An icon brand in New Zealand, Montana Wines is the number-one selling New Zealand wine company in both the domestic and export markets. Montana has a staff of 750, which increases to over 1000 during vintage, spread around the country. The company also maintains a significant presence offshore, with offices in Australia and the UK and a representative in the US. When Montana purchased Corbans Wines in November 2000, it knew that as an enlarged company it could achieve greater economies of scale and optimise opportunities in international markets.

But at the same time as the purchase expanded Montana’s scope, it also brought about the challenges of how to collaborate more effectively amongst the company’s five wineries, and how to manage the vast amount of winemaking information stored on individual PCs throughout New Zealand. The diverse geographic location of the wineries also added complication, as Montana personnel needed access to highly confidential information anytime and any place. Lastly, avoiding duplication of specialised projects and keeping staff aware of the latest research and development under way within the company were also top priorities.

The challenge
At the time of the acquisition Montana’s winemaking information was spread throughout the company. Some of the information was paper-based, or not accessible to the individuals who needed it – and worse yet, was often lost when an employee left the organisation. Furthermore, the exchange of information was limited. With a diverse grape resource spread throughout Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, North Canterbury and Marlborough, Montana felt these limitations even more when it purchased Corbans. The company quickly realised it needed a solution for developing a centralised pool of knowledge for Montana’s geographically distributed personnel. This solution also had to easily enable access, communication and collaboration of information, and meticulously manage all projects related to winemaking research and development.

After evaluating its options, Montana chose to develop an intranet with IBM Team Lotus Workplace (formerly known as QuickPlace). The project commenced in early 2002 and by July last year had full content loaded and was accessible on the Montana intranet by over 100 specialist users. With this self-service web tool in place, Montana’s geographically dispersed staff could securely work with each other, manage projects, respond rapidly to ad-hoc initiatives and create team websites and reference libraries.

Benefits to business
One of the key benefits to Montana’s business is that using IBM Team Lotus Workplace means winemaking intellectual property isn’t lost or misplaced – which is a key competitive advantage for the company. “Through the intranet we’ve been able to capture every piece of knowledge integral to winemaking,” says Montana winery services manager Dennis Robinson. “I continue to be amazed at the amount of data that’s added to it.”

Team Lotus Workplace also enables fast delivery of the most up-to-date research and development information – and creates time efficiencies for Montana personnel by eliminating duplication of projects. “It’s a dynamic, robust, customisable tool,” says Robinson, “and it’s allowed us to develop an invaluable knowledge repository and manage ongoing critical research and development projects.” Lotus Workplace also facilitated:

• Communication within Montana enabling actions and decisions to be made faster
• Enabled other areas of Montana (engineering for example) to see the value of creating a knowledge repository

Capturing intellectual property
Montana’s competitive information is stored on the intranet, which is copyright protected. The sections cover viticulture research through to vineyard configurations, botrytis (a vine fungus) control, engineering and property management. The winemaking and viticulture sections account for 99% of the information on the site. Standard operating procedures for winemaking and laboratory functions are specific to each Montana winery and critical to its operation.

The flexibility of IBM Team Lotus Workplace allows Montana to quickly add new procedures and update existing ones, and through its collaboration tools make these available to everyone. Whereas once staff had to refer to large paper manuals which may have been outdated, today the latest procedures are easily accessible through the web. A comprehensive library of technical publications related to winemaking is also accessible on the site and has been indexed thoroughly.

R&D collaboration
The intranet serves as a secure, centralised workspace on the web to track a wide range of winemaking projects. The functionality of IBM Team Lotus Workplace allows Montana to see all projects under way and manage the progress of each.

It keeps all parties involved in a project informed on key findings and developments, when reports or tasks have been completed, and allows fast access to project information. “Montana has established guidelines for personnel to follow when submitting information,” says Robinson. “Using IBM Team Lotus Workplace, we’ve established a basic template of folders that support any of Montana’s projects and we can set up a new project faster than ever.”

The result? Rapid turnaround on projects, avoiding duplications, pooling together specialised knowledge and all in a secure environment. With a new section for engineering procurement and policies currently under way, Robinson says the site is dynamic and Montana will continue to use it to defi ne the way viticulture and winemaking will be handled by the company. “Changes will always be incremental in its structure,” he says.

For more information
www.montana.co.nz

Crossware: Paul Graham
General Manager
paul@crossware.co.nz
ph 09 379 7044

IBM: Tim Honeybone
09 359 8755, timh@nzl.ibm.com
www.lotus.com

March 2004