Katowice-based ON LEMON, producer of natural lemonades, faced a classic dilemma of a rapidly growing business: how to maintain the pace of expansion when distributed data becomes the main operational brake?
The answer came with the deep digitisation of processes. The implementation of Comarch ERP XL, carried out by technology partner Kotrak, showed that in the FMCG sector, technology is as important as the product recipe. The result? A 35% increase in the speed of production orders in just three months after implementation.
No more ‘manual’ management
Before the transformation, ON LEMON faced barriers typical of companies in a rapid growth phase. The lack of a centralised counterparty database forced manual data entry, which, when handling more than 2,000 customers a year, generated the risk of costly errors. The biggest challenge, however, was the ‘blind spot’ in the field. Brand managers operating in Europe – from the UK to Bulgaria – did not have real-time visibility of inventory and payment history.
The new system integrated key areas: from the production line to accounting to business intelligence analytics. A key element became the automation of the workflow between the bottling plant and the central system, as well as a dedicated customer application that moved the ordering process to a self-service digital channel.
Data as the foundation for decisions
For ON LEMON’s management, the change is all about moving to evidence-based (data-driven) management. Instead of waiting for manually prepared sales reports, decision-makers gained immediate insight into liquidity and stock turnover.
“The software has kept pace with the growth of our company,” – notes Robert Orszulak, founder of ON LEMON.
Scalability no longer depends only on product demand, but on the performance of the company’s digital backbone. An implementation completed just before the peak sales season allowed the company to avoid bottlenecks in logistics, which in the chilled drinks industry often determines the outcome of the entire financial year. ON LEMON has proven that investment in ERP is not an administrative cost, but a strategic catalyst for exports.
