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2 Million Documents Exchanged per Year

Over 30 Bunzl subsidiaries, operating on a number of ERP systems, are currently connected to FLOW. This includes 1,000 suppliers and over 4,500 customers that generate approximately 2 million messages per year via the platform. Bunzl’s trading partners range from top-tier providers in the cleaning, hygiene and healthcare industries to well-known grocery stores, hotel chains, fashion outlets, and fast-food restaurants. Bunzl also works with a number of public sector institutions.  

For Bunzl, TIE Kinetix is an enabler—a technical partner that has simplified document exchange with their wide range of partners. In sum, Bunzl decides on their preferred document format and TIE Kinetix implements and facilitates it across the board. 

 

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Future Breakthroughs 

Bunzl’s ambition is to achieve 100% electronic document exchange with all suppliers. To support Bunzl’s strategy as they work towards improving the number of connections with their suppliers, TIE Kinetix is in the process of configuring the FLOW platform to meet their changing needs. 

The new configuration will enable the platform to facilitate all processes (PORTAL-2-FLOW, PDF-2-FLOW, and EDI-2-FLOW) through one easy to use environment. Since the new setup will present each of these solutions side by side, Mr. Vonk is optimistic that “it will be a major breakthrough in communication.”

Once the new platform environment is introduced, all suppliers will have the option to send documents via electronic means or, if they prefer, manually through the portal. With this innovative approach, the format in which the supplier chooses to send their documents is not quite as important. This is because they will no longer have to follow EDI rules, such as EDI syntax or XML syntax. Instead, suppliers can simply send a flat CSV file, or a file in any other format, and the FLOW platform will convert it to Bunzl’s native ERP communication standards. Today, Bunzl has multiple ERP systems connected, including Microsoft Dynamics AX, SAP, and Visma.