Grupo Bimbo
Grupo Bimbo is considered the largest food company and undisputed leader in the national baking industry in Mexico as well as in Latin America in terms of production volume, sales and brand positioning.
Client Profile
Grupo Bimbo, established in Mexico City in 1945 is a worldwide leader in the baking industry and is present in 16 countries: Europe (Austria, Czech Republic); USA South America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela); Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua).
Overview of Grupo Bimbo:
- ranked as the number one baking company in the Americas
- a public stock company traded on the Mexican stock exchange
- 3600 products: packaged breads, confectionery, crackers, cookies, donuts, pastries, candies, snacks, tortillas, caramels, sweet rolls etc.
- 100 brands: Bimbo, Marinela, Oroweat, Mrs. Baird’s, Entenmann’s, Tia Rosa, Plus Vita, Parklane, Holsum, Barcel, Ricolino etc.
- annual revenue US$ 3.7 billion
- 72,400 employees
- 590,000 customers
- 4 business units: (Baking, Snacks/Candies, Latin America, USA)
- 75 manufacturing plants
- 162 ISO 9001/2 certified
- 980 distribution agencies
- 25,000 dalily delivery routes with a fleet of over 24, 686 trucks equivalent to circling the Earth 26 times per day
- 400,000 sales visits per day.
Business Issues
In Mexico supermarkets account for 20% to 25% of the retail food market. The remaining 75% to 80% of sales originate in small “mom-and-pop” stores.
Grupo Bimbo manufactures products with a short shelf life (bread) and long shelf life (snacks). Plants operate in 3 shifts, 24x7. Bread, a very perishable product goes from the production line directly to delivery trucks. In the baking industry fresh bread inventory levels are measured in hours, not in days.
Because of the nature of the goods, Grupo Bimbo must service stores directly, on a daily basis. This places tremendous demands on the distribution network to guarantee uninterrupted, fresh product delivery. Therefore, the main business driver influencing Grupo Bimbo was to improve product delivery speed on its distribution network. Grupo Bimbo’s major distribution channels are to retail stores through sales reps who manage their accounts individually.
Grupo Bimbo business objectives were to define and establish a reliable, safe, centralized and readily available IT infrastructure. It should demonstrate the capacity to support Grupo Bimbo’s global operations and facilitate easy integration of new acquisitions by migrating from 600 Unix servers to one Oracle server running Oracle E-Business Applications.
An in-house reengineering project led to selecting a full cadre of modules from the Oracle E-Business Suite for operations worldwide with Capgemini as implementation partner and Meta/4 as the Human Resources solution.
Solution
Planning started with a one-month preparation phase for the 16 countries where Grupo Bimbo operates. Implementation of 80 interfaces with legacy systems and automated data conversion methods. An operational model was based on standard applications supporting all Grupo Bimbo’s business units, countries and regions.
The project test began with the Wonder Bread manufacturing plant ( for 3 months) including its 11 distribution agencies. Two months later the project continued at 4 of the biggest Grupo Bimbo’s manufacturing plants, including 33 distribution agencies in Mexico City.
The first international roll-out opportunity came when Grupo Bimbo acquired the major bread manufacturer in Brazil (PlusVita Alimentos). The complete strategy was implemented in 5 months. The IT architecture included a Sun Enterprise 10000 platform and a Frame Relay Network to support 4,500 remote users located in more than 500 sites.
After considering several options Grupo Bimbo management approved combined ‘big-bang’ and ‘wave approaches to launch the Oracle solution worldwide. A ‘wave approach’ meant implementing an initial set of processes in organizational units and then deploying the same functionality and processes using a roll-out approach to the rest of Grupo Bimbo’s organizational units. ‘Big Bang’ meant that same day installations of the solution in target units would enable Grupo Bimbo to balance speed, risk and cost.
The design is a multi-language, multi-currency, multi-organization and multi-country solution. The project was supported by Capgemini OER (Oracle Enabled Reengineering) Methodology and Oracle AIM (Application Implementation Method).
The solution also included the design and implementation of a Competency Center staffed by internal resources. This gives Grupo Bimbo independence from relying on consulting companies for future in-house solutions.
Maximo Fleet Manager software tracks and manages and all aspects of the fleet maintenance to reduce downtime and operating costs. Maximo Fleet Manager is already ‘live’ in 44 distribution agencies in Mexico, 9 in Brazil, 4 manufacturing plants in Mexico and 3 in Brazil supporting maintenance for more than 5,000 vehicles. Maximo Fleet Manager for the rest of the Grupo fleet, (25,000) is now being implemented. The solution comprises Oracle Applications Release 11i
- General Ledger
- Payables
- Receivables
- Assets
- Treasury
- Cash Management
- Cost Management
Supply Chain:
- Inventory
- Purchasing
- Advanced Supply Chain Planning
- Demand Planning
- Order Management
- Shipping Execution
- Pricing
- Engineering
- Bills of Materials
- Work In Process
- Quality
Others
- Business Intelligence System
- Workflow
- Alerts
- Discoverer
- Maximo Enterprise and Fleet Manager release 4.0.3 from MRO.
- Meta/e for Human Resources.
Benefits
When the project began, Grupo Bimbo in Mexico was a conglomerate of 80 different legal entities. These were eventually streamlined to 3, grouping all the fiscal and legal companies into one. “We experienced great flexibility from Capgemini. When the structure changed, Capgemini showed great cooperation in the changes,” commented management. Grupo Bimbo S.A. is now the principal stockholder instead of there being 20 different companies.
Grupo Bimbo is now well prepared to maximize sales, aligning business drivers with changes in the market and the new possibilities provided through an ERP solution.
The project was delivered as proposed - on time and on budget.
Grupo Bimbo is now looking ahead into possibilities with CRM and Supply Chain.
Quotes from Grupo Bimbo’s Director de Sistemas (CIO)
” Grupo Bimbo wanted to grow in an international arena. Our legacy systems were not prepared to support this kind of strategy. We needed to align systems with business drivers.”
“Another issue was the market, which is very different in the US from Mexico - 80% of the sales in the US are in large supermarkets compared to 80% of sales in Mexico which are through ‘mom and pop’ stores. But the Mexican market is changing - 25% are now through large chain stores. Requirements and ways of operating are different than ‘mom and pop’ stores. We needed a world-case system able to adapt to these changing needs.”
“Why did we choose Capgemini? We felt their approach was more compatible with our way of doing business. All the competitors on this project had methodologies. It was impossible to distinguish the benefits in advance. Capgemini demonstrated a deep knowledge about the Oracle product. This gave us confidence and trust. We made comparisons. In the end, it’s Capgemini that impressed us. Their expertise was the key factor. The other factor was the price. We considered it good value for the money. It was also important to share in the risk. Capgemini offered to work the first month for free and “if we do not select you, you pay nothing” they told us.”
“Capgemini understood our business very well.
They know the product, they are flexible and they learn fast”.
