Founded in the 18th century, family-run Loulis Mills has become one of Greece’s largest food companies. Supplying flour products to more than 10 countries, it needed to digitize its processes to provide better value to its customers. With the help of Microsoft partner TEKA Systems, Loulis Mills’ adoption of SAP S/4HANA on Azure has given it the secure and cost-efficient infrastructure needed to standardize operations and speed up processes, enhancing its quality control and delivery time.
Founded in 1782 and led by seven generations of millers, Loulis Mills is one of Greece’s oldest and leading flour milling companies. It produces 160 flour products and more than 700 mixing products and exports them to 13 countries. “Respecting our three-century-old tradition, we are committed to being pioneers, growing, and creating value for our customers, our employees, our shareholders, and our society,” says Dimitris Tarnaras, CEO at Loulis Mills BG. 
“We decided to implement SAP S/4HANA to be interconnected and to standardize processes across different business units and subsidiaries,” explains Tarnaras. “And to have a scalable and cost-efficient platform, having the system in the cloud rather than on-premises was a must, as there is no need to spend on in-house infrastructure or worry about refreshing hardware. We chose Microsoft Azure because it is a highly secure and a specialized and tested solution for SAP in the cloud.”
“But change is not usually welcomed with open arms, especially for a traditional company with a history like ours,” acknowledges Evi Louli, Director of Sales and Marketing at Loulis Mills. “We had to reassure employees and encourage them to embrace that change. To ensure a smooth transition, we reached out to TEKA Systems for its help and expertise.”
Together with TEKA Systems, Loulis Mills rolled out the new system across its finance, sales, procurement, supply chain, and manufacturing divisions. “We created a campaign to communicate directions and our vision properly to ease the change process. And with TEKA’s attentiveness and quick support, the transition to SAP S/4HANA on Azure was not only swift but also positively welcomed by our teams,” Tarnaras says.
A modern workplace with high-quality output
“With our cloud system, remote and on-site employees can connect to SAP S/4HANA on Azure from anywhere. We can also scale up and streamline our operations by activating or deactivating certain functions on the platform. This means we can keep working together, resulting in higher efficiency, better quality control for our products, and on-time deliveries,” observes Tarnaras.
Through the positive experience of using SAP S/4HANA on Azure, Loulis Mills employees were able to overcome their fears and appreciate the value digital transformation brings them. “It added not only technical value but also business value to the company. So if we had to do it again, we would choose the same partner and solution,” Tarnaras reflects, as Loulis Mills is well-positioned to digitize further. “Because of the scalability and security of cloud infrastructure, we hope to replace our on-premises SharePoint, Exchange, and Active Directory for their cloud versions to enable easy access to accurate data and keep everyone connected,” says Tarnaras.
To have a scalable and cost-efficient platform, having the system on the cloud rather than on-premises was a must. … We chose Microsoft Azure because it is a highly secure and a specialized and tested solution for SAP in the cloud.
Dimitris Tarnaras: CEO
Loulis Mills BG
