Sumo Cannabis
Trois-Rivières, QC
Evora: Can you start by telling us a little bit about your organization and what you do? How long have you been in business, and what sets you apart from others in your industry?
Sumo: SUMO is a cannabis indoor cultivation company. We have been working on our business and facility since 2019 and obtained our Health Canada-issued licensed producer permit in February 2022. Currently, our primary offerings to the market include dried flower and pre-rolled cannabis products. However, we aspire to expand into the production of cannabis concentrates in the near future.
What sets SUMO Cannabis apart from others in the industry is our innovative cultivation technique known as aeroponics. This method has proven to be highly effective in delivering high quality and quantity of terpenes in our products, making our products stand out in terms of flavors and aromas. Our commitment to the consistent production of high-quality cannabis products is what distinguishes us in the cannabis industry.
E: Can you describe some of the biggest challenges your organization was facing before adopting our product or service? What led you to start exploring solutions, and how did you ultimately decide to partner with us?
S: Before adopting your product or service, one of the biggest challenges our organization faced was achieving a balance between having a user-friendly Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system while ensuring that it could comprehensively cover all aspects of our factory operations within a single ERP platform. We recognized the need for a solution that could streamline and optimize our production processes, inventory management, compliance reporting, and other critical functions in our cannabis cultivation facility.
In summary, the combination of user-friendliness, comprehensive coverage of our operational needs, and the adaptability of Evora to our specific requirements drew us to partner with your company for our ERP solution.
E: Can you walk me through the process of configuring Evora for your organization? What was the onboarding & training experience like?
S: Configuring Evora for our organization was a structured process that involved multiple phases, and we continue to work on refining and optimizing it. The onboarding and training experience with Evora has been positive, and we have received excellent support throughout the transition and beyond. Their team has been readily available to address any questions, concerns, or issues that arise during the implementation and daily usage of the ERP system.
Initially, we conducted a needs assessment to identify our specific requirements and objectives. This step was helpful in determining how Evora could be tailored to meet our operational needs, processes and workflows. Migrating data from our previous systems to Evora was a complex task, but the support team guided us through this process, ensuring that our historical data was seamlessly integrated into the new system.
Overall, the transition to Evora has been well-managed, and we feel that we have been and continue to be well-supported in this journey. While the base configuration is in place, we see this as an ongoing, evolving "work in progress" as we strive to maximize the benefits of the ERP system for our cannabis cultivation operations.
“the combination of user-friendliness, comprehensive coverage of our operational needs, and the adaptability of Evora to our specific requirements drew us to partner with your company for our ERP solution”
E: In your experience, how long did it take for your team to feel comfortable with data entry in Evora? Were there any particular features or aspects of the system that took longer to learn than others?
S: In our experience, the time it takes for team members to feel comfortable with data entry in Evora varies depending on individual familiarity with similar systems and the specific type of data entry involved. Some team members adapted quickly, while others required more time to become proficient.
In general, while Evora offers a user-friendly interface, there are certain aspects of data entry, particularly those tied to complex production processes and compliance reporting, that may require additional training and practice. However, with ongoing support and training from the Evora team, our team members have gradually become more comfortable with these tasks, and proficiency continues to improve over time.
E: How would you describe your experience working with the support team at Evora? Have they been responsive to your needs and concerns?
S: Our experience working with the support team at Evora has been generally positive. While they may not always be able to perform miracles, the Evora team has consistently demonstrated responsiveness to our needs and concerns. Moreover, the Evora support team has shown a commitment to ongoing follow-up, ensuring that our concerns are adequately addressed and that we are making the most of the ERP system.
Overall, while no system is without its occasional hiccups, the Evora support team's consistent presence, willingness to assist, and prompt responses have made our experience working with them a positive one.
“the Evora team has consistently demonstrated responsiveness to our needs and concerns”
E: Can you share any examples of times when you've raised concerns with the Evora team? How have they responded to these concerns, and have they been able to address them in a timely manner?
S: One example is related to our trimming activities. We have a multi-step trimming process, and we wanted to ensure that Evora could accommodate and track these different stages accurately. After discussing this with the Evora team, they provided us with a temporary solution that allows us to approach this goal. While it may not be the final solution, it demonstrates their willingness to work with us to adapt the system to our specific needs.
Another area where we've sought assistance is with the submission of CTLS (Cannabis Tracking and Licensing System) reports. It can be challenging to ensure that all data is accurately captured and the Evora team, particularly Zaki, has been instrumental in helping us identify and rectify any errors as needed, ensuring that our compliance reporting is accurate and in line with regulatory requirements.
While some of the issues or concerns may take time to fully address or require ongoing adjustments, the Evora team's commitment to working with us to find solutions has been a positive aspect of our partnership.
E: Can you walk me through a typical day using Evora? How does the system fit into your team's daily routines and workflows?
S: A typical day using Evora in our organization involves the seamless integration of the system into our daily routines and workflows: batch creation, plant maintenance activities, harvest, drying and processing activities, waste management, compliance reporting, etc., allowing us to manage various aspects of our cannabis cultivation operations.
E: In your opinion, what are some of the key features or functionality of Evora that have been most valuable for your team's daily activities?
S: One of the key features of Evora is inventory management, which allows us to track and manage inventory efficiently. We can monitor growing batch activities from creation to harvest, recording all post-harvest stages, including trimming and packaging. Additionally, Evora helps coordinate our supplies and deliveries, and document destruction activities in detail. Overall, Evora's features help us optimize our daily operations, maintain regulatory compliance, and ensure accurate traceability of our products.
L'une des fonctionnalités clés d'Evora est la gestion de l'inventaire, qui nous permet de suivre et de gérer les stocks de manière efficace. Nous pouvons surveiller les activités des lots en culture, depuis leur création jusqu'à leur récolte, enregistrant toutes les étapes post-récolte, y compris la taille (trimming) et l'empaquetage. De plus, Evora aide à la coordination de nos approvisionnements et livraisons, et à documenter les activités de destruction de manière détaillée.
Dans l'ensemble, les fonctionnalités d'Evora nous aident à optimiser nos opérations quotidiennes, à maintenir la conformité réglementaire et à assurer une traçabilité précise de nos produits.
E: Can you describe how Evora has improved your ability to track your processing activities? How has this affected your operations and overall efficiency?
S: Evora has improved our ability to track our processing and packaging activities. While there are still adjustments to be made, Evora has challenged us to think more deeply about our operations. The system pushes us to supervise them well, to document them and to record all the stages of the process precisely. This has a positive impact on our operational efficiency and the traceability of our activities. This allows us to make more informed decisions, identify areas for potential improvement and maintain rigorous regulatory compliance.
Evora a amélioré notre capacité à suivre nos activités de traitement et d’empaquetage. Bien qu'il y ait encore des ajustements à faire, Evora nous a incités à réfléchir de manière plus approfondie à nos opérations. Le système nous pousse à bien les encadrer, à les documenter et à enregistrer toutes les étapes du processus de manière précise. Cela a un impact positif sur notre efficacité opérationnelle et la traçabilité de nos activités. Cela nous permet de prendre des décisions plus éclairées, d'identifier les domaines d'amélioration potentielle et de maintenir une conformité réglementaire rigoureuse.
“Evora has improved our ability to track our processing and packaging activities”
E: How does your team typically use Evora to create recipes for finished goods? Are there any specific features or tools within the system that you find particularly helpful for this?
S: Currently, our team is not yet using Evora to create finished product recipes. Our primary use of Evora focuses on monitoring and managing our growing, harvesting, and processing operations. However, the ability to create recipes is a cool feature that remains to be explored in the future. We recognize the potential of this feature to facilitate the standardization of our products and ensure their consistent quality. As our team continues to become familiar with Evora and master its features, we plan to explore creating recipes for our finished products, using the system's tools and features for this task.
Actuellement, notre équipe n'utilise pas encore Evora pour créer des recettes de produits finis. Notre utilisation principale d'Evora se concentre sur le suivi et la gestion de nos opérations de culture, de récolte, et de traitement. Cependant, la capacité de créer des recettes est une fonctionnalité intéressante qui reste à explorer dans le futur. Nous reconnaissons le potentiel de cette fonctionnalité pour faciliter la standardisation de nos produits et garantir leur qualité constante. À mesure que notre équipe continue à se familiariser avec Evora et à maîtriser ses fonctionnalités, nous envisageons d'explorer la création de recettes pour nos produits finis, en utilisant les outils et fonctionnalités du système pour cette tâche.
E: In what ways has Evora helped with inventory tracking for your organization? Can you share any examples of how this has improved your overall supply chain management?
S: Evora helped us monitor our inventory, particularly by supervising the process. As a business still in its start-up phase, integrating an inventory management system is a long and crucial step to improve our supply chain management. Evora has helped us supervise and improve the management of our inventory, which has a positive impact on our supply chain, allowing us to gain efficiency and precision.
Evora nous a aidés dans le suivi de notre inventaire, notamment en encadrant le processus. En tant qu'entreprise encore en phase de démarrage, l'intégration d'un système de gestion de l'inventaire est une longue étape cruciale pour améliorer notre gestion de la chaîne d'approvisionnement. Evora nous a aidé à encadrer et à améliorer la gestion de notre inventaire, ce qui a des répercussions positives sur notre chaîne d'approvisionnement, nous permettant de gagner en efficacité et en précision.
“Evora has helped us supervise and improve the management of our inventory, which has a positive impact on our supply chain, allowing us to gain efficiency and precision”
E: Can you describe some of the advantages of having an integrated QMS system like the one offered by Evora? In your experience, how has this helped to streamline your quality assurance processes?
S: Although we still have steps to take to fully exploit this functionality, an integrated QMS offers considerable potential to improve quality management, regulatory compliance and the overall efficiency of quality assurance processes. Centralization of data, better traceability and more consistency in quality management will result in more reliable products for happier customers.
Bien que nous ayons encore des étapes à franchir pour exploiter pleinement cette fonctionnalité, un QMS intégré offre un potentiel considérable pour améliorer la gestion de la qualité, la conformité réglementaire et l'efficacité globale des processus d'assurance qualité. La centralisation des données, une meilleure traçabilité et davantage de cohérence au niveau de la gestion de la qualité se traduiront par des produits plus fiables pour des clients plus satisfaits.
E: In your experience, how easy is it to complete the monthly reporting within the Evora system? Are there any challenges or pain points that you've encountered during this process?
S: Completing monthly reporting within the Evora system has its advantages but also presents some challenges in our experience. One challenge is the requirement to submit monthly reports in CSV format, the need to round numeric data to three decimal places after the decimal point, a manual and meticulous process. Automating this process would significantly reduce the time and effort required for monthly reporting.
While there are challenges in the reporting process, Evora's support team, particularly Zaki, has been instrumental in assisting us with these aspects. They have provided guidance on formatting and rounding requirements and have helped us navigate the reporting process effectively.
E: If there are ever any issues with the monthly report, can you describe how the Evora team responds? Are you able to audit the report and find discrepancies easily, or are there any particular challenges that you've encountered during this process?
S: When we encounter issues with the monthly report, the Evora team has consistently provided essential support throughout the process. The support team are quick to respond and offer guidance on how to address the specific issues we're facing. They help us pinpoint where the data may be inconsistent or incorrectly formatted and guide us on how to rectify these issues. They provide clarification and ensure that we have a clear understanding of what is expected in the report.
E: Looking ahead, what are some of the key initiatives or projects your organization is planning for the future, and how do you see our product or service supporting these efforts?
S: Looking to the future of SUMO, our organization plans to continue its growth initiatives by preparing for the addition of a new and third flowering room. We also aim to expand our product range by manufacturing our own pre-rolls.
We see your product or service playing a vital role in managing these projects, especially adding a new flower room. This expansion will require more efficient management of our operations, and we are counting on Evora to support us in this process. Similarly, for pre-roll manufacturing, Evora can help track production activities, inventory management and regulatory compliance, ensuring our products meet quality and traceability standards. We appreciate Evora's flexibility to adapt to our evolving needs and contribute to the success of these future projects.
En ce qui a trait à l'avenir de SUMO, notre organisation prévoit de poursuivre ses initiatives de croissance en se préparant à l'ajout d'une nouvelle et troisième salle de floraison. Nous visons également à développer notre gamme de produits en fabriquant nos propres pré-roulés.
“for pre-roll manufacturing, Evora can help track production activities, inventory management and regulatory compliance, ensuring our products meet quality and traceability standards”
Nous voyons votre produit ou service jouer un rôle essentiel dans la gestion de ces projets, en particulier pour l'ajout d'une nouvelle salle de floraison. Cette expansion nécessitera une gestion plus efficace de nos opérations, et nous comptons sur Evora pour nous soutenir dans cette démarche. De même, pour la fabrication de pré-roulés, Evora peut aider à suivre les activités de production, la gestion des stocks et la conformité réglementaire, garantissant que nos produits répondent aux normes de qualité et de traçabilité. Nous apprécions la flexibilité d'Evora pour s'adapter à nos besoins évolutifs et contribuer à la réussite de ces projets futurs.
To learn more about how Evora can assist in your Cannabis Operation, check out the links below!
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A completely paperless, industry leading way to manage crops with integrated compliance documentation, crop treatments, investigations and down stream processing.
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Process everything from dry flower to vapes, edibles, tinctures and topicals. Create detailed BOM’s for each product and accurately track materials and labour.
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Evora has an electronic Cannabis Quality Assurance module that solves all your compliance and reporting needs. When you need your Cannabis Cultivation and eQMS data in one place, Evora is here for you.
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Evora Production provides the tools for you to plan cannabis cultivation cycles and forecast sales revenue based on expected production yields and timelines.
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With Evora you can trace a packaged product right back to the clone that created it.
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Gain complete oversight on your cultivation and processing operations. Leverage our One Touch Health Canada and CRA reports. Easily upload your CTLS .csv import and B300 data.
