IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON THE SUPPLY FUNCTION OF AN ORGANIZATION (A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA BREWERIES (NB) PLC)

IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON THE SUPPLY FUNCTION OF AN ORGANIZATION (A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA BREWERIES (NB) PLC)

Chapter one

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

This research effort focuses on the impact of information technology on the supply function of a business, a case study of the Nigeria Breweries (NB) Plc. This research effort is carried out in order to know the benefit or role information technology has influenced in the contemporary day business operation and in the complete human life as a whole.

Information technology is the application of computers and telecommunication equipment to store, retrieve, transfer and alter data. Information technology, as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) is “the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software application and computer hardware.

Information technology deals with the use of electronic computer and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit and securely retrieve information. Information technology has introduced modern ways of working in many organization which Nigeria Breweries Plc is not an exemption

because the primary reason for the increase in popularity and utilization of information technology especially in large manufacturing industry like Nigeria Breweries (NB) is efficiency, speed, low procurement cost and accuracy in handling of multiple task simultaneously than using the manual system of keeping record because it is very difficult to consider running a business today without information technology.

1.2 Historical Background of Nigeria Breweries Plc

Nigeria Breweries Plc, the pioneer and largest brewery company in Nigeria, was incorporated in 1946. In June 1949, the company recorded a landmark when the first bottle of Star lager beer rolled off its Lagos brewery bottling lines.

This first brewery in Lagos has undergone several optimization process and as today boasts of the most modern brew house in the country. In 1957, the company commissions its second brewery in Aba. Kaduna brewery was commissioned in 1963 while Ibadan brewery came on stream in 1982.

In 1993, the company acquired its fifth brewery in Enugu. In October 2003, a sixth brewery, sited at Ameke, in Enugu State was commissioned and christened Ama Brewery.

Ama Brewery is now Nigeria’s largest and most modern brewery; however, operations at the old Enugu brewery were discontinued in 2004, and the company purchased a malting plant in Aba in 2008.

Nigeria Breweries acquired Heineken N.V.’s majority equity interest in Sona System Associates Business Management Limited (Sona System) and Life Breweries Limited in October 2011. This followed Heineken’s acquisition of controlling stakes in five Nigerian breweries from Sona Group in January 2011.

Sona Systems’ two breweries in Ota and Kaduna, as well as Life Breweries in Onitsha, have joined Nigeria Breweries Plc, together with the three brands Goldberg Lager, Malta Gold, and Life Continental Larger.

Thus, from its humble beginnings in 1946, Nigeria Breweries has grown to eight operating breweries from which its high-quality goods are delivered throughout Nigeria, as well as an ultramodern malting factory in Aba and Kaduna.