One of the world’s leading luxury and premium wine companies, Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), has a global portfolio of wines sold in over 70 countries around the world.
TWE’s global, multi-regional sourcing model includes world-class vineyard and production assets in internationally acclaimed winemaking regions, employing more than 2,600 team members.
Treasury Wine Estates is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: TWE).
The French connection
One key region that forms part of the TWE network is Bordeaux, France.
After several years of managing a variety of independent ERP systems and pushing financials back to JD Edwards for regional EMEA and global reporting, TWE decided to integrate its French operations into the JDE EnterpriseOne v9.2 ERP system to align with its global platform and processes.
The project aimed to enhance operational efficiency and reporting accuracy. While preferring to implement TWE global standards, it was necessary to scope, design and develop unique French regional and “appellation” specific processes to manage day-to-day and periodic requirements.
So, TWE turned to Fusion5 to help.
Fusion5, an excellent fit
Michael Perry has worked for TWE since 2019 as an Enterprise Applications Manager and is a big fan of Fusion5.
We’ve engaged Fusion5 for key, strategic projects because we know they have a deep understanding of how our business works. This makes conversations with them very easy. But importantly, they never hesitate to ask questions that lead us to consider areas for improvement in how we do things.
Michael Perry | Enterprise Applications Manager, TWE
Bridging continents
As the project spanned both Australian and French operations, the language and time differences were initial concerns for Perry. But not for long.
“Fusion5 immediately proposed that they leverage their membership of Redfaire International (a global network of leading JD Edwards partners) to engage Vigilens, a French consultancy, to work with them.”
“While Fusion5 would have full oversight of the project, Vigilens could provide on-the-ground, language barrier-free consultation services. “We could all trust what was being said was accurate, and this, without a doubt, built a high level of confidence in the process and contributed to the success of the project.
“All parties needed to understand both the global model and the current French business requirements – and what needed to be done to identify potential regulatory or differentiating gaps. After initially conducting remote education sessions, the requirements/gaps were addressed over a series of workshops held onsite in France. With Vigilens on board to translate these requirements and provide input, the process went smoothly,” says Perry.
Solving tax requirements
Localising JD Edwards for French tax and customs regulations was an additional challenge, as well as managing the Bordeaux-specific “En Primeur – Wine Futures” design and implementation.
However, these issues were resolved through a combination of Fusion5 and Vigilens' local expertise and knowledge, resulting in solutions that received approval from TWE's local auditing partner.
A successful outcome
TWE’s French operations are now perfectly aligned with the business’s global platform and processes, resulting in improved operational efficiency and more accurate reporting. JDE has been successfully localised to reflect and support France’s unique regional and “appellation” specific processes and to comply with local tax and customs regulations.
The project was completed successfully, on time, in full and within budget. Despite the challenges that inevitably come with managing a multidisciplined, multi-organisational team across two geographic regions, time zones and languages – Fusion5 delivered to TWE’s expectations.
An aligned partnership
“We’ve partnered with Fusion5 on several strategic initiatives over the last 5 years. They truly understand our business and consistently deliver excellent outcomes for TWE, and this project was no exception,” says Perry.
Utilising their global reach, Fusion5 were able to quickly establish a rapport with the local team in Bordeaux to ensure that the solution provided added value to our French business while aligning with our global ERP framework.
