EDITEL upgrades EDI infrastructure for global milling company GoodMills

GoodMills, Central and Eastern Europe’s leading milling company with Austrian roots, processes nearly three million tons of grain annually across its 24 mills — supplying around 50 million people. To increase operational efficiency, the company rolled out SAP across the organization and simultaneously integrated an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) solution. The complex project was implemented during ongoing operations by international EDI specialist EDITEL.

With € 1.15 billion in revenue and more than 1,500 employees in seven countries supplying approximately 50 million people with high-quality food products, GoodMills is not only Europe’s largest milling company but also ranks among the top four worldwide in its sector. Nearly three million tons of grain are processed annually in the Group’s 24 mills. The bread loaves (500 g) baked from that volume would be enough to circle the globe 37 times.

Such figures are made possible by business processes driven by state-of-the-art technologies. Among them is SAP, which has been gradually introduced in four countries over recent years. At the same time, customer communication (including with grocery retail partners) was modernized via EDI. The project across all countries was led by the EDITEL Group, whose decades of international experience provided the necessary expertise.

International connectivity as an advantage

The project launched in Bulgaria, where implementation was so successful it became the “best practice” model for subsequent rollouts. Hungary, Austria, and Germany followed.
Christian Schmidt, SAP Applications Manager at GoodMills, explains: “EDITEL handled everything for us, allowing us to focus on our internal priorities throughout the project.”One key advantage, he adds, was that “EDITEL already had established connections with nearly all major customers in each country.” In Hungary, Austria, and Germany alone, more than 100 trading relationships were implemented. A relationship refers to the connection between two partners communicating via EDI — for example, manufacturer and retailer or supplier and logistics provider.

 

Gerd Marlovits, CEO of EDITEL Austria, comments: 

“International companies such as GoodMills, which collaborate with numerous customers, logistics providers, and suppliers, can significantly increase efficiency through digital communication via EDI. Automating business processes frees up substantial resources that can be redeployed elsewhere within the organization.”

Simultaneous go-live with all customers

Following the successful rollout in four countries, Christian Schmidt of GoodMills summarizes: “After a challenging project phase, EDI operations are now running smoothly, and we were able to go live simultaneously in all countries with all customers. And in the rare case that support is needed, EDITEL responds quickly and with a solution-oriented approach.” In the future, GoodMills plans to gradually connect additional customers to the EDI solution and expand the rollout to further countries.