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Mondelez brazil logoMondelēz Brazil

Snack food giant saves millions and automates order management with OpenText Trading Grid

Mondelez brazil logo

About Mondelēz Brazil

Mondelēz Brazil is a food and snack manufacturer based in Curitiba, Paraná, specializing in chocolates, cookies, and powdered beverages. A subsidiary of Mondelēz International, the company owns iconic brands like Oreo, Club Social, and Trident.

Packaging box scanning in manufacturing unit
  • Founded in:
    1973
  • Points of sale:
    1 million
  • Employees:
    8,000+

Summary

Challenges

  • Manual order entry was slow and error-prone.
  • Incorrect orders cost millions in returns and risked client relationships.
  • Fulfillment issues threatened vendor relationships and market share.

Solution

  • Eliminated manual data entry.
  • Routed orders intelligently.
  • Embraced automated EDI workflows.
  • Facilitated a future SAP S/4HANA migration.

Results

  • Reduced returns by 92%
  • Saved time for client relationship management
  • Promoted long-term client loyalty

Challenges

  • Outsourced B2B integration relied heavily on manual order entry and lacked accessible support
  • Mistyped customer orders caused errors, leading to millions in returns
  • Fulfillment issues threatened vendor relationships and market share

For more than 50 years, Mondelēz has dominated Brazil’s multi-billion-dollar snacks market, leading in cookies, chocolates, and gum with iconic brands like Oreo, Lacta, and Bis.

To operate at this scale, the company has a massive production network, including one of the world’s largest chocolate factories. Shipping over 300 SKUs from four distribution centers across Latin America is a logistical feat—orders must often be split across different distribution centers based on SKUs and delivery routes.

Some time ago, Mondelēz outsourced its B2B integration for SAP ERP to a third-party provider that took over the connectivity and mapping requirements. However, the provider made limited use of electronic data interchange (EDI), leaving teams reliant on manual order input. When issues arose, support was difficult to reach, leaving the Mondelēz Brazil team stuck in global ticketing queues.

The lack of automation meant that highly qualified sales professionals were spending hours manually typing orders into the company’s purchase order portal, which forwarded the data to SAP ERP. Not only did this take valuable time away from client engagement, it also introduced significant operational and financial risks.

Priscilla Silva, order management analyst at Mondelēz International, explained, “There were many instances where a salesperson entered the wrong order quantity and we were unable to fulfill the shipment because of the error. We’d have to issue a return, refund the client’s credit, and restart the order process. Returns caused by these kinds of errors often amounted to millions of dollars.”

Beyond the financial hit, avoidable data entry errors threatened relationships with major vendors. Aware that clients could easily redirect their business to competitors if they weren’t satisfied, Mondelēz looked for ways to modernize the order entry process and protect its market position.

Biscuit factory

Our OpenText solutions free sales teams from low-value data entry, giving them more time and energy to focus on engaging clients and generating value for Mondelēz.

Priscilla Silva
Order Management Analyst, Mondelēz International, Brazil

Solution

Mondelēz transformed its operations by using OpenText™ Trading Grid™ to convert PDF orders into structured EDI documents for SAP ERP, while OpenText™ Trading Grid™ Intelligence automatically validates and routes orders to the correct distribution center.

Products deployed

Services provided

Eliminating manual data entry

As a longstanding OpenText customer, Mondelēz turned to OpenText to scale its existing B2B integration capabilities.

The OpenText team introduced OpenText Trading Grid, which uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to automatically convert unstructured PDF order documents into structured EDI data. This data is transmitted automatically to back-end applications, including SAP ERP, and is automatically validated within OpenText Trading Grid Intelligence, removing the need for manual data entry.

Routing orders intelligently

OpenText Trading Grid Intelligence plays a central role in the new process by applying business rules that automatically validate order data, flag discrepancies, and split orders by SKU to ensure they are routed to the correct distribution center.

The solution also provides real-time visibility into transaction quality, helping Mondelēz identify and resolve potential issues before they affect fulfillment. As each client uses unique SKUs, OpenText harnessed cross-reference (XREF) tables to map each client SKU to Mondelēz's own internal codes, along with other rules to confirm order dates and order validity.

“Our deployment of OpenText [Trading Grid] went very smoothly,” said Silva. “OpenText deployed the solution in just three days. While the implementation of OpenText Trading Grid Intelligence was a more complex project, the OpenText team was dedicated to our success—even creating a war room to help us get the project over the line.”

Embracing automated workflows

Getting salespeople on board with the new approach was a top priority for Mondelēz. To encourage widespread adoption, the company focused on demonstrating the tangible benefits of the OpenText solutions.

Silva said, “We knew that our new order management workflow would be a big change for our sales team, and we wanted to bring them with us on every step of the journey. Once people saw how much time and effort OpenText saved them, they were totally sold.”

Maximizing the benefit of SAP S/4HANA

As Mondelēz prepares for its upcoming SAP S/4HANA migration, the company recognizes that the success of the new platform will depend heavily on the quality of its order data. Any errors introduced at the order-entry stage can ripple through logistics, production, invoicing, and financial reconciliation processes.

"The sales order is the heart of our logistics operations; everything else flows from it,” said Silva. “It doesn’t make sense to invest millions in SAP S/4HANA if underlying order data is wrong or duplicated. The work we’re doing today with OpenText will provide the ideal foundation for our move to SAP S/4HANA."

A person working on tablet in manufacturing unit

Since introducing OpenText [Trading Grid], we’ve eliminated 92% of returns specifically caused by mistyping. The benefits of that accuracy flow all the way through the order lifecycle, helping us cut cycle times, keep deliveries on track, and reduce errors.

Priscilla Silva
Order Management Analyst, Mondelēz International, Brazil

Results

OpenText solutions are helping Mondelēz move towards flawless order management. By reducing manual data entry and with automated validation and intelligent routing, the company is driving down errors, saving millions, and boosting client satisfaction.

Reducing returns by 92%

Mondelēz is steadily increasing EDI volumes, bringing newfound speed and accuracy to order entry. Currently, the company inputs nearly half of all orders via OpenText Trading Grid, with a goal to ultimately achieve 70% EDI orders.

The operational benefits in the form of faster order cycle times, lower error rates, and fewer returns have been immediate. “Since introducing OpenText [Trading Grid], we’ve eliminated 92% of returns specifically caused by mistyping,” said Silva. “The benefits of that accuracy flow all the way through the order lifecycle, helping us cut cycle times, keep deliveries on track, and reduce errors.”

Refocusing on customer relationship management

Automation has freed salespeople from time-consuming, error-prone data entry and allows them to focus on what they do best: building client relationships and driving revenue.

“A salesperson’s routine is not easy,” said Silva. “They work long hours, often on the road, so anything we can do to make their job easier is a plus. Instead of spending hours typing up orders manually, our sellers just send an email and the order appears in our system; it’s seamless. Our OpenText solutions free sales teams from low-value data entry, giving them more time and energy to focus on engaging clients and generating value for Mondelēz.”

Promoting long-term client loyalty

By achieving first-time-right order management, Mondelēz has eliminated the credit and delivery friction that previously strained vendor relations. These improvements help ensure that customer satisfaction stays high and that Mondelēz remains a preferred supplier for its vendors.

“Through our partnership with OpenText, we're building the foundation that allows us to deliver the best products, service, and customer experience,” Silva concluded.

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