’t want to manage more than one migration project,” said Clayton Sliger, chief financial officer, Great Plains Coca-Cola Bottling Company. “The Lawson 9 applications and technology platform is expected to help us manage purchasing processes and provide greater scalability and usability to control operational costs long-term.”
GPCC approached the project by first creating a steering committee, which included one representative from each of its core business departments. This committee then worked closely with Lawson Professional Services to establish an initial system overview and procedures to guide the implementation and end-user training.
Key benefits of GPCC’s Lawson 9 applications, which run on the IBM System i platform, include fewer IT resources needed to support the technology environment and a dramatic reduction in end-user training time based on the applications’ enhanced ease-of-use. The Lawson system also integrates with several third-party systems, including BSI Tax Factory and Kronos employee timekeeping software.
Lawson System Foundation 9 features the latest technology from Lawson combined with other world-class technologies, for a high-performance, standards-based technology solution. The highly secure and solid foundation provides a platform for Lawson’s next-generation applications designed for use within a service-oriented architecture (SOA).
“Mid-sized companies want affordable business software that offers rich functionality and rapid deployment to help them achieve business results faster,” said Robert Peterson, marketing director, Industry Markets, Lawson Software. “Through its Lawson System Foundation 9 beta and skip upgrade experience, Great Plains took a lead adopter approach to applying new technologies to simplify administrative tasks and drive better operational performance.”
Source: Lawson
