K3 refreshes IT at Westons Cider

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Westons Cider, a family-owned maker of draught and bottled cider, has implemented the Drink-IT software from K3, the UK supplier of Drink-IT, an advanced and modular solution for the beverage industry, in a move to improve the management of its production. Westons joins the K3 beverage drinks cabinet already containing, The Caledonian Brewing Co. Ltd, Everards Brewery, Frederic Robinson, Hall & Woodhouse and The Liberation Group.

Helen Thomas, Managing Director at Westons Cider, and great grand-daughter of the founder, said, "Our business didn't have an automated system in place.  To grow our business, it is essential that any production losses are properly traced, reported on and controlled and since implementing Drink-IT we have better visibility across the business.  By deploying the integrated Microsoft Dynamics NAV financial system there has been significant benefits in quickly seeing the financial impact of the production process. The strength of the production software was a major factor in our decision to select K3."

The implementation coincided with the seasonal nature of cider production. Working to Westons Cider's production cycle, Drink-IT was implemented in the summer. Alongside this, Microsoft Dynamics NAV financials, telesales and distribution has also been implemented across the business. 

Thomas continued, "We're a family business, and very much a 'people' company, keen to foster long-term relationships with our suppliers and we have an excellent working relationship with the K3 implementation team. Drink-IT's international success was also a factor, particularly because it had been implemented at Stassen, a cider maker of a similar size to Westons Cider in Belgium. We were also able to review implementations at other drinks customers, and a site visit to Hall & Woodhouse, another K3 customer, helped us in our final decision."

Based on Microsoft Dynamics, Drink-IT is providing telesales order entry and processing, management of discounts and promotions, automatic calculation of duty, distribution management, point of sale for the onsite shop and the management of customer and supplier accounts.

Drink-IT's production software enables production planning and control, lot tracking and quality management as well as product costing.

John Little, Sales Director at K3, said, "Westons Cider is the latest company to join K3's portfolio of breweries, drinks distributions companies, pub companies and supermarkets.  They are already seeing the benefits of developing the production system to cover the cider making process."