Barbot Paints

Brief introduction to the company Barbot Paints

An unavoidable reference in the Portuguese interior decoration and renovation market, Barbot is a historic national brand. From a small family business in the North of the country, founded in 1920, Barbot evolved into an international group with a presence on three continents. It has about 250 employees and a turnover of around 40 million euros, with factories in Portugal, Spain, Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde. It is part of the top three national companies in the paints and varnishes industry.

As part of its national activity, Barbot maintains daily operations with large distribution companies – such as Auchan, Continente or Leroy Merlin. The need for faster communication of documents with these operators led to the implementation of the Generix EDI Services solution – first on-premise and more recently in SaaS (Software as a Service) mode. The solution allowed for gains in operations, efficiency and productivity that, with the migration to the Cloud, were combined with greater agility and cost reduction.

"helps in the rapid planning of production, streamlines order separation, delivery planning and the rapid distribution of documents," Marcelo Carvalho IT Director Barbot Paints

The project in details

Gaining speed to strengthen and expand commercial operations

With over 170 thousand variations in its range of solutions, among different products, colors, capacities and other specificities, Barbot’s vast production capacity for paints, primers, thinners and varnishes also translates into complex commercial operations with many distribution operators. It was to facilitate this exchange of invoicing documents and orders with commercial partners that the company felt the need to implement an EDI solution. The goal? Faster document communication, perfectly integrated with Barbot’s ERP, which would also be an essential support for planning day-to-day operations. The answer was provided by the Generix EDI Services solution.

With the EDI solution implemented, Barbot can quickly import and export documents to and from distributors, interconnecting the Generix system with the management software used for issuing and processing invoices and orders. The direct benefits go, however, beyond the speed of communication of documents and the reduction of errors (when compared with a manual process). The solution “helps in the rapid planning of production, streamlines order separation, delivery planning and the rapid distribution of documents,” says Marcelo Carvalho, Director of Barbot’s IT department.

With this process, the efficiency and productivity gains for the company have been remarkable: +35% productivity and +25% efficiency (from the second year of use).

Migration to the cloud: more flexibility and increased security

If, in a first phase, the EDI on-premise implementation (hosted locally on the company’s servers) allowed us to respond to Barbot’s commercial operations, the evolution to SaaS mode appeared to be essential in a second phase. There were two main concerns behind this migration to the Cloud: “always being up to date and not having to worry about managing space and equipment,” explains Marcelo Carvalho. In the SaaS model, Generix EDI Services solution is in the Cloud, with access from anywhere and at any time, not being dependent on the company’s infrastructure.

This is, therefore, a migration that gives flexibility, reduces IT costs and resources and guarantees additional security (with automatic backups that ensure continuity of operations in case of failure of local servers). Being in the Cloud also means a solution that is permanently updated, faster, with secure data, and in compliance with all national laws and regulations. All this, of course, while maintaining all the advantages of agile document communication, integrated with the ERP, that already existed with the on-premise EDI solution.

“Migrating to the Cloud was a quick process. Generix’s performance throughout the process was the same as always: competence, objectivity and quick response,” says Marcelo Carvalho.

Main benefits identified by Barbot

• Shift of process management (from the company’s infrastructure to the Generix Cloud);
• Faster invoice and order exchange processes;
• Constant updating of the solution;
• Less IT infrastructure costs for the company;
• Greater flexibility, with access from anywhere;
• Additional security, with constant data backups

“With the use of EDI, business operations with our customers have increased. Hardware and software needs have also increased. By moving to the Generix Cloud, we released this effort“, Marcelo Carvalho – Barbot Paints.

Key figures

• 3000 documents traded
• +35% of productivity in operations
• +25% of efficiency in operations
• 12 months for a return on investment

They are using our solutions

Find the full description of the solutions presented in this case study

• EDI Services