Aphria has selected and implemented Rootstock ERP alongside ComplianceQuest. Rootstock partnered with ComplianceQuest three years ago, to enhance enterprise quality management. This is an indication of the “tighter relationship with ComplianceQuest” that Tom Brennan, CMO Rootstock recently spoke about.
Aphria Inc is a fast growing cannabusiness company headquartered in Canada. It has a stock market listing in both Toronto and New York. Its recent Q2 2019 results showed an 849% growth year over year and net revenues of CAN$126.1 million As it aims to grow its annual production capacity to 225,000kgs it needed to improve its operational software.
Aphria is also expanding its presence abroad. It has offices in Europe, Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Australia and North America. It now has 22 locations in 9 countries. Future growth also seems likely. Cannabis edibles were legal from October 17th, though it unlikely that many products will be seen until mid December. This is because of the 60 day notice Federal licence holders need to provide to Health Canada. A recent report by Deloitte stated that the market for edibles and alternative Cannabis products could be worth as much as CAN$2.7 billion a year.
Importantly Aphria recently received the license for its second large facility in Leamington Canada called Aphria Diamond. This will significantly increase its production capacity as it readies itself for both regional and global growth of the market. Aphria has accomplished this growth since its founding in 2013. Its hypergrowth started after Canada’s federal Cannabis act came into effect in 2018, legalizing cannabis.
Rootstock is a global ERP supporting multi-currency, multi-company and multi-division.
Rootstock making inroads into Cannabis industry
Cannabusiness is one of the verticals that Rootstock is focusing on. This win demonstrates its suitability for rapidly growing manufacturers. Over the last few months it has strengthened features required by the industry, meeting all the requirements requested. These include: order processing, production management, supply chain management, loT and serial number trackability and traceability, compliance reporting, costing and financial management.
Pat Garrehy, CEO of Rootstock Software commented: “We’re honored to be working with a company of Aphria’s caliber and standing in the cannabis industry. We were thrilled when the company first selected our Cloud ERP, and now that they’ve finished implementation, we’re looking forward to seeing what they’ll be able to accomplish with the full benefits of our system in place.
“Our Cloud ERP helps enable a digital transformation to automate processes, meet growing demand, facilitate a superior customer experience, and optimize revenue and profitability. Our ERP is highly flexible and scalable to meet Aphria’s needs now and into the future, especially as market needs and regulations continue to evolve.”
From production to compliance
With the Rootstock cloud ERP solution and ComplianceQuest, Aphria will be able to:
- Optimize production based on demand forecasts, production capacity and supplier constraints. This will reduce time to market.
- Leverage “track and trace” capabilities for lot control and serial number tracking, raw material inspection, in-process checks and final inspections to be made and the generation of relevant Certificate of Conformance (CoC) reports.
- Manage inventory and costing across multiple locations by items, lots and serial numbers.
- Maintain compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good Production Practices (GPP).
- Benefit from single-cloud-platform interoperability with ComplianceQuest. It delivers enterprise-wide control and predictable quality so regulatory and product safety requirements are fully met.
- Reduce the cost of compliance while fully meeting industry expectations and regulatory agency (such as FDA and Health Canada) requirements.
- Improve profitability by reducing variability, eliminating waste, adhering to schedules and commitments and reducing cycle times.
- Leverage a worry-free infrastructure with data and document access anywhere, anytime and from any device.
- Complete visibility and control from a single pane across different divisions and locations.
Rootstock and ComplianceQuest provide unified solution
On ComplianceQuest Tim Purdie CIO and CIO of Aphria Inc noted: “ComplianceQuest delivered on their promise at every stage of our implementation. Grounded in the scalability of the force.com platform, CQ transformed our quality management operating capabilities overnight and we are delighted at the fully integrated partnership result.
“We now have fully digital real-time informatics and ability to implement change in a highly transparent manner to meet the demands of our high growth business. Aphria is setting the standard as a worldwide leader in the cannabis industry through a diversified approach to innovation, corporate citizenship, strategic partnerships and global expansion.”
Purdie also commented on Rootstock: “Similar to ComplianceQuest, Rootstock delivered at every stage of our implementation. Grounded in the scalability of a single cloud platform, Rootstock transformed our processes related to operations, inventory and production overnight, and we’re delighted at the seamless interoperability between Rootstock and ComplianceQuest.
“Rootstock ERP will help facilitate precise production, inventory and supply chain management, enabling our company to be highly responsive to market needs. Aphria is setting the standard as a worldwide leader in the cannabis industry through a diversified approach to innovation, corporate citizenship, strategic partnerships and global expansion. With these system implementations, we’re now technologically equipped to take our competitive advantage to new levels of market leadership.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
As Aphria has grown, so has the demand on its operational systems. Purdie joined the company in December 2018. He previously worked for Salesforce consultancy Xede Consulting Group where he was COO for four and a half years. He is still an executive advisor there.
Earlier in his career at Blackberry he co-authored: “The Process Improvement Handbook”. As a Salesforce advocate, he seems to have felt that running the ERP solution on the same Salesforce platform as its CRM would reap many benefits. It seems likely that with Aphria he will look to prove many of his theories developed and practised at Xede.
With the recent launch of Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud, the Salesforce platform is becoming even more suited to manufacturers. Rootstock and ComplianceQuest provide the functionality for a complete business solution.
That another one of the many fast growing cannabis companies has selected Rootstock is positive for the ERP vendor. It should make it Rootstock reach the shortlist for more cannabusiness manufacturers, as they look to invest in their future.
