As a traditional and long-established company, Kindschi produces liqueurs, specialty spirits and alcoholic beverages using traditional craftsmanship and industrial-scale production. In addition to its own crafted specialties, Kindschi imports and distributes exclusive alcoholic products from international brands and distilleries.
By seamlessly integrating all essential business processes into Odoo business software, Kindschi has significantly increased its productivity and achieved greater efficiency. Orders are processed faster, warehouse management has been optimized and collaboration between different departments has been streamlined. Moreover, the industry-specific solution by braintec for the alcohol industry enables Kindschi to trace products and production steps, as well as generate automated reports for legally required declarations.
This Odoo Use Case delves into the specific steps that led to this success, detailing the Odoo applications used in the standard configuration as well as the tailored or newly developed features by braintec.
Digital integration with the All-in-One-Software Odoo
Objectives
The main objective of Kindschi was to digitize all business processes and thus also to
- integrate all processes into one system
- make data usable with just a few clicks
- get rid of vast amounts of paper
- achieve transparency and standardization
Kindschi also aimed to increase efficiency and
- close gaps and breaks between different systems
- replace Excel and Word
- establish seamless workflows
- provide employees with a platform that enables them to do their work easier and faster
As a company in the alcohol industry, another important goal was to meet regulatory requirements, such as
- provide reports in accordance with the alcohol law and for legal purposes
- flexible configuration of legally compliant reports
Pre-project
In several workshops, the Odoo experts from braintec worked together with the managing director and the managers of the various departments to precisely record Kindschi's requirements. A backlog with priorities and a roadmap for the implementation of the individual tasks up until the complete Odoo introduction were defined.
Process Integration
Process integration was the most challenging and time-consuming part of the implementation. It required careful planning, configuration and testing.
The experts from braintec mapped out the various business processes in Odoo in three phases. To ensure a smooth transition, interfaces to third-party systems were also integrated and connected. The Kindschi team was already able to work with Odoo after the implementation of the first phase. This allowed the employees to gradually and quickly get used to the new system. They were immediately impressed by Odoo ERP, which made further implementation easier.
Legal Reporting
In Switzerland, producers and distributors of alcoholic products above resp. certain alcohol content or volume percentage must report their goods movements precisely and in detail. The declaration refers to pure resp. 100% pure alcohol.
To comply with these legal requirements, braintec developed an industry-specific solution that enables flexible creation of the necessary reports. This solution captures inventory movements based on their origin and destination, as well as the processing method for various manufacturing steps.
During the monthly declaration process, the report file can be generated multiple times. Once the final report is ready, the values are locked to ensure continuity in reporting and compliance with regulatory requirements.
The Odoo apps in use
Finance and Payroll
The financial accounting of Kindschi was digitalized in Odoo Accounting. At the same time, the Swissdec-certified payroll accounting by braintec was seamlessly integrated into the financial accounting.
Thanks to the salary solution with the Unified Payroll Reporting (ELM) and automatic time tracking according to Swiss legislation, Kindschi handles its personnel and payroll processes simply and completely digitally.
POS and Sales
Kindschi utilizes various sales channels to sell its exquisite products:
In-store: Kindschi operates its own shop. To reduce interfaces throughout the entire sales process and conduct transactions efficiently, Odoo POS was implemented.
Wholesale: The SME is a preferred supplier to national and local supermarkets as well as restaurants and bars. Odoo Sales was introduced to enable sales personnel to flexibly address the individual needs of corporate clients. Sales representatives now create quotes and sales orders directly at the customer's location on their mobile devices.
eCommerce: On kindschi.ch, customers can purchase alcoholic specialties online. The Odoo website with the Odoo Online Shop is designed for both individuals (B2C) and corporate customers. The B2B customers have access to their entire product catalog, including individual prices.
Inventory and Manufacturing
Strict regulatory requirements must be met for inventory management, production processes, and operating the in-house alcoholic product store. Additionally, Kindschi maintains several warehouses, one of which is directly within the production facility. Another external warehouse is located near relevant transportation hubs and managed by a third-party provider.
To ensure efficient and transparent inventory management, the powerful Odoo applications, Odoo Inventory and Odoo Manufacturing, as well as an EDI connector, were implemented.
- For transparent and legally compliant communication flow, the exchange of delivery and payment documents via an SFTP server was organized in the external warehouse using the EDI connector. The EDI interface enables the receipt, processing and sending of business documents in the standardized EDI format (Electronic Data Interchange).
- Before the introduction of Odoo, inventory levels had to be reconciled with various systems every night to track incoming and outgoing items. With Odoo Inventory, reconciliation occurs automatically and in real-time.
- In the manufacturing process, Kindschi utilizes standard Odoo features such as bill of materials and manufacturing orders. Particularly relevant for the SME are the transaction types for tracking different inventory movements and reporting them to authorities.
Procurement and Administration
Requests for various products and purchase orders are processed in Kindschi's back office. With the introduction of Odoo, the workflows in the value chain process were smoothly connected and employees have access to all relevant information in no time.
This also applies to the financial processes: all transactions are transferred directly to the financial books and can easily be exchanged with the holding Marussia Beverages Group, to which Kindschi belongs. Thanks to this automation, Kindschi's administration staff save a lot of time and complete their work with just a few clicks.
Kindschi Söhne AG
Founded in Davos in 1860, Kindschi has evolved into the largest distillery in the canton of Graubünden. The products from Kindschi combine pure spring water with the best ingredients, reflecting a delicate balance between cherished traditions and visionary innovation.
![](/en/web/image/398297-efe20ae8/Kindschi.png?access_token=6f6f20f7-f896-4a73-8097-6ff456ced678)
Our project manager, Lukas Minder, presented this success story at the Odoo Experience 2023 in Belgium. Watch the talk here: