The Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, also known as Coca-Cola HBC, is one of the world’s largest anchor bottlers for The Coca-Cola Company, with over 2 billion unit case sales per year. As Coca-Cola HBC’s operations grew, the company identified a pivotal opportunity to streamline its distribution management process, strengthening its entire supply chain and bottom line. Following a high-paced collaboration with Dreamix, an EU-based custom software provider, the Hellenic Bottling Company is now a step closer to fully digitizing its operation and optimizing its distribution process.
Coca-Cola HBC: our visionary partner
In 1969, Coca-Cola HBC’s remarkable journey began in Athens, Greece, driven by a vision of excellence. Today, it stands as a global beverage powerhouse, embodying decades of dedication. The merger with The Coca-Cola Company in 2000 granted it the capacity to produce, distribute, and innovate on an unparalleled scale.
Expanding across continents, Coca-Cola HBC’s achievements are undeniable. Its strategic move to Switzerland in 2012 and successful listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2013 marked significant milestones, cementing its presence on the world stage. Notably, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index recognized it as a sustainability leader in 2014.
Across 29 countries, Coca-Cola HBC champions sustainability and green initiatives, leaving an enduring impact. Its narrative of excellence and innovation continues to reshape industries, inspire change, and shape a more sustainable future for generations to come. In each step forward, Coca-Cola HBC demonstrates the power of determination and progress.
The opportunity
An operation of that size requires efficient tools to manage its vast distribution network. For a while, Coca-Cola HBC ran everything through a series of internal databases. As the enterprise kept growing, however, they recognized the need to combine all of those databases and streamline their distribution.
Coca-Cola Hellenic decided to invest in an improved Customer Planning Tool(CPT) for two of its markets – Italy and Switzerland. This tool was designed as an internal resource to plan the distribution of their products. Its primary purpose was to determine the optimal quantity of each item needed at specific locations, based on historical consumption data and projected future demands.
Coca-Cola Hellenic had already commissioned the Italian tool’s development. However, as the release date drew near, they needed a new and reliable software partner to bring it to completion. Dreamix presented our expertise with supply chains and customer-facing platforms to Coca-Cola HBC and offered our help. After several meetings where the bottling giant evaluated our approach and experience, they selected Dreamix to problem-solve the existing Italy solution.
As the Italian CPT was undergoing improvements, the deadline drew near for the Swiss Customer Planning Tool. The time constraints were challenging, as it needed to be fully functional before the high season. Since Dreamix had already earned their trust, Coca-Cola Hellenic extended the partnership to reinforce the team working on the Swiss solution.
The Dreamix solution
For the Italian CPT, Dreamix conducted a full review of the software solution, starting with the infrastructure in Azure, through the SQL database, backend (.NET 6) and frontend (Angular). After a high-paced system audit, Dreamix was able to complete the investigation and propose specific solutions – complete with cost-optimized implementation options – as well as timelines.
Meanwhile, a Dreamix Engineering manager joined forces with the Swiss team to ensure successful delivery of the Swiss CPT. Using .NET and Angular, we created a comprehensive user management system for the CPT, enabling role-based authentication and access. Furthermore, we developed role-based data filtering for the tool. The team also implemented various bug fixes and critical adjustments to the back- and front-end. Finally, Dreamix adjusted the CI/CD pipelines in Azure and played a crucial technical role in configuring the application for a production environment.
The result: a smooth and timely release
As a result of Coca-Cola Hellenic’s collaboration with Dreamix, the beverage giant was able to release the fully functional in both markets – Italy and Switzerland – within its ideal timeframe.
The timely delivery of the CPT in both markets allowed Coca-Cola HBC to test the solution during high season, weighing its benefits for wider adoption in other markets. As a whole, this project helped bring Coca-Cola Hellenic closer to an even more optimized planning distribution pipeline – and, as a result, to a healthier bottom line.
