Streamlining and Standardizing Export Operations with the Trade Management System "TRADING"

Sunplan Soft Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture), a company specializing in system development for the trade sector, has provided its trade management system "TRADING" to Akachan Honpo Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture), a specialty store for maternity, baby, and kids products.

Akachan Honpo, which faced challenges in the burden of creating shipping documents for exports to Taiwan and a situation dependent on specific personnel, achieved de-personalization and standardization of export operations by introducing "TRADING." This reduced the time required for creating shipping documents to one-fifth of the conventional time.

1. Background: Burden of Excel-based Shipping Document Creation and Reliance on Specific Individuals

Traditionally, shipping documents such as INVOICE and PACKING LIST were created using Excel. However, due to the large number of SKUs and extensive line items, data transfer and input required a significant amount of time, and careless mistakes frequently occurred. With the added need for corrections and re-creation, a considerable amount of effort was continuously required for accurate document creation, making business efficiency and error reduction urgent priorities. Furthermore, as only one person was responsible for export operations, shipping document creation became reliant on that individual, leading to a situation where business processes depended on a specific person. As the number of stores, products, and SKUs for exports to Taiwan continued to increase, it became difficult to ensure document quality while handing over tasks each time the person in charge changed, reaching the limits of the conventional system. With the introduction of this trade management system, the goal was to achieve both operational efficiency and standardization.

【Background of Introduction】

・ Burden of Excel-based shipping document creation and occurrence of human errors

・ Breaking away from a business system dependent on specific individuals due to reliance on one person

・ Establishing a standardized system that can accommodate changes in personnel

2. Reasons for Selecting Sunplan Soft and "TRADING": Industry-Understanding Proposals and Flexible Package

"TRADING" was highly evaluated for being a package that covers all necessary functions for trade operations, in addition to its flexible customization capabilities. We were able to envision realizing requests such as maintaining overseas shipment data and batch automatic creation of various shipping documents. We determined that this system could resolve challenges such as reliance on specific individuals, human errors, and inefficiency. Furthermore, the sales and SE staff, who are well-versed in trade operations, rarely said "it can't be done," and their meticulous support instilled confidence. We believed that the support in the upstream stages directly impacts subsequent operation and maintenance, so we decided that we could confidently entrust them from requirements definition to testing and post-operation. We are also satisfied with their quick response to inquiries.

3. Effects of "TRADING" Introduction: De-personalization of Export Operations, Efficiency in Shipping Document Creation, and Quality Assurance

Achieved de-personalization, creating a system that can adapt to business expansion and personnel changes

The introduction of "TRADING" eliminated the reliance on specific employees. The introduction achieved business standardization, and a system was established where the contents of shipping documents can be easily shared and saved in a database. The intuitive operability was also highly evaluated, and a mechanism was built that can quickly respond to future personnel changes and expansion of overseas business. The cloud provision also contributes to reducing operational load as server maintenance is not required.

Reduced shipping document creation time to one-fifth

By importing overseas shipment CSV data for products, shipments, and pallets into TRADING, INVOICE, PACKING LIST, C/No., and other shipping documents can now be automatically created in batches. Previously, preparation for document creation, document creation, and confirmation took approximately 25 hours, but this has been reduced to about 5 hours, allowing the document creation process to be completed within normal business hours. Even if the number of product SKUs exceeds 1,000, the processing time remains almost unchanged, which is sufficient to accommodate future business expansion.

Ensuring document quality and strengthening internal controls

With traditional manual Excel operations, human errors frequently occurred, such as misreading products with different ingredient ratios or missing a single line during copying, leading to document deficiencies. The introduction of "TRADING" eliminated these errors and reduced the time spent on checking. The accuracy of official documents submitted to public institutions such as customs has improved, and a system has been established that can maintain the same level of quality even if the person in charge changes, thereby preventing the risk of quality degradation due to reliance on specific personnel.

4. About the Trade Management System "TRADING"

The trade management system "TRADING" is a cloud-based package software that centralizes operations related to import/export, export, import, and domestic sales management, achieving standardization and efficiency in trade operations.

"TRADING" offers 5 product lineups to choose from, depending on the customer's business content and requirements.

【Strengths of Sunplan Soft】

・ Extensive implementation track record of over 2,000 companies, from large corporations to SMEs

・ 5 packages to choose from, depending on the customer's business content and purpose

・ Sales and SE staff with over 30 years of experience and specialized knowledge in the trade sector

【Strengths of TRADING】

・ Highly flexible and efficient creation of export documents

・ Accurate cost management through allocation of import expenses

・ Supports foreign currency denominated receivables/payables, forward exchange contracts, and exchange gains/losses

【TRADING Series】

・ TRADING-SD (Import/Export Operations + Domestic Sales Management System)

・ TRADING-EX (Export Management System)

・ TRADING-EL (Export Document Creation System) ERP Linkage Output

・ TRADING-IS (Import Operations + Domestic Sales Management System)

・ TRADING-IM (Import Management System)

【Challenges TRADING Solves】

・ Eliminating reliance on specific individuals in trade operations

・ Overall efficiency improvement of import/export, export, and import operations

・ Strengthening internal controls through business standardization

・ Eliminating duplicate management between existing systems and Excel

・ Reducing server maintenance and cost burden through cloud provision

5. Company Overview

Company Name: Sunplan Soft Co., Ltd.

Location: TPB Building 6F, 1-18-9 Sakae, Naka-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture

URL: https://www.sunplan.co.jp/

Business Activities: Development and provision of trade management systems - Import/Export Sales Management System

- Export Management System

- Import Management System

6. Contact Information

Sunplan Soft Co., Ltd. Sales Department

TEL: 052-228-3884

Email: sales_marketing@sunplan.co.jp