BUSINESS INTEGRATION

xxxxx Text Cees Steijger

Successful EDI roll-out in France

Champagne!
Lixir is a major supplier of champagne and spirits in France. For Lixir, electronic messaging is of major importance in its daily operations and communication with its trading partners

ixir is a joint venture between the independent family-run companies William Grant & Sons and Rmy Cointreau. Lixirs headquarters is in Paris, on the Avenue du Capitaine Glarner in the suburb of Saint-Ouen. In this industrial area between the Zone Industrielle Des Dock and the Boulevard Priphrique, Lixir rubs shoulders with some other big names that have their French headquarters here, including Nokia, Danone, Citron and Alstom. With a turnover of 192 million, Lixir occupies a strong position in the spirits market. Famous Lixir brands include Grants, Glenfiddich, Piper Heidsieck, Cointreau, and a lot more.
P24 ~ 2/2010 ~ TIE

BusIness transactIons We spoke to Aurlien Caulem, IT Director at Lixir, about the opportunities provided by electronic data interchange (EDI). Weve been working with TIE France on automating our messaging since 2009, says Aurlien. We use the TIE Kinetix Messaging Portal to efficiently handle about 5,000 messages per month. These are mostly messages between our partners and customers, as well as orders, order documents, packing notes and invoices. The TIE Messaging Portal is, exactly as its name suggests, a corporate portal for business transactions with the outside world. All internal applications can be integrated with the TIE Messaging Portal in order to continue to effectively control the transaction processes. Externally, all standards and communication protocols are supported by one and the same application. Users can log in to the TIE Mes-

saging Portal from internal and external locations in order to complete their tasks. IntegratIon After William Grant & Sons and Rmy Cointreau entered into their joint venture in 2008, the need arose to approach automation more efficiently. They were working with SAP and TIE Kinetix was given the job of administering EDI between the existing SAP ERP environment and the systems of retail partners. Furthermore, the EDI system would have to rationalise messaging in the supply chain. Whats more, in January 2010 we started a new project focussing on the secure electronic processing of invoices. One of our biggest retail customers is also involved in this. In this way, we will improve our own efficiency and also help the customer to shorten processing time. And our invoices will be paid quicker. In the future, Lixir, supported by TIE France, will connect most of its customers and suppliers to the TIE Messaging Portal to create a B2B environment that fully meets all of the requirements that Lixirs business partners have set for messaging.

We use the TIE Kinetix Messaging Portal to efficiently handle about 5,000 messages per month.