Sanlucar Fruit, based in Valencia and presence in more than 35 countries, is a good example of how digitalization can make a difference, in terms of growth engine. The company, known for its commitment to quality and sustainability, decided more than a decade ago that could not continue advancing at the same rate if it also did not transform its way of working inside.
The turning point
In 2013 their administrative teams faced an unsustainable situation. The business grew and with it, the volume of supplier invoices. They were received by fax or postal mail, and the employees had to dump them manually in the system, document to document. A slow, little motivating process and with a margin of error too high for a company that aspired to continue expanding markets at full speed with digitalization.
“The business grew at high speed and our team was not able to process at the rhythm we needed. It was routine, tedious and did not allow us to respond to market demands,” says Fernando Fernández, director of IT of Sanlucar Fruit.
An alliance to grow in digitalization
The solution came thanks to an alliance with Ricoh, which offered the company the Docuware tool. Its implementation was a before and after: not only integrated document management in its technological chain (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and other key systems), but did it intuitively for users, with tools such as unified authentication. In short, technology should adapt to people, and not vice versa.
Sanlucar Fruit, based in Valencia and presence in more than 35 countries, is a good example of how digitalization can make a difference, in terms of growth engine.
The result was clear: more than 200 employees today use the platform and about 60 directly manage invoices in a system that currently processes around 17,000 per month. A jump that allowed Sanlucar to gain time, reduce error risks and take respite to an apartment that previously lived in the routine.
From the server to the cloud
The first deployment was made on their own servers, but three years later they made the definitive leap: they migrated the tool to the cloud. A step aligned with the company’s digital strategy, which sought not to worry about hardware management and focus on generating value from you.
That change brought more advantages: scalability, digitalization, capacity on demand and safe access from anywhere in the world. In addition, the use of paper was reduced, a key aspect to fulfill the environmental commitments of the firm.
“This project has allowed us to free the teams of mechanical tasks and convert technology into a real pillar of efficiency and motivation,” says Fernández, with the conviction that this transformation has reinforced both the human part and the business operation.
Real impact on people and business
The change was not only technical, but cultural. Digitization gave air to the staff, who could devote himself to more valuable and less repetitive work. It also allowed faster decisions thanks to instant and segmented access to information. For a company distributed by several continents, which competes in a global market, having agile processes is much more than a plus: it is a matter of survival.
From Ricoh, Josep Costa, responsible for Hypeutomation in Spain and Portugal, highlights the importance of this collaboration: “For us it is an honor to accompany Sanlucar for more than 10 years. These projects also force us to grow, innovate and adapt to the changing needs of each client.”
Digitization: a trip that does not stop
The story does not end here. Sanlucar Fruit continues to expand its digital project with new goals: incorporating electronic signature, digital invoice and start exploring how artificial intelligence can further reinforce automation. In a very traditional sector, the company has shown that the agriculture of the future will support not only on land and water, but also in technology.
