AT A GLANCE

• Rip Curl

INDUSTRY

• Fashion retail

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• To establish a highly agile, secure, and leading-edge platform

SOLUTION

• Infor CloudSuite Fashion

BUSINESS BENEFITS

• Created successful test case for cloud-based, end-to-end functionality
• Established foundation for uniform business processing worldwide
• Achieved transparency across the complete value chain
• Eliminated manual processing and automated customer interfaces

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

Some classics don’t change. Australian surf wear brand Rip Curl still makes its iconic wetsuits in-house, to its own design. Yet its market is in flux, with local surf shops around the world being replaced by flagship stores, and ecommerce huge at the distribution level. Taking its enterprise architecture to the cloud in a progressive journey supported by Infor, Rip Curl is forging a competitive edge with a clear-sighted future focus on integrating global supply chain and business processes to open valuable economies of scale.

Streamlining core business transactions for efficiency and value

Delivering consistency for global insight
With so much evolution – both in the surf wear market and across the fashion manufacturing and distribution supply chain – Rip Curl’s priority is to establish a highly agile, secure, and leading-edge platform to better integrate its global business processes. With its US operations already using M3 in the cloud, Rip Curl moved quickly to make its US office Infor’s second M3 Cloud upgrade to CloudSuite Fashion, as a test case for the rest of the company. The project updated Rip Curl’s core ERP and all its peripheral applications and interfaces, delivering new tools and a powerful adaptive cloud-based platform. Structural barriers to sharing information and creating new efficiencies will disappear as Rip Curl rolls out CloudSuite Fashion internationally. Visibility has improved across every aspect of its value chain. Key business processes now happen in real time, dissolving bottlenecks and accelerating customer service.

Doing business better in real time
“CloudSuite Fashion gives us the flexibility to work easily with third parties such as independent global warehouses. It is enabling us to improve efficiency right across our business,” said Terry Twiss, ERP Project Manager at Rip Curl. CloudSuite Fashion is also easily rolled out across Rip Curl’s international operations – both retail and wholesale – providing consistency and opening up valuable economies of scale. Infor CloudSuite’s massive processing power means that key business processes are done in a fraction of the time they previously took.

Source: This article was originally sourced from Infor

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AT A GLANCE

• Dunedin City Council

INDUSTRY

• City council

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• To adopt a ten year plan to renew key infrastructure, revitalise investments, and refresh community connectedness
• To consolidate and integrate a complex, disparate ICT landscape that encompassed 12 specialised business units using over 1,600 applications
• To obtain collective intelligence and integrated, insightful decision-making across the entire organisation
• To free up valuable technical resources from time-consuming development of reports by enabling self-service analytics and customised reporting
• Maximise efficiency of key customer services with improved integration and more online services

SOLUTION

• Integrated BIRST business intelligence suite with Infor Pathway and Infor Public Sector (IPS)
• Provided mobile functionality to field inspectors
• Utilised Infor solutions

BUSINESS BENEFITS

• Achieved 99 percent accuracy of key corporate and customer data across the entire organisation
• Eliminated the burden of business reporting on valuable development resources, freeing up strategic capacity
• Integrated Infor Public Sector with GIS as a customer-friendly visual information tool set for public access
• Provided comprehensive and cohesive transparency for each business unit to power coordinated decision-making
• Accelerated the sharing of insights and generation of efficiencies across the council
• Improved visibility for infrastructure planning and improvement, forecasting and budgeting

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

Making the future a present priority
Scenic and dynamic Dunedin is a university town with a large student population that makes it the second largest city on New Zealand’s South Island. A tertiary education hub, it hosts thriving research, publishing, manufacturing, and technology industries. Dunedin residents rate their quality of life higher than other New Zealander city-dwellers, and see their home as one of the world’s great small cities.

Dunedin City Council is keenly aware of the challenges involved in realising this vision. After two serious floods in recent years, sustainability and infrastructure are its priorities, along with refreshing the look, feel, and safety of the city. A new city-wide ten year plan is underway with bold and ambitious new projects to attract new investment, foster community connections, and showcase the city’s spectacular environment.

We are changing the way we are thinking about technology

The foundation for this surge of innovation is a ten year digital transformation plan for the council’s own information and communication technologies. The council’s executive leadership has prioritised a future focus for all its internal systems so that they are strategic, innovative efficient, and seamlessly integrated to enable more coordinated decision-making.

As one of New Zealand’s largest councils with over 900 staff, Dunedin City Council has a highly complex ICT landscape. It offers citizens a wide variety of online services, and its internal processes are divided between 12 highly specialised business units that currently use more than 1,600 applications.

“We are changing the way we are thinking about technology by always asking: Is this solution the simplest it can be? Is it efficient? And does it add value at the highest level?”
Tracey Tamakehu Chief Information Officer, Dunedin City Council

Consolidation for collective effort
“There is continuing pressure for local government to maximise efficiency,” said Tracey Tamakehu, Dunedin City Council’s Chief Information Officer. “Doing business better involves transforming the way we interact with customers, stakeholders, and suppliers. Emerging digital opportunities offer huge potential, as long as we leverage them in a strategic way.”

Dunedin’s far-sighted Digital Transformation Strategy is already consolidating and modernising technology across the previously siloed organisation.

As a result, it will enable cross-unit information flow to directly support customer-focused service delivery and bolster the council’s strategic objectives.

Beyond processing, storing, and reporting on data for key activities, the council’s ICT assets will enable intelligent and responsive business with powerful services all connected to a single source of truth. At the centre sits Infor Pathway, Infor Public Sector (IPS), and Infor Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) asset management, which are connected to BIRST business intelligence suite and integrated via Infor ION, Infor’s advanced middleware platform.

“Infor Pathway is the cornerstone of this transformation,” said Tamakehu. “It is a linchpin of our future-focus, because it is through Pathway we can collect, organise, secure, and share vital data in an integrated way. It enables us to augment, streamline, and coordinate all our other systems, and make them more efficient. We have relied on Pathway over the long term and its capabilities advance with our needs.”

Value realised
Digital transformation is moving Dunedin City Council from a complex collection of business units, each with their own processes, databases, and risks, to a collective entity with a cohesive purpose, informed by a secure single source of truth.

This new connectivity is supporting continuous innovation that is single-mindedly value-driven. Employees are enjoying improved efficiency of operations and the elimination of key friction points, and citizens are seeing improved access and more responsive customer service.

Insight to power direction
Analytics at your fingertips
“Because we have total confidence in Pathway’s accuracy and reliability, we are transforming our reporting systems to enable self-service information access for business units,” said Tamakehu. “We audit our data held in Pathway annually and it maintains a 99% accuracy. That means we can rely on it.”

BIRST allows business units to drill down to the specific customer and corporate information they need, drawn from and consolidated across a whole range of applications. Previously, 70% of the ICT development workload was in reporting and analytics—now, these resources are deployed for more productive and strategic functions.

Insight to enable collective effort
With Infor Pathway and Infor Public Sector providing a consolidated platform for all its information assets and processes, Dunedin City Council is realising deep and clear 20:20 vision across its operations. “Our digital transformation will allow the council to act in a connected way,” Tamakehu explained.

“Budgeting, forecasting and long term planning is supported by this improved transparency. New ICT infrastructure projects have total visibility into existing and planned assets. All staff are aware of the big picture, and this will save time and directly drive down costs.”

Meeting future challenges
Dunedin City Council is now working to move its core Infor platforms to the cloud. Although its ICT system is currently comprehensively replicated across two physical sites, being in the cloud will ensure availability of all data in any event, including natural disaster. Infor Pathway will be the council’s first cloud-based platform.

As the council’s key information source, ensuring the system has the maximum protection with guaranteed reliability fulfills an important civic duty. It also means that the council complies fully with all its legislative and regulatory requirements.

“It is absolutely critical to public safety that the information we hold is accessible at all times to the staff who need to work with it, no matter the challenges that may be involved,” said Tamakehu.

Source: This article was originally sourced from Infor

FURTHER READING

AT A GLANCE

• Veolia

INDUSTRY

• Utilities

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Optimised assets across multiple plants with one standardised system
• Integrated seamlessly with SAP Financials
• Improved decision making with more and better data
• Increased transparency and streamlined contractual and regulatory compliance

SOLUTION

• Infor Enterprise Asset Management

BUSINESS BENEFITS

• Have dramatically improved data capture and data quality
• Mobile access to the asset management system
• Enabled third-party integration with its customers’ systems

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

Veolia Australia and New Zealand (Veolia) is a leading provider of environmental solutions across water and wastewater services, industrial cleaning, waste management, and resource recovery and energy services. The company employs more than 4,000 people across 150 locations in ANZ, working with heavy industry, retail, and commercial businesses, governments, and communities. In the water sector, Veolia specialises in the outsourced management of water and wastewater services. It works with local authorities and commercial clients to design, build, own, operate, and maintain their unique assets such as the Gold Coast Desalination Plant.

Veolia can now provide robust outcomes for its clients including improved asset reliability at a lower cost.

Enhancing decision making and achieving efficiencies
Enable quality data
Infor EAM has enabled Veolia to dramatically improve data capture and in turn data quality. With this knowledge, the company has access to valuable information about the assets it manages and maintains. For example, with the Gold Coast Desalination Plant, Veolia knows—at the touch of a button—if it is undertaking the right amount of maintenance or if operational changes are required. For activities that are repetitive, Infor EAM lets Veolia streamline those activities and determine the appropriate level of preventive maintenance needed to reduce any types of breakdowns that might have been highlighted.

Gain a mobile edge
Mobility has played a key role in Veolia’s ability to enhance the quality of its data, particularly on site. The company’s technicians who work remotely have mobile access to the asset management system anyplace, anytime. They get the functionality they need to access, capture, and manage information from the job site. As a result, they have improved data accuracy, delivered better service, and managed assets more efficiently as technicians can record information as they work and make decisions on the fly.

Reduce costs and mitigate risks
Achieve seamless integration
Apart from automating asset management processes, one of the most important capabilities of Infor EAM at Veolia is third-party integration with its customers’ systems. Today, the company has the ability to obtain data from its customers and transfer it back again. It can also add value by analysing the data and providing timely reports. When Veolia began managing the assets of 25 water treatment plants recently, it was able to transfer the data from its customers’ systems into Infor EAM and begin work within a short timeframe of just two months – a record for the company. In addition, when Veolia introduced its new SAP Financials system, integration with Infor EAM was seamless. Today, the company has 13 interfaces between the two systems, which is essentially allowing two best-of-breed systems to operate as one. Veolia users can perform procurement tasks directly from Infor EAM without having to access SAP.

Meet contractual obligations and regulatory compliance
By standardising its asset management approach on Infor EAM, Veolia can now provide robust outcomes for its clients including improved asset reliability at a lower cost. What’s more, the transparency provided by the system and assured data quality and integrity enable the company to achieve contractual obligations and regulatory compliance much easier than before. Additionally, risk is reduced by eliminating downtime, ensuring reliability, and maximising safety—all functions that are managed with Infor EAM.

Source: This article was originally sourced from Infor

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AT A GLANCE

• Nulon

INDUSTRY

• Automotive manufacturing (fluids)

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Obtain a broader range of capabilities in demand planning and purchasing
• Greater agility, allowing decisions to be made faster and more confidently
• Scalable warehousing solution to provide visibility and control
• Greater efficiency in the picking processes

SOLUTION

• Infor CloudSuite Industrial (SyteLine)
• Infor Supply Chain Execution, ION

BUSINESS BENEFITS

• Single source of truth benefitting finance, logistics, and operations
• Accurate and efficient demand planning in a fraction of the time
• Lean manufacturing runs and lower inventory holding value
• Improved reliability and lower maintenance costs
• Standardisation of business systems and utilisation of Infor Support

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

Nulon is a leading Australian automotive manufacturer specialising in premium-quality lubricants, coolants, and advanced additives. Still family-owned, the company makes quality products for the automotive market, while delivering superior value and service levels. In 2011, Nulon moved from its Arrow solution to Infor SyteLine, recently upgrading to Infor CloudSuite Industrial V9, integrated with Infor Supply Chain Execution 10.4 using the ION interface, realising additional operational efficiencies and improving system-wide stability.

Single source of truth is a foundation for value
The key driver for Nulon’s upgrade to Infor CloudSuite Industrial was its need for a broader range of capabilities in demand planning and purchasing. Nulon also needed to move to a standard platform and a solution that provided the flexibility to define its own business processes, as conditions change and as the business grows. Nulon needed an ERP system that provided greater agility, allowing decisions to be made faster and more confidently, based on a single source of truth.

“As our business grew, it also became apparent that we needed a scalable warehousing solution to provide visibility and control, and greater efficiency in picking processes,” said Evelyn Zappia, Nulon’s Business Systems Manager. Nulon’s previous custom-built warehousing module had no flexibility or reliability and involved costly calls on outsourced developers whenever a repair or change was needed. Nulon selected Infor Supply Chain Execution for its holistic perspective, configurability, and intuitive interface.

Infor then worked with Nulon to use its middleware ION solution to integrate the two new solutions. In a first for the Australian industry, this has created a unified, streamlined system providing Nulon with optimised logistics and unprecedented transparency right across the business and streamlining key business processes.

“Infor’s support was invaluable during the upgrade, and the Infor consultants are extremely knowledgeable. We are a family-owned business where everyone truly cares about our products and service and Infor felt like part of the team working with us through matters that arose during the project. This made a critical difference,” said Zappia.

“We are a family-owned business where everyone truly cares about our products and service and Infor felt like part of the team.”

The newly integrated system has delivered efficiencies and improvements in every facet of Nulon’s business. There are savings realised from demand planning and forecasting where the base calculations to estimate production quantities now take one staff member just three hours, instead of needing three people over two and half days, to raising purchase orders in just five minutes (not an hour), to achieving a clear downward trend in inventory days and inventory holding value with more accurate and lean manufacturing runs.

Clear-sighted forecasting, reporting, and processing
Infor CloudSuite Industrial has eliminated the need for Nulon’s old system which relied on multiple Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. This has given Nulon’s teams vital functionality. Operational expenditures and other key reports are automated, while staff can access all the information they need for various processes directly, without delay, in the confidence that it is complete, accurate, and up to date.

Tasks can now be completed in the most efficient order. For example, manufacturing jobs are scheduled prior to purchasing, improving the accuracy of purchasing data sent to suppliers and removing the need to adjust orders. “All our users now have access to the information they need to make decisions right across the business. Even for relatively small matters, replicated across the organisation this adds up to significant efficiency gains,” said Zappia.

Warehouse management comes through with the goods
In the warehouse, Infor Supply Chain Execution’s configurable management system has automated many standard processes. This has resulted in greater efficiency, enabling Nulon to be more responsive to its customers. Supply Chain Execution’s advanced functionality has made Nulon more flexible in its approach to picking and receiving transactions, allowing it to keep up with changes in its environment without customisations. Meanwhile, ION integrates Supply Chain Execution with Nulon’s freight application to print shipping labels automatically.

“Moving from a custom-built solution to a standard system has resulted in fewer errors, less drop-out and never having to get a quick fix done on the fly,” said Zappia. Nulon’s previous warehouse application would frequently drop out on mobile devices, requiring staff to restart, log back in, and re-pick an order from the beginning with an associated risk of inaccuracy. Supply Chain Execution connects directly to Nulon’s application server via a telnet client and socket server, ensuring stability and eliminating this problem. Nulon can easily access all the support and technical maintenance it needs through Infor Support, so any help that is required is always at hand, while ongoing costs are kept at a minimum.

Source: This article was originally sourced from INFOR

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AT A GLANCE

• Tui Products Ltd

INDUSTRY

• Manufacturing/distribution/wholesale

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Improve information accessibility/visibility from production, through warehouse and on to customers
• Eliminate mis-picks when fulfilling orders
• Reduce reverse logistics costs

SOLUTION

• Infor Warehouse Mobility

BUSINESS BENEFITS

• 67 percent reduction in picking errors
• Supply chain visibility of accurate inventory
• Improved production planning
• Accurate fulfilment of customer orders (DIFOT)
• Ease of use made for smooth user uptake

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

Faced with a problem of continual mis-picks owing to the similarity of stock keeping units (SKUs), the company sought an improved solution to eliminate inaccuracy and the subsequent cost of returned stock. As an existing user of Infor’s LN ERP solution, the introduction of Warehouse Mobility was an obvious step forward.

Tui Products Ltd (Tui) is a 100% New Zealand owned and operated company that has been in business for more than 100 years. The company continually develops innovative products to suit the country’s distinct climate, conditions and lifestyle.

Situation
Tui’s information and business systems manager Mark Leslie explains that mis-picks have a significant knock-on effect for the business. “Our products are high-volume, low margin. A lot are very similar in appearance and specification, and that was leading to the wrong items being sent to our customers.”

Not only did this result in difficulties for customers which had to return the products and wait for delivery of the correct items, but the subsequent additional logistics including handling of credit notes and re-entering stock into warehouses incurred unnecessary cost. “That quickly eroded already slim margins,” Leslie confirms.

Tui knew exactly what was required to solve the problem. “We needed a system which would enable us to check the pick list, scan the product and verify if it was indeed on that list and confirm it against the sales order. If yes, it is on the order, off it goes, if not, back on the shelf.”

“We needed a system which would enable us to check the pick list, scan the product and verify if it was indeed on that list.”
Mark Leslie – Information and Business Systems Manager, Tui Products

This sort of information is also essential for production, adds Leslie. “Live inventory means we have a clearer idea of what stock we have on hand, what we have on order and being able to anticipate out-of-stock situations before they happen. All of that has a direct impact on customer service, with one of our key KPIs being Delivery in Full On Time [DIFOT].”

Solution
Making the selection of a suitable solution to meet its requirements wasn’t exactly difficult, relates Leslie. “Well, we have Infor LN already in use as the ‘mothership’, and we are close with a number of other businesses which have implemented the module with great results, so we knew what we were in for.”

The module to which he refers is Infor’s Warehouse Mobility. The solution provides visibility of stock movements in and out of warehouses, freeing information for use by sales, production and management staff to get a clear picture of where stock is located and in what quantities.

“The choice of Warehouse Mobility was obvious as we knew it worked, and any other solution would probably require some level of integration to get it working seamlessly with Infor LN; that was a problem we didn’t want to deal with considering the short time frame to implement the WM project,” Leslie adds.

“We immediately know – with confidence – if there is stock available in the warehouse, on the production line, or in the supply chain.”
Mark Leslie – Information and Business Systems Manager, Tui Products

This observation was borne out in practice; he describes the implementation, conducted by Infor implementation partner EMDA over the course of two months, as ‘surprisingly easy’.

Results
It wasn’t only the implementation which went smoothly; Leslie says Warehouse Mobility is simple to use. “The ongoing administration is straightforward. You configure to your business requirements but the end result is how easy the end user found to use the application. Short precise workshop training session ‘scan this or that, upload there’ and it is done. The fact that it is so easy to use makes a hell of a difference to staff buy-in and reduces the negative connotations of change management.”

That’s one perspective; another is that the solution has delivered the improvements in picking accuracy which were desired. “We’ve seen a 67 percent improvement in accuracy. That means 67 percent fewer returned orders, 67 percent less on reverse freight, and 67 percent less credit notes and the resulting processes of returning stock to inventory,” Leslie reports. Tui has recently had the lowest amount of credits in a month since recording results. Tui now scan picks over 95% of all items leaving its warehouse.

Then there is DIFOT, something which he says is far more achievable when the correct items are picked, packed and dispatched the first time. “That improves customer satisfaction, as you can imagine; we sell to wholesalers who need to keep their customers happy. When the right items arrive, everyone is happier.” There is a clear focus on customer satisfaction and being the ‘preferred supplier by choice’ which means we have to get it right.

Putting data at the fingertips of people within Tui who need it, Leslie adds, has improved production accuracy. “We immediately know – with confidence – if there is stock available in the warehouse, on the production line, or in the supply chain; we also know exactly where it is in the system, so locating any given product is simple. That reduces time and motion; it also allows for more accurate production of the items which are running low in inventory.” By knowing where product is along the supply chain it allows Tui to have better visibility of inventory, increased DIFOT and stock levels.

Tui ROI for this projects is two and a half years, this is being achieved through accurate leaner inventory levels, reduced capital requirements because of streamlined processes and looking at minimal miss picks, reduced credits, reverse freight.

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Published on the 10/09/2015 | Written by Infor

AT A GLANCE

• Bowron Sheepskins

INDUSTRY

• Manufacturing

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Improve information accessibility/visibility
• Eliminate manual data extraction and analysis
• Align products costs with revenue
• Introduce a modern, maintainable ERP solution

SOLUTION

• InforCloudSuite Industrial (SyteLine) implemented by EMDA

BUSINESS BENEFITS

• Strong core ERP system allows addition of additional functions in future
• Standardisation of core business processes has improved information exchange and visibility
• Improved governance and decision-making, along with improved collaboration and information sharing using Ming.le
• Automation of manual financial management/reporting tasks

FOR MORE INFORMATION

EMDA
www.emda.co.nz
+64 3 379 9530 or
+64 9 623 3001
info@emda.co.nz

Faced with an ageing enterprise resource planning system which saw staff working around instead of within it, Canterbury’s Bowron Sheepskins realised that maintaining its competitiveness depended on accurate, consolidated information. With an implementation of Infor’s CloudSuite Industrial (SyteLine) delivered by manufacturing and distribution software specialist EMDA, the company is ready for the future with a system that delivers clarity across the business.

Bowron Sheepskins traces its history back to 1879. During the late 1990’s, the company introduced a new benchmark in tanning, known as the ‘Whitan Process’. This became internationally recognised, resulting in improved quality sheepskins and significantly reduced environmental impact. A company that never rests on its laurels, Bowron’s ethos is to focus on the future without forgetting the path it has already travelled.

With some 200 people at its Christchurch head office, Bowron initiates sheepskin processing in New Zealand, with two more facilities in Vietnam employing another 400 for further finishing before products are exported to the world.

Situation
Victoria Sergel, Bowron’s accounting manager, explains why the company was ready for a new ERP solution. “The primary motivation was that we had a very old system that hadn’t been sufficiently maintained for an extended period. Added to that, the hardware which hosted it was coming to the end of its life.”

As a result, more and more decisions were being made using spreadsheets. “Critical data was being created and exchanged outside of the ERP system; everyone had their own idea of what was going on, with no single, standardised or consolidated view of the company performance at any given time,” adds Sergel.

Operating in a highly competitive environment, says Bowron business manager Neil Shewan, meant these issues were impacting on operations. “Accurate and timely information is absolutely critical to maintain competitiveness. If we don’t know the product costing and other variables, we cannot make correct decisions. This was a serious issue with the old system; it was necessary to extract data into Excel to workout what something was really costing us – and, when you started looking at overheads and the full cost cycle, your head would start spinning.”

Shewan adds that Bowron depends on close management of a wide range of variables to produce attractively priced, market-appropriate products. “Efficiency and optimal production volumes are critical. With raw materials, which change from year to year, not all are fit for every product. That adds more layers to the difficulty of accurate management and drives up the need for detailed, timely information to make sound business decisions.”

Solution
Sergel notes that an ERP project starts long before any software is implemented or even selected – and this was certainly the case for Bowron. Appreciating the magnitude of the exercise, and aware that this choice could determine the long-term success of the business, they engaged consultants to identify potential software providers. “Over a four to five month process, functional descriptions of processes were drawn up. A clearly defined template of requirements meant we could more accurately assess the fit of any potential solution.”

Shewan adds that this process alone was valuable. “It delivered extremely useful outcomes by identifying disciplines which were not adequately in place, and without which we would not have coped. Getting that ironed out before the ERP implementation was important to ensure success.”

Given its design around industrial processes and comprehensive functionality for manufacturing sites, Infor CloudSuite (SyteLine), demonstrated by EMDA, emerged as the best solution for Bowron. “SyteLine could be implemented with minimal customisation as the solution was a very close fit to our requirements. The few customisations required would have no impact on our ability to easily upgrade to future versions,”Shewan explains.

One noteworthy feature planned for implementation is the social collaboration tool Ming.le. Fully embedded with SyteLine and Business Analytics, it will allow employees to communicate, collaborate, and share documents, plans, photos, and videos from a centralised location, with all activity captured and easily searchable.

Shewan says there is some irony behind the demise of the old system. “It was implemented as ‘vanilla’ as possible – but it was so standardised in that form that it simply didn’t work. It had to be horribly customised and that’s why maintenance ground to a halt, because it became too complex.”

Implementations of ERP are disruptive to the business, requiring significant additional effort from internal resources; however, Sergel and Shewanboth agree that EMDA eased the pain through demonstrable knowledge and experience. They say EMDA’s approach focused on working with people, while time was taken to understand Bowron’s business processes, drivers and priorities. “This is not something you can rush into, and having knowledgeable people committed to working through solutions to problems is wonderful.”

Sergel commented that there are no short-cuts to the process required to get a system in place and tested to ensure a trouble free go-live.

Results
With the implementation of SyteLine marking the completion of Phase One of the project, Bowron is now looking at extending the solution by implementing Infor’s business intelligence, asset management and quality control solutions. In due course, it will also seek to make the most of the social collaboration tool Ming.le.

One of the biggest improvements is the introduction of systems to the factory floor, with real time entry and logging of production data rather than monthly backflush.

Shewan says that while it is early days yet, Bowron is already seeing the benefit of all business information remaining inside the system. “That’s the biggest win. Everyone is reporting on the same data. As we go down the line, the data becomes a platform and becomes more meaningful in supporting business decisions.”

Importantly, Sergel notes that the solution is future-proofed and, with minimal customisations, they won’t stand in the way of upgrades taking place. “There is confidence that we can keep up with ERP and technology upgrades; two years ago, we were just so far behind.”

And, adds Shewan, the business managers now have confidence in information, too. “We can readily understand where and what our costs are across a diverse product mix and manage that more closely.”

He adds that the first month end for the company has gone ‘very well’. “We can see that the system makes sense. More than that, the future looks good as we can see the signs that we’re headed in the right direction.”

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Genea gives birth to new baby, new system

December 10, 2014 | Infor

The Australian IVF group spawned a new clinical supplies business that needed new system capabilities, and needed them fast…

AT A GLANCE

• Genea

INDUSTRY

• IVF and Medical equipment

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Establish a foundation system to support a new manufacturing, warehouse and distribution business
  in a strict compliance regime.

SOLUTION

• Infor Syteline implemented by EMDA

THE BENEFITS

• Rapid implementation
• Pre-established industry templates
• In-built quality control systems
• Template for future growth in manufacturing

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

Automated vitrification and embryology aren’t terms you come across every day, but when it comes to making babies the hard way, they are key tools in the science of successful in-vitro fertilisation. Genea is one of Australia’s leading IVF and genetic testing clinical providers, boasting industry leading success rates with its clients achieving conception rates 40 percent above the Australian and New Zealand industry average. That sort of success doesn’t come without knowing a thing or two about running IVF labs, and the equipment and processes that come with them.

A new baby
That depth of knowledge led Genea to set up Genea Biomedx as a supplier of IVF technology to the wider industry both in A/NZ and further afield. The subsidiary has been created as an outlet for Genea’s specialist tools and techniques that have come out of the long running investment in R&D behind Genea’s high clinical results with its IVF birth rates.

Genea has been in the fertility treatment game since pioneering the technology in the 1980s and is a private, unlisted company owned by its employees and associated fertility specialists.

But running fertility clinics is a very different business to designing, manufacturing and distributing medical supplies and equipment, so Genea quickly recognised that it needed a more specialised system to handle the requirements of the new business.

With strong plans to expand the business internationally, and with many of the business processes to be developed off the back of the new software system, the company needed an ERP to be put in place quickly. Infor’s Syteline was chosen and an aggressive project timeline was forced by the demands of the new business.

“Early on in the establishment of Genea Biomedx, we realised a quality ERP system was crucial to the establishment and ongoing success of the business. With our short time frames before going to market, we required a solution to be implemented straight away and Infor provided this. The rollout was seamless and now we have an established program for the future which can also be rolled out in overseas markets,” Peter Nevin, CIO, Genea said.

The key to partnering with Infor was the ability to fast-track the rollout of the software from a typical 12-18 month-plus timeframe down to just four months. A prime factor in the selection of Syteline was that it comes set up for micro-verticals using a number of in-built configuration templates, so the functional fit and ability to roll out with minimal modification ensured the tight timeframes were met.

Infor partner EMDA took a lead consulting role in the implementation. EMDA CEO Keith Jessop commented that although the timeframe was challenging, the culture within Genea enabled a nimble project environment to be established. “The organisation from the top down had fully embraced the approach for the new solution. The openness to accepting the pre-configured processes made a huge difference in containing the scope and avoiding costly modifications,” he said. Jessop reinforced that the approach Infor is taking with built-in processes designed for specific industry verticals helped accelerate delivery.

“The rollout was seamless and now we have an established program for the future which can also be rolled out in overseas markets.”
Peter Nevin, CIO, Genea

“Not only does it save us setup time, it also packages up best practice learnings across many clients in that vertical,” said Jessop.

Initially, the company is focusing on manufacturing three main products. Automated vitrification equipment (controlling where the rubber meets the road, so to speak), smart embryo incubation pods that come with integrated time lapse imaging to track cell replication, and production of the embryo culture medium itself.

Biomedx manufacturing capacity is provided through a third party facility in Melbourne, a plant in Sydney and it is currently setting up another major facility in Sandwich in the U.K.

Genea’s ERP system needed to be easy to roll out to support rapid growth, provide scalability and the ability to work across multiple global markets. As a web-based solution that was developed with the complex sourcing and sales needs of global manufacturers, Syteline fitted the bill on that front too.

“The challenge was to find a web-based system that would support bills of materials that includes liquids and chemical formulas and the complexity that comes with managing the ordering and servicing of hard, physical items such as medical instruments,” said Nevin.

Not least in Genea’s considerations was the need to meet stringent compliance requirements of the industry with important regulations surrounding quality control and quality accreditation. Infor’s ‘Quality Control System’ within Syteline documents all the manufacturing processes and the way materials are sourced, right through to the finished product, which lowered the compliance hurdle for the new company.

The capabilities that come with the new solution have meant that Nevin is now planning for the replacement of the clinical system with Syteline so the whole business is consolidated onto just one core system.

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AT A GLANCE

• Pacific Aerospace

INDUSTRY

• Aircraft manufacturing and maintenance.

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• To support lean management.
• To integrate manufacturing, sales, financials.
• To provide audit trail for parts and components.

SOLUTION

• Infor LN ERP (formerly BAAN).
• Supporting infrastructure on a Microsoft SQL database.
• Project specification, installation, configuration and support provided by EMDA.

THE BENEFITS

• Significant improvement to productivity with no operating cost increases.
• Multi-currency supports exports.
• Parts tracked from source through manufacture and delivery.
• System support for continual improvement.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

The Kiwi aircraft manufacturer has re-engineered its business with Lean management and a new ERP system to create a solid runway for global export success…

Pacific Aerospace (PAL) is one of New Zealand’s rising stars in the export market. With multi-million dollar contracts for their class-leading P-750 XSTOL utility aircraft in the pipeline, PAL is poised for significant growth. “We expect to increase our production output significantly,” says Damian Camp, CEO of the Hamilton-based manufacturer, “with much of that increase coming from efficiency gains. We are now working leaner, cleaner and more efficiently due to our system of continuous improvement. All of these initiatives, including our new ERP software, Infor LN, are rolled together in what we call PACE (Pacific Aerospace Competitive Edge). PACE is our Lean Manufacturing programme which has hugely transformed the way we do things and how efficiently we do them.”

Turbulent times
It hasn’t been an easy road for PAL. In 2006, the company, then under different ownership, was under pressure and needed to increase its output to meet market demand. Camp was appointed to stabilise the business introduce better business procedures and reposition the company and its products in the market.

“We embraced the ‘Lean’ philosophy, which calls for reduction of ‘waste’ across the company including movement of parts, overstocking, rework, access to tools and resources, In addition we established an OFI (opportunities for improvement) programme and adopted the ‘5S’ framework (sort, set in order, shine, standardise, and sustain) in which we re-organised our work habits and work spaces. This model alone saved us from having to add new floor space as we were able to maximise the utilisation of our existing facilities. Eventually, all of these processes coalesced into the PACE methodology which we adhere to religiously.”

“As we developed PACE, we refined our business processes,” explains Camp, “but we didn’t have a truly integrated IT system to give us a unified view of the company across finance, manufacturing and sales.

One of our regulatory requirements is traceability of parts during the manufacturing process and for the life of an aircraft. We needed to know exactly where each part came from, how it was manufactured and even from which batch of material it was fabricated from. With more than 4000 parts and components per plane, it was a key consideration for us.”

Start stop
Over the course of several months, an internal team detailed exactly the company’s requirements including capabilities for manufacturing, parts control, audit and financials. “Of the several RFP responses,” explains Camp, “the proposal from EMDA built around Infor LN was the one that most aligned with our requirements. We felt that they could work within our PACE framework and the capabilities of the software were optimised for the aerospace industry with a track record of successful implementations.” PAL also found LN’s multi-currency capabilities attractive as well as the fact that EMDA would specify, install, configure and support the necessary hardware.

Once the decision was made to contract EMDA to proceed, the project went on hold. “At that time we just couldn’t justify the expenditure,” notes Camp. “Once the market turned around we took it up again and now we are realising concrete benefits from the new system.”

Clear air
“From an installation perspective,” says Tony Vile, senior consultant with enterprise software specialists EMDA, “the PAL project was a smooth operation. They were very specific in what they wanted and had developed a detailed incremental implementation schedule. Once the initial delay was behind us, we moved quickly on getting them up and running. Their business processes were quite sophisticated but we were able to help them map their data and routines almost directly into the Infor LN framework. We ran a number of workshops and training sessions with the idea of empowering PAL staff to take ownership of the solution once it had been set up.”

“We tried to avoid excessive customisation,” says Camp, “for instance, we would change some of our processes to fit into the LN schema. At the same time we could configure LN to reflect our own unique requirements. The team at EMDA were extremely supportive to this approach and their expertise in developing routines was instrumental in the project’s success.”

One off
One particular capability of Infor LN that PAL is employing is the Product Configurator. “Each aircraft is unique,” explains Camp, “and specifying each individual component is an integral part of the sales, manufacture and maintenance process. With Configurator, we can build the plane ‘on paper’ and prepare a bill of materials. We can weed out incompatible optional extras, which saves a lot of time during the specification phase. And once the parts have been identified, we can proceed with pricing and then manufacturing. The aircraft fitters and engineers have to be confident that the parts they use are the right ones. There is no margin for error and Infor LN goes a long way in ensuring the highest levels of product integrity.”

Continual improvement
PAL is still navigating the functionality of Infor LN. “Our focus on Lean operations means that we don’t do everything at once,” concludes Camp. “We’re building capabilities in business intelligence and product lifecycle management. We like the ability of Infor LN to expand our manufacturing capacity without adding extra layers of management. It fits very well within our overall PACE and Lean frameworks. To EMDA’s credit, they have worked with us to our own schedule and requirements and have added significant value every step of the way. We are working on two large overseas orders for the P-750 XSTOL and we have every confidence that we will be able to produce them, using Infor LN as a basis, quickly, correctly, and most importantly, profitably.”

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AT A GLANCE

• Best Bars

INDUSTRY

• Manufacturing & design

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Replace an outdated ERP system to eliminate manual procedures and improve production scheduling.
• Introduce a platform for continuous improvement including CRM and EDI.

SOLUTION

• SyteLine ERP with in-built CRM and EDI – implementation, training and support by EMDA.

THE BENEFITS

• Integrated, finite scheduling system (APS) for business-wide efficiencies.
• Cost effective – offers immediate ROI.
• Margin of error dramatically reduced, productivity increased.
• Transparency, visibility and measurement capability enable greater business competitiveness.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

Engineering tow bars takes more than strong steel when your customers are auto-manufacturers around the globe…

As Aussies and Kiwis continue to hook their boats and caravans up for the Great Annual Beach Migration, spare a thought for the humble tow bar. Chances are the only thing keeping their precious assets in tow was engineered by New Zealand’s market leader for the design and manufacture of ‘genuine part’ automotive accessories.

With a head office in Auckland and a sales and technical centre in Melbourne, Best Bars employs over 85 people and is a leading supplier of auto accessories to the APAC region.

Increased focus on being competitive internationally had seen Best Bars grow over its 30-year history from New Zealand into Australia and on to the US and Europe. However, inadequate system capability in the production and planning areas of the business were holding it back. Staff were using spread sheets or manual systems to plug the gaps, and this resulted in a lack of visibility between departments. While the business was performing well, it recognised that to move from good to great it needed to make improvements.

Its focus on the global marketplace, together with an outdated enterprise platform, forced a decision to begin the search for a business management system that would cover functionality in manufacturing planning, scheduling and costing, as well as CRM.

“As an emerging global supplier, it was critical that our business systems could integrate and share information with the multiple systems used by our customers. We needed to improve the delivery of information to internal users as they strive to continuously improve on meeting the needs of our customers and adding value beyond simply providing a product to market,” comments Stephen de Kriek, CEO of Best Bars.

After a comprehensive search across leading ERP systems, Best Bars selected Infor’s SyteLine over other shortlisted options, from Microsoft Dynamics to SAP. Best Bars signed EMDA to configure and roll out a multi-module SyteLine solution.

The implementation was approached in two stages and run across the whole business, from production, manufacturing and sales to distribution. Phase one involved replacing the previous system, and configuration of the feature enabling a multi-level bill of material for manufactured products. User home screens were also configured, which allow employees to access all the functions they require in their role in one place. Finite production scheduling was put in place providing real time product availability dates from production schedules.

Phase two, currently underway, involves implementation of improvement aspects that de Kriek calls “stepped gains”. These added benefits, such as ease of use and straight-forward customisations, are what led Best Bars to select SyteLine over its competitors. The production scheduling alone is anticipated to directly impact the bottom line by lowering manufacturing costs, as well as improving customer service and re-ordering. In 2014, EMDA will roll out SyteLine’s integrated CRM feature for Best Bars.

“Being a manufacturing based business, we rely on the effectiveness of production scheduling,” comments de Kriek. “If I had to choose the number one greatest benefit thus far, it would be that SyteLine is a truly integrated, finite scheduling system. The robust production scheduling is already delivering a huge number of efficiencies across the business.”

Staff job satisfaction has increased dramatically after the first phase. Increased speed and efficiency for users has improved customer service.

Employees are feeling better supported in making decisions and completing tasks. Additionally, the much improved user interface has been readilyaccepted and embraced by staff. This has resulted in lower training costs. Users can answer queries by drilling down into the system themselves, rather than query another department.

Business drivers such as customer demand, delivery scheduling, manufacturing costs and resource tracking are now simplified and much more visible. De Kriek says that the margin of error has been dramatically reduced with the new system. Users can see everything they need to, as it happens, so business decisions can be made better and more quickly.

The role-based screens mean only the relevant tools are available, while workflow screens describe standard operating procedures to users. Workflows are set up to integrate with the business’s quality management systems, ensuring that IP remains with Best Bars. The in-built application can walk users through systems and processes simply and effectively, eliminating the need for users to record, share and store procedures, a benefit de Kriek says is “invaluable”.

“We now have the ability to be on a global platform, dealing with customers internationally, thanks to this sophisticated ERP system,” says de Kriek. “SyteLine has put us on an equal footing with, if not beyond, our competitors in terms of business systems. It is now very easy to drill down into information, making our business more profitable and ultimately providing a better experience to customers.”

Other benefits have been reduced inventory levels and shortages; increased manufacturing speed and accuracy; minimisation of errorprone manual steps and conflicting procedures; improved order delivery speeds; and the expeditious delivery of critical information to make smarter business decisions.

“To be competitive in the global marketplace, you have to have robust business systems in place. We’ve chosen to invest in those systems. If you can measure, you can improve,” de Kriek concludes.

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AT A GLANCE

• C-Tech

INDUSTRY

• Carbon fibre marine components

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Replace accounting software and paperbased manufacturing processes with a full ERP system.
• Embed job costing information in an electronic system.
• Simplify exchange rate calculations

SOLUTION

• Infor ERP SyteLine deployed by business solutions provider EMDA.

THE BENEFITS

• Accurate costing of new products.
• Easy currency calculations on export sales.
• Embeds institutional pricing and product knowledge in business systems.
• Supports product and market diversification.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

C-Tech, a key supplier of carbon fibre products for America’s Cup yachts, has navigated into new waters thanks to ERP system SyteLine and deployment expert EMDA…

When the 34th America’s Cup is sailed in San Francisco in September, Auckland company C-Tech will be as close to the action as it’s possible to be without actually being aboard either of the competing yachts.

As it has been for more than a decade, the 16-year-old company is a supplier of carbon fibre components to the America’s Cup teams. And C-Tech chief executive Alex Vallings, a sailor, will be competing in San Francisco Bay at the same time as the America’s Cup is being contested.

However, Vallings will be racing an 18-foot skiff with cloth sails while the America’s Cup is fought over by 72-foot catamarans with fixed-wings larger than the wing of a Boeing 747.

Vallings might well have mixed feelings as his boat skips across the waves, knowing that the big cats’ wings have diminished C-Tech’s role in the world’s richest regatta. A key component of a cloth sail, the batten, is absent from the rigid wings.

For most of a decade from 2001, more than three-quarters of C-Tech’s business came from supplying a unique, hollow, tapered rectangular sail batten. When the 31st America’s Cup was sailed in Auckland in 2003, the battens were used by Team New Zealand, Alinghi and Victory Challenge.

At the 2007 Cup in Valencia, says Lyn Holland, C-Tech’s administration manager and Vallings’ partner and fellow sailor, not one of the dozen participating teams was without the battens. “We supplied battens for every syndicate, so we were at our export peak with sail battens making up 80 percent of what we sold.”

The battens’ popularity was down to their strength, lightness and durability – the product of design and manufacturing nous that resided in Vallings’ head.

“Then someone decided to put solid wings on America’s Cup boats and completely ruined our market,” Holland says. “So things changed – and we changed our product mix at the same time.”

At about that time and with that kind of contingency in mind, C-Tech decided to upgrade its cashbook accounting system. The company was prospering – since Vallings started the business in 1997, revenue was approaching NZ$5 million, it had 17 staff and occupied an 1800sq m manufacturing facility in west Auckland.

Much of its success rested on Vallings’ engineering expertise and his ability to accurately cost the made-to-order jobs that came in via the company’s website.

“He built up all the manufacturing processes so could look at a job and know pretty well how long it should take and how much it would weigh so he could multiply that by the cost of carbon to get the material cost. He could pretty much do the labour and material costs in his head, or if it was particularly complex, on a piece of paper,” says Holland.

“Nobody else in the company had that capability or that information.”

However, if the company was ever to be sold, that institutional knowledge needed to be incorporated in its business systems. And there was another long-standing issue: with 80 percent of sales going overseas, currency conversions were time-consuming.

“We wanted to make our exporting process simpler. And we wanted to have a feel for actual costs – take them out of Alex’s head and put them into a bill of materials system. Our eventual objective is that someone will be able to come along and buy the company and its assets and one of them would not be Alex.”

Holland, who ran her own software development business before merging it with C-Tech in 2001, homed in on enterprise resource management (ERP) system Infor SyteLine, supplied by Christchurch-based EMDA. With its strengths in managing complex manufacturing processes and export businesses, it wasn’t long before SyteLine rewarded Holland’s judgment.

When America’s Cup defender Oracle Team USA set the design rules for the regatta being contested in September, far from having the wind taken out of its sails, C-Tech was able to rely on SyteLine to help it develop other product lines.

Battens have gone from being 80 percent of sales to 45 percent and the company has become a supplier of tubular composites for applications as diverse as telescopes, guitar necks and gun silencers. And it is keeping its America’s Cup hand in, making control components for the wings of the 2013 regatta’s yachts.

“Without the costing information we gained from having an ERP system we could have gone down some wrong tracks very easily,” says Holland. “We also have a much clearer picture of product cost versus sell price at a time whe people are taking a lot more care over what they buy. They’re not so willing to pay top dollar and we’ve had to be careful about our margins. SyteLine enabled us to change our product mix because we had visibility of costs.”

The ERP system has also eased the exporter’s exchange rate burden. C-Tech doesn’t engage in currency hedging, but with more than 350 suppliers and 1600 customers, most of them overseas, Holland appreciates SyteLine’s currency conversion functionality.

There was another objective, too, in choosing Infor’s ERP SyteLine, developed using the .Net toolset: C-Tech wanted a system that would interface with in-house software.

“We have a lot of spreadsheets and databases that record laminate information and product technical specifications and we looked for an ERP system that was going to be relatively easy to get things to talk to each other. The integration with Excel was one of the key reasons for choosing Syteline.” Integration remains a work in progress, Holland says.

In the meantime, despite “a much reduced role” in the 34th America’s Cup, Vallings and Holland are eagerly anticipating the event.

“We will be there and I’m looking forward to it,” Holland says.

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AT A GLANCE

• Navico

INDUSTRY

• Marine electronics

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Outsource warehousing to logistics specialist FedEx.
• Integrate ordering and manufacturing systems with FedEx.

SOLUTION

• Commission ERP specialist EMDA to create an EDI interface between Navico and FedEx.

THE BENEFITS

• Outsourced warehousing of Navico’s Americas business has eased end-of-month logistics bottlenecks.
• Outsourcing order fulfilment to FedEx has relieved Navico of infrastructure and systems issues.
• Customers are getting the benefit of more timely and accurate deliveries.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

US-based marine electronics manufacturer Navico has successfully outsourced warehousing to FedEx courtesy of an EDI tool developed by New Zealand ERP system specialist EMDA…

When US-based marine electronics manufacturer Navico needed help to develop an electronic data interchange interface with logistics giant FedEx, it navigated its way to New Zealand.

The usual concerns about a strong kiwi dollar making New Zealand companies uncompetitive in the US market didn’t enter into the discussion, says Navico’s Tulsa, Oklahoma-based IT director, Greg Wilson, when it contracted ERP specialist EMDA to undertake the EDI the project.

“EMDA is what I like to call a trusted adviser,” says Wilson, a role it has made its own by delivering quality results for Navico over several years. The relationship goes back to 2007, when Navico acquired the former marine division of New Zealand GPS maker Navman from US company Brunswick, which had bought it three years earlier.

Navico continues to have an engineering centre in Auckland, and former Navman engineers and managers are now on the Navico payroll.

EMDA fits into the picture as the supplier of Infor ERP Syteline, which was used by Navman, and which Navico also runs. With that background, Wilson says, there was no agonising about the impact of the New Zealand dollar-US dollar exchange rate as Navico commissioned EMDA to provide its EDI solution.

“It was about the relationship we have with EMDA.

When we have had issues or difficulties or needs they have proven to be an extremely valuable partner.”

And that’s the way it has panned out once again, as Navico has successfully outsourced warehousing for its customers in the Americas to FedEx.

Manufacturing of Navico’s three marine electronics brands – Lowrance, Simrad and B&G, aimed at the inshore fishing, offshore boating and competitive sailing markets respectively – is carried out in Ensenada, Mexico. Products are made to order from logistics centres in the US, which caters for the Americas, the Netherlands, which supplies Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Sydney, from where Asia-Pacific customers are supplied.

Since Americas warehousing was migrated to FedEx in the third quarter of this year, manufacturing orders make their way from Tulsa to Ensenada, and the finished products, with associated documentation, are sent direct to the FedEx logistics centre, from where they’re shipped to customers.

Wilson says Navico decided to outsource to cope with growth in sales.

“To be able to meet customer demand, we were going to have to spend a sizeable sum on a worldclass warehouse management system. When we took a look at the return we would get on that investment, it just didn’t make sense.

“It was a lot more financially sound to work with a third-party that had already made that investment, and capitalise on the economies of scale and transfer that responsibility to them.”

That meant developing processes for exchanging information between Syteline and FedEx’s shipping systems. EMDA were “the guys in the middle” that helped bring Navico and FedEx together, Wilson says.

It was a year-long effort, says EMDA technology head Matt Holland, who spent a month in Tulsa during a key part of the project. “What we have done is written a framework that connects to Syteline — and other ERP systems as well — and extracts data from a database, or file, if that’s how it is stored. We then create custom mapping of business partner documents that can be transferred via email or FTP.”

Documents that need to be exchanged between the Navico and FedEx include advanced shipping notices and invoices that the logistics centre needs to be able to process a shipment and send it to Navico’s customers.

Wilson says FedEx has a prescribed document format that Navico had to accommodate in its systems, while also translating its documents into the FedEx format.

“Everyone’s invoices are a little bit different, everyone’s advanced shipping notices and shipping confirmations and things like that are a little bit different, so a custom application is always required to bring a new customer into FedEx’s system,” he says.

Wilson says the project went extremely smoothly thanks to careful planning. “I think the people both internally and externally that were involved with the project were really good.

“It’s been a great success. I’m very satisfied from the IT standpoint and I believe the logistics managers are satisfied as well.

“We haven’t run into any critical or showstopping issues following the go-live, which I think is testament to the quality of work that came out of the project.”

Perhaps more importantly the logistics revamp itself is delivering the goods.

“It’s helped reduce a lot of the end-of-month fire fighting that typically went on within the organisation because our systems couldn’t handle the demand peaks. We have eased a lot of infrastructure and systems-related issues by moving to the FedEx logistics centre.

“And I believe it’s really helped smooth our distribution process and provide greater value to our customers, which is the ultimate goal. We’re able to deliver to customers in a more timely and accurate way than we could in the past.”

The success of the project affirms the solid relationship between EMDA and Navico, Wilson says.

“I anticipate we’re going to have a lot more of these success stories in the future together.”

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AT A GLANCE

• APL

INDUSTRY

• Manufacturing

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Replace an end-of-life manufacturing system
• Avoid imposing major change on staff
• Gain the flexibility and information visibility benefits of a modern ERP system

SOLUTION

• Infor SyteLine, implemented by Christchurch-based EMDA

THE BENEFITS

• Greater flexibility in production scheduling
• Truck manifests can be changed on the fly
• Customers have visibility of live order status information
• System introduction involved minimal disruption to users

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

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Aluminium window designer APL has delivered customers an open view of their orders, and they keep coming back for more…

Gaze out the window of a modern building and it’s more likely your eye will be caught by the view than the manufacturing details of the window frame.

Yet if it was designed by leading window system supplier APL, the possible variations in materials, colour and type of coating run to the hundreds if not thousands — enough to distract someone in the trade from the most scenic of vistas.

Small wonder, then, that Hamilton-based APL relies on a full-blown enterprise resource planning system to run its operations.

“With Syteline, our integrated ERP system, we’re most definitely ahead of the bunch,” says APL head of information and procurement Peter Dittmer.

The privately owned business designs and markets several brands of aluminium doors and windows that are produced by a nationwide network of more than 70 manufacturers.

The business, which was started in 1971, is vertically integrated. Aside from design and testing, it has an aluminium extrusion operation (INEX), an anodising business (FINEX) and a powder-coating plant (ColourWorks).

It also operates a fleet of trucks (APL Direct) that deliver materials to its diverse network of fabricators. SyteLine, from US company Infor, is at the heart of the business, says Dittmer.

“As orders come in — the majority through an EDI interface direct from our fabricators — they are put into the ERP system. The purchasing of any requirements to complete an order, and production scheduling, are then determined by the system according to lead time.”

If a fabricator requests a powder-coated product, its progress from receipt of the order to despatch by truck is automatically scheduled by the ERP system.

“If the goods are being powder-coated in silver pearl, say, we would normally give a five-day lead time. So the system will say this order needs to be picked on day three, painted on day four and on a truck on day five. SyteLine does all that for us.”

In doing so, Dittmer estimates the system is keeping track of thousands of product variables.

“You imagine you are getting a house built, all the different parts you could possibly have for all the windows and doors, all those are integrated through the system.”

APL’s use of SyteLine goes back about four years when a separate manufacturing division, ALPAC, piloted the system. Dittmer says ALPAC was chosen as the pilot site, because it was a relatively small operation, yet it stood to make significant gains from the ERP.

ALPAC did achieve the desired outcome with resource planning and response time benefits. It was therefore a logical step, 18 months later, to go live with a full implementation of the SyteLine system, at APL.

The move to SyteLine, which is sold and supported by Christchurch-based company EMDA, represented “a leap into the 21st century”, Dittmer says. To ease the transition from APL’s no-longer-supported non-GUI-based system, EMDA initially customised SyteLine to ease the transition for end users.

“That obviously had a cost associated with it, however we realised it would make it easier for the transitional phase, which it did. We even made the paper work used by the team picking products in the warehouse identical to what they were used to, to ensure consistency of documentation.

“I’ve been involved with other ERP projects where too much change was introduced at once, and they just fall over. Now we have this in place we will slowly use more bar-coding and other features to enhance the system as we move forward with it.

“But to suddenly, on day one, change everybody’s life is most likely going to lead to disaster.”

A significant added feature of the ERP system is that it has been integrated with APL’s trucking system, with an EMDA-developed application.

“The transportation system is one of the biggest advantages,” Dittmer says.

The system lets customer service staff work with truck drivers to amend load manifests ‘on the fly”, therefore being able to give the added bonus of allowing less urgent consignments to make way for express deliveries.

“In the past we couldn’t do that — once you’d run the manifest, that’s what you had to put on board the truck.”

The system also gives a clear view of what’s aboard each of the 11 trucks and trailers within the fleet.

Dittmer sums up SyteLine’s virtues in two words: ”flexibility and visibility”. The added value of SyteLine lets it adjust for contingencies and keep customers informed of their order status which in today’s competitive market is a boon.

“We have about 70 customers and they need to know where their goods are, whether there are any delays or problems with any part of the order as it goes through the system, and when the goods will be delivered. We’re able to feed back all that information through SyteLine into their systems so they can see their order status at any stage.”

Visibility also extends to oversight of APL’s key performance indicators. Dittmer says a business intelligence “bolt-on” to the system gives snapshots of details such as sales, gross profit and margins.

EMDA’s handling of the fortnight-long go-live process, during which the supplier’s project manager and APL’s IT manager, David Mens, put in 19-plus hour days, earns high praise from Dittmer. Ongoing support — including a trouble-free recent upgrade from SyteLine version 8.00 to 8.02 — is also solid.

“EMDA has some class people and overall it has been excellent. We have developed quite a close relationship and even have a soccer tournament with them.”

But not this year. Canterbury’s earthquakes, which forced Christchurch-based EMDA into temporary premises in February, mean there will be no 2011 fixture, so the trophy they compete for will remain where it is on Dittmer’s desk.

It’s a reminder, if he needs one, of the central part SyteLine plays in APL’s business.

Published on the 13/02/2012 | Written by Infor

AT A GLANCE

• Holden Special Vehicles

INDUSTRY

• Automotive

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Enhanced business and operations performance

SOLUTION

• Infor10 Barcode

THE BENEFITS

• Seamless integration with the company’s existing ERP system
• Enhanced user interface
• Automated processes
• Improved efficiency

FOR MORE INFORMATION

EMDA
www.emda.co.nz
+64 3 379 9530 or
+64 9 623 3001
info@emda.co.nz

PARTNER CONTACT

INFOR
www.infor.com
1800 656 575

After identifying warehousing as an area for improvement, Holden Special Vehicles, in the interest of maintaining the greatest possible efficiency, went looking for a real-time solution that could seamlessly integrate with their existing software…

Lee Webster, chief information officer at HSV, says its customers demand the best, and any process advancement helps HSV to meet these expectations.

“Changes in demand and customer priorities are our key challenges,” Webster notes.

To stay ahead of the game, HSV continuously reviews its processes to look for possible inefficiencies in the manufacturing process. After identifying warehousing as an area for improvement, HSV enhanced performance with the introduction of a fully integrated, real-time wireless warehousing solution by Infor, Infor10 Barcode.

HSV chose Infor10 Barcode, because it seamlessly integrated with the company’s enterprise resource planning system, Infor10 ERP Enterprise (LN).

Webster explains: “We wanted an online, real-time solution that maximized our investment in our current system.

Infor10 ERP Enterprise directly processes the order without the need to translate it from another system and involve third-party software.”

Earlier, HSV had upgraded from Infor ERP Baan5c to ERP Enterprise to take advantage of its enhanced user interface for improved ease of use, as well as automated processes that resulted in significant efficiency improvements.

Before using Infor10 Barcode, HSV faced a number of challenges in dispatching and receiving goods, and in its system of identifying and counting stock.

“We used a manual paper-based process for dispatching goods,” says Webster. “Infor10 ERP Enterprise generated picking slips based on warehouse location, and we used these slips to help pick the goods. After picking, the user then returned to a workstation to process the order in the system.”

Similarly, the receiving of goods was a paper-based manual process, with goods being unloaded to a holding area, and then placed in their correct location. Workers would then send the received paperwork into the office to be processed.

“The problem with this process is that goods could sit in the holding area or on the shelf without visibility in the system,” says Webster. “Also, with stock counting, the user would write the actual quantity on a sheet before returning to the workstation to process the findings. Because stock lacked label identification, it could be easily confused with similar parts.”

Sometimes these processes created real problems.

“For example, the materials department might be chasing a delivery that had been sent to the holding area or was waiting for the paperwork to be processed in ERP Enterprise,” says Webster.

“Or, due to the similarity of some parts, an incorrect part might be sent to a customer. And in the dispatch area, there was far too much walking back and forth to the workstation to process paperwork on tasks that had already been completed. Plus, with handwritten dispatch labels and manually generated invoices, the process was simply too time-consuming.”

Although all these processes worked, they were inefficient.

“Paperwork could be lost or processed days later,” Webster adds.

Webster identified the need for a real-time, wireless, fully integrated warehousing solution allowing direct receiving of goods, including the printing of barcoded receipt labels. The system also needed to allow for direct picking and dispatching of sales, including invoice printing.

With cycle counts and stock adjustments, Webster wanted a system that allowed the counted stock quantity to be entered directly into the system. And, if required, this would automatically adjust the counted and adjusted stock in the system. “We wanted our warehouse users to quickly receive, dispatch, and invoice stock. With the paper system, there was a delay in getting the stock into the system. With Infor10 Barcode, the system showed updates immediately once the stock arrived.”

Webster says that using barcode scanners has had a major impact on HSV’s efficiency.

“The barcoding project has been well-received throughout our organization,” says Webster. “We now have barcode stock identification labels on all parts.

We can receive goods directly in the warehouse, and print a barcoded receipt label. We can look up and adjust stock levels at the actual location. We can ship and invoice sales directly from the barcode scanners.

From that, we can print a shipping label with the barcode for identification purposes.”

Webster says HSV has been able to increase the number of items dispatched using fewer resources.

“For dispatching goods, we recently had our biggest month ever, and we achieved it with one less person.”

Another useful feature of Infor Barcode is its portability.

Says Webster: “We use the Intermec CK3 Wireless Barcode Scanner and PB22 rugged wireless printers. The barcode scanners have holsters, and the printers have a belt clip so that the operator can wear it.”

The solution took about three months to implement. The IT department received training, and they, in turn, trained the warehouse end users.

Stock accuracy has also improved. “Users can scan an item and look up stock at the warehouse location,” says Webster. “Overall efficiency has increased. With less manual processing of paperwork, we can receive and ship more goods with fewer resources.”

In line with its goal of continuous improvement, Webster says HSV is planning to upgrade to FP7 and WebTop: “We are keen to test the advanced subcontracting, Microsoft SharePoint reporting solutions, landed costs, and purchase requisitions with Infor10 ION Workflow.”

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AT A GLANCE

• AW Fraser

INDUSTRY

• Manufacturing

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Support the company’s drive for lean manufacturing
• Provide a portal for customers to track order status
• Centralise customer data

SOLUTION

• Infor ERP SyteLine version 8.02

THE BENEFITS

• ERP system is at centre of company’s manufacturing, sales and finance functions.
• Highly customisable database
• Customer portal streamlines communications
• CRM package records customer contact information and sales leads in single location

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

As a record-high New Zealand dollar tests the mettle of the country’s exporters, it is just another spur for bronze and brass manufacturer AW Fraser to stay lean…

The Christchurch company, which has been in existence since 1939, set about improving operational efficiency in 2008 in response to the recession.

“It was a matter of survival”, says chief financial officer Paul Isitt. “When the recession hit we understood that we had to get more efficient or we weren’t going to stay in business.

The recession was the big driver for what has become a philosophy of continuous improvement.”

Central to that drive is ERP SyteLine, from global company Infor.

“SyteLine is key,” says Isitt, and all the more so since a successful upgrade from version 7.04 to 8.02 undertaken by Christchurch-based business solutions provider EMDA.

“SyteLine does pretty much everything for us. It supports our sales department, we run all our manufacturing through it — including all our manufacturing data — and also our finances. So we use it as a true ERP system — it runs the whole business.”

AW Fraser, which is located in upper Riccarton, away from Christchurch’s earthquake-devastated CBD and eastern suburbs, has three manufacturing departments: a foundry that melts copper and other elements to make bronze and brass; a brass extrusion plant; and a CNC machine shop for machining parts.

“Every product we make goes through the foundry and is either sold direct or goes to our extrusion bay or to the machine shop. The machine shop is the department with the most added value and is the part of the business we’re trying to grow.”

Each year the business produces over 1,000 tonnes of machine components — such things as bronze bushes, gear blanks and thrust washers for outboard motors — 90 per cent of which are exported. Total sales are in the tens of millions of dollars.

Major customers are a who’s who of heavy machinery manufacturing with several major bluechip industrial clients among AWF’s several hundred customers around the world.

Like all exporters, the company feels the pressure when the New Zealand dollar rises relative to our trading partners.

“Its response”, Isitt says, “is to keep trimming the fat from its operations.” “What we’ve done with SyteLine over the past couple of years is transfer our manufacturing data from various Microsoft Excel and manual systems.

SyteLine is very good at allowing you to customise your database and forms, allowing you to enter any kind of manufacturing data.”

“So we’re putting tooling information into SyteLine, inspection requirements, product dimensions, tolerances and any special mechanical requirements. We’re spending a lot of time getting our data into one place so that when we produce a job packet for the factory floor, all that data gets sucked out and printed in a report so staff know exactly how to make the item and to what standard.

“As we go through the continuous improvement process, it is key to have that data standardised.”

The drag on the business from inventory that is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and poor use of time and resources, are the kinds of waste SyteLine is helping reduce.

“Say, for example, a job goes out on the factory floor that you haven’t run for 18 months, if the data that tells you how to make it — what material and tooling to use — isn’t stored somewhere, you almost have to teach yourself how to make it again.

“That might be the difference between breaking even on the job, or making a reasonable profit. So having your data 100 per cent right, and all in one place, makes a significant difference to the bottom line.”

Isitt says SyteLine version 8.02 has features the business is eager to take advantage of to streamline communications with customers.

“We want to use the system’s CRM [customer relationship management] package and customer portal. We see those as crucial to our relationships with those blue-chip customers.

“Some of the customer service functions will become systemised. So, for example, instead of a customer sending an email requesting an order status update, they will be able to log in to the portal and view its progress.”

Providing access to live SyteLine data will require AW Fraser sales support staff to ensure it is up to date and accurate, but Isitt believes it’s becoming a vital element of customer service.

The system’s CRM functionality will see the company “tidy-up” its customer database, Isitt says.

“We store a customer database in Microsoft Outlook and have a separate list of customers in SyteLine and the CRM will allow us to tie all those together.” Having a single reliable set of customer data will make the sales process more efficient.

“The CRM will also allow us to record all our leads and quotes, making sure we don’t lose any opportunities.”

Isitt says EMDA managed the upgrade very smoothly, which spared the company further upheaval on top of what Christchurch’s quakes were already inflicting.

“The city’s been going through a little bit of turmoil recently, as have our staff, so we were hesitant about putting the business through an IT upgrade unless we were confident it was going to be reasonably hasslefree.

“I’ve heard our people say it’s the smoothest ERP upgrade they’ve been through. The users like the new version and it is similar enough to the old one that only a small amount of training was needed.”

About two-dozen of the company’s 190 staff, in finance, sales, production planning, factory floor supervision, purchasing and dispatch roles, are SyteLine users.

EMDA wrote all the mods in AW Fraser’s previous version but, when it came to upgrading, only had to update some mods to incorporate the new functionality in SL8.02. The rest of the mods were just recompiled making the upgrade very easy which would have been the same for the AW Fraser staff when doing their customisations.

Isitt expects the company will begin to get the benefits of the upgrade’s customer-facing features within six months.

“Everything else in SyteLine has been easy to implement and I’m sure this will be as well.”

With economic factors likely to continue testing the company, SyteLine is vital to its future.

“If you don’t improve, you won’t stay in business, and if the dollar goes higher and higher, you need to be as efficient as you can be,” Isitt says.

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AT A GLANCE

• Bremca Industries

INDUSTRY

• Importing | Manufacturing

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Handling of thousands of stock items, multiple sites and currencies and ability to interface with in-house developed quoting and CAD software.

SOLUTION

• Infor ERP SyteLine, supplied by Christchurch-based EMDA

THE BENEFITS

• Extensive manufacturing and financial management functionality
• Ease of integration with third-party systems
• Ease of use
• Multi-site, multi-currency, multi-company handling

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

Bremca Industries’ Infor ERP SyteLine software got through Canterbury’s big quake unscathed, allowing its branches in New Zealand and Australia to carry on trading…

Christchurch-based electrical switch gear importer and manufacturer Bremca Industries was spending a lot of time picking up components from its warehouse floor in September.

After the initial Canterbury quake on September 4, which cracked the warehouse’s concrete slab walls and emptied its shelves, aftershocks were keeping staff on their toes.

One thing they were grateful for, says managing director Andrew McLean, was that the company’s manufacturing and financial system, Infor ERP SyteLine, didn’t miss a beat during the drama.

“SyteLine kept working through the earthquake — it didn’t stop,” says McLean, one of the 38-year-old business’s four shareholders.

EMDA, Infor’s New Zealand channel partner and Bremca’s supplier was also impacted by the quake. Its central Christchurch office was cordoned off for days, and two of six servers were knocked out. But as aftershocks continued, EMDA’s DR processes kicked in, and it was quickly back up and running. Using back up email options, staff also stayed in constant email and phone contact to check on its customer’s welfare.

If SyteLine had stopped, the ripples would have extended far and wide: aside from Christchurch, Bremca has factories in Auckland, Hamilton, Mt Maunganui, Dunedin, Invercargill and Sydney, whose computer systems all connect to the Hillsborough head office, in the shadow of the Port Hills.

“In terms of SyteLine hosting and financial control, everything is driven out of Christchurch,” McLean says.

“If we’d lost the servers or the building here, it would have affected all the sites.”

However, through good design, the results wouldn’t have been catastrophic, since the remote sites were all architected to have local versions of the ERP software and the databases could be restored to the local site.

These would all be synched back to the main Syteline database when things came back online.

“It’s not a total failure if we disappear offline, but it’s still not desirable.”

It’s SyteLine’s ability to handle multiple sites and currencies, Bremca’s 10,000 stocks items, and the company’s financial and manufacturing requirements that make it an essential system.

The company imports and distributes electrical components, and manufactures electrical and mechanical components and switchboards. It exports mostly to Australia and the Pacific, but has also sold products in the Middle East, Europe and Russia.

It’s a diverse business, McLean says, that includes sheet metal plants for making enclosures for its switchboards, of which it is the largest New Zealand manufacturer.

“After the frustrations of using subcontractors and outside parties through the 90s, we moved to a model where we control all the critical steps in the manufacturing process. By setting up our own sheet metal companies we were able to shorten lead times, increase flexibility to give customers what they wanted and be able to shorten our development cycles.

“Research and development are very much part of the Bremca competitive advantage so, being able to do that in-house, we are able to tailor a solution for a customer in a quick space of time then deliver it in volume. If we were relying on outside parties it just wouldn’t happen.”

The company competes head-on with China in the Australian market and with Chinese and other local manufacturers in New Zealand.

Since 2005, when McLean and three other managers bought the business, it has extended its New Zealand branch network and opened one in Australia.

SyteLine was a key part of the expansion.

“Because it can be multi-warehouse, multi-currency, multi-site and multi-company, it catered for our changing and expanding requirements,” McLean says.

“We can set up all the companies on a similar general ledger structure and have centralised entry of customers and items and it ripples through all the different SyteLine entities.

“We only need to update critical information in one spot and it hits all the companies at once. So there are a number of niceties around that, and also around how it handles inter-company transactions between the different SyteLine entities.”

The system handles transactions in multiple currencies, including New Zealand, Australian, US, Singapore and Fijian dollars, and euros.

“It doesn’t matter what currency we buy in, it caters for it well,” McLean says.

SyteLine is also tightly integrated with Bremca’s quoting and CAD systems, its other two key IT systems, that have been developed over the past 20 years.

“They’re all integrated with each other: CAD talks to the quoting system and SyteLine; SyteLine can receive information from both of those; and the quoting system draws all its costing and availability information out of SyteLine.”

The quoting system has a web interface so customers can access SyteLine parts availability and price details. Ensuring the systems work together has been EMDA’s role.

“EMDA has been important in terms of interfacing between what we’ve done and SyteLine — making sure that what comes out of our systems into SyteLine is set up the right way and does the right things. EMDA has been very good at that,” McLean says.

The range of functions SyteLine performs for Bremca is extensive, including its general ledger, payables and receivables, fixed assets, banking, stock management, production scheduling, bill of materials, jobbing and purchasing, handling both head office and branch-level purchases.

On the to-do list is implementing SyteLine CRM and payroll functions.

“I guess SyteLine is the backbone of the business,” McLean says. “Bremca comprises 11 companies across two countries and nine different sites — it’s what links every part of the business together.”

Quake or no quake, Bremca’s backbone was unbroken.

[Many thanks to Bremca and EMDA staff in allowing this story to continue in the aftermath of the quake – Editor]

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AT A GLANCE

• VT Fitzroy

INDUSTRY

• Engineering & Maintenance

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Naval dockyard operator VT Fitzroy needed to deliver faster and more accurate project estimates for its key customer.

SOLUTION

• In a process managed by Infor and partner EMDA, VT Fitzroy upgraded from Baan 4 to Infor ERP LN

THE BENEFITS

• Improved user interface of LN improved data transfer between projects.
• Productivity gains in the project estimating process.
• Ongoing process improvement through new features in LN.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

Naval dockyard operator VT Fitzroy is able to estimate the cost of ship refits faster and more accurately after upgrading from Baan 4 to Infor ERP LN…

Engineering projects don’t come much bigger than overhauling a Navy frigate. When you have two or three jobs of that size under way, plus a dozen or more one-off repair projects, an industrial ERP system is an essential tool of the trade.

VT Fitzroy, which operates the Devonport dockyard in Auckland, has been using Infor ERP software alongside the specialised mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering equipment needed to keep the Royal New Zealand Navy afloat.

With the Navy representing about three-quarters of the company’s business, VT Fitzroy goes out of its way to be quick and accurate when estimating the cost and manpower requirements of projects.

After upgrading to LN with the help of Infor and their channel partner EMDA, it has been able to respond to Navy work requests with greater efficiency.

“We wanted to be able to make some big productivity gains in our estimating processes,” says VT Fitzroy financial controller Stephen Tilson. “That was one of our key drivers for upgrading.”

And it’s working. LN makes it simpler for VT Fitzroy’s 20 project managers to reuse information from past jobs when putting together estimates for new work than was possible using Baan 4, the software version the company has upgraded from.

“There are a couple of changes that have provided some big benefits,” says Tilson, “and that’s simply the use and feel of the software, and being able to cut and paste data between projects and into spreadsheets — basic things like that.”

Although an engineering company, Tilson describes VT Fitzroy as more of a project manager. It operates in a high-stakes industry.

Some work, like refitting Navy vessels, takes months and involves installation of weapons and communications systems. Hull repairs, which it carries out for a range of commercial ship owners, can require replacement of tonnes of steel plating. Overhauling engines, propulsion and electrical systems, meanwhile, will occupy dozens of tradesmen and technicians.

Tens of thousands of man-hours typically go into large projects, yet because ship owners want their vessels out of the water for as short a time as possible, and with VT Fitzroy’s 181-metre dry dock booked years in advance, turnaround time is often just a few weeks.

When work is carried out on a fixed-price basis, it’s essential that estimates are accurate so the company makes a profit.

And when the safety of ships, cargo and crew depend on the quality of work carried out, high standards must be maintained.

It all adds up to a demanding set of requirements for project managers and the software they use.

Aaron Davies, VT Fitzroy’s IT manager, says the functionality LN puts at users’ fingertips is a far cry from the manual procedures the dockyard used to follow.

When he began working there in 1984 as an electrical fitter, computerised accounting was an unknown phenomenon.

“The Navy would come to us and say, ‘here’s a ship, here’s a purchase order, refit it’. When the work was done, you’d say, ‘that all added up to $10 million’.

“There was no breakdown of the figures — just one piece of paper for the whole job.”

That gradually changed when some early PCs arrived at the dockyard, with Davies and other electronic technicians becoming the de facto IT department.

Software was first introduced when the dockyard began operating as a state-owned enterprise.

In 1999, with Babcock running the facility under a 10-year contract, Baan 4 ERP software, with its strength in project management, was implemented. Baan changed hands a number of times over the next few years, before being bought by Infor in 2006.

Babcock, meanwhile, lost the dockyard contract in 2004 to VT Fitzroy interrupting plans to upgrade from Baan 4 to Baan 5. Davies says the upgrade plan was revived in 2007, but VT Fitzroy decided to skip Baan 5 and go directly to LN (the latest version of Baan).

The 11-month project was completed last year, in a process managed by Infor and EMDA. It was a big task, made more challenging by the fact that VT Fitzroy is one of just a handful of Australasian Infor users that make such heavy use of its project management functionality.

But Davies says Infor and EMDA assembled the necessary expertise from New Zealand and Australia to successfully complete the migration.

“Our projects are typically unique in each case — we’d be lucky to reuse four or five per cent of the same materials from one to the next. Steel plate and paint would be about the most common items between projects, with everything else being different.”

Whereas in Baan 4 estimates would be worked out in a spreadsheet before being transferred to the ERP system, LN has an estimating module that streamlines the process. The ability to copy and paste from old projects to new ones is also a time-saver.

And LN’s service module, useful for handling VT Fitzroy’s non-project work, was another sought-after feature.

In the end, though, Tilson says the impetus for the upgrade came from the Navy’s push to save money.

“We were under pressure to make improvements for the customer. In the long term, if we don’t show willingness to invest in capital projects like this to make productivity gains, at the end of our 10 years we’d probably be replaced, as the previous contractor found to its cost.”

With Infor LN, Tilson says, VT Fitzroy has an inherently more efficient system, and a platform for continuously improving its processes. “It’s definitely a step up in technology terms.”

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AT A GLANCE

• Prolife Foods

INDUSTRY

• Manufacturing

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Improve supply chain and demand planning accuracy
• Improve forecast accuracy
• Improve the link between the supply chain and demand planning
• Ensure safety stocks at appropriate levels
• Avoid out-of-stocks

SOLUTION

• Infor SCM Demand Planning suite – Demand Planning, Inventory Optimiser and Replenishment Planner, plus external reporting tools

THE BENEFITS

• Forecast accuracy improved to 73 percent
• DIFOTIS improved to 97 percent
• Lost sales through out-of-stocks reduced significantly
• 6 month pay back.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

INFOR
W: INFOR
T: +61 2 9021 7100

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
W: EMDA
T: +64 9 921 6600 or
T: +64 3 343 0023
E: info@emda.co.nz

After integrating its manufacturing and demand planning processes Prolife Foods has reduced out-of-stocks and improved planning accuracy – keeping products on shelves and sales on budget…

Three years ago Prolife Foods identified the need to have a formalised sales and operations planning process to strengthen the link between sales and marketing, and operations, and to improve efficiency.

“We used spreadsheets for 12 to 18 months but we found these were cumbersome for forecasting,” says Ralph Blackburn, general manager operations and supply chain.

“We weren’t spending much time on it because it was too hard. There was a lack of key performance indicators and we were only forecasting out for three months when we needed a 12 month rolling forecast.”

Prolife Foods is one of New Zealand’s largest importers, manufacturers and marketers of nuts, dried fruits, snack foods, cereals and confectionery products. It has sales revenue of $65-70 million.

The company was founded 25 years ago in Hamilton by Bernie and Kaye Crosby, as a hot nut vending supplier to health shops and the hospitality trade, operating out of a garage. Today, it employs around 270 staff and has its own purpose-built food facility on 8.5 hectares of industrial land in the city. Manufacturing capabilities include nut roasting and flavouring, dry blending, oven roasting, and packaging finished food products.

Prolife Foods owns the well-known Alison’s Pantry brand, which is endorsed by Alison Holst. In some of the bigger supermarkets, there are up to 270 bins stocking the product range, creating a ‘store within a store’.

Last year, Prolife bought the premium Mother Earth brand from Cadbury Confectionery. The brand operates in the wrapped health category, across muesli bars, fruit sticks and oaty slices.

More than forecasts
In preparation to deliver its Sales and Operations Planning Project, a software project team was formed, involving Blackburn, and sales & marketing and information technology staff.

“Originally, we were looking at forecasting tools,”

Blackburn says. “But we saw that a lot of the software packages we reviewed had integrated modules.” The project team reviewed six packages before settling on the Infor SCM Demand Planning suite.

Blackburn, who was the project sponsor, sourced the software from EMDA, a gold channel partner for Infor, who also managed the implementation.

Several criteria had to be met including ease of use, functionality around graphics and tables, ease of data extraction, and the ability to link to Prolife’s ERP system.

The decision was relatively easy when the product stacked up against requirements, and the fact that EMDA also supports the Infor Streamline ERP system run by Prolife Foods. The integration between the two systems was therefore very straightforward. “Our consultant gave us a good feeling about the software and our business processes,” Blackburn says. “He’s an expert on these systems.

“Price was also a consideration. Infor gave us a very good deal for the software bundle. We had originally looked at buying one module but we could see the value and ended up buying four.”

The modules implemented at Prolife were Demand Planning; Inventory Optimiser; Replenishment Planner; and a collaborative tool for external stakeholders.

A decision was made to buy in June 2008 and Blackburn says it was a gradual implementation. “We put in the forecasting module first in July, and went live in August. There was a fair bit of work involved because we also had to look at requirements planning, data export and strategic inventory planning. In September we formed a training requirements planning team, which went live the following month. Everything was fully implemented by the end of January 2009.”

The benefits for Prolife Foods have been substantial. Where previously forecast accuracy was in the low 60 percentile it is now around 73 percent; and delivery in full on time in specification (DIFOTIS – an industry metric) is running at around 97percent compared with around 90 percent previously.

Blackburn says the system allows Prolife to have seasonal safety stock with which it can meet demand that has not been forecast, and have inventory in the right places. “We get greater transparency of numbers and 12-month rolling forecasts” he says.

Customer satisfaction statistics have also improved.

“We don’t lose too many sales through having low stock. In fact,” says Blackburn, “the system paid for itself within six months by reducing lost sales because of out-of-stocks”.

Bring on mother earth
Prolife has expanded its manufacturing into muesli bars with the purchase of Mother Earth, which added 50 production staff to the team. “We’ll be introducing three new Mother Earth products in the next few months and are confident that the Infor Demand Planning tools will provide us with realistic forecasts for these products before they’re even released.”

Blackburn says Prolife has made a substantial investment in information technology over the past 10 years.

“We’re a Microsoft shop, using SQL Server. We’ve had to add additional servers recently because we are an information-hungry business.”

Prolife has developed a set of key performance indicators, which it has been using for the past two years.

“KPIs have got us a lot more focused,” Blackburn says. “Everyone is now on the same page, looking at the same numbers.

“We’re constantly reviewing the list. It is a moving document.

“They’ve got to be visible down to the bottom level so everybody believes in them.”

The investment that Prolife has made in integrating its manufacturing and demand planning systems means that KPIs are not confined to the boardroom table – they are translated effectively into operational changes as and when needed.

And that means the right product in the right place at the right time.

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Published on the 30/06/2009 | Written by Infor

AT A GLANCE

• Pacific Doors

INDUSTRY

• Manufacturing

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Upgrade ERP system so as to give a single, unified view into precision manufacturing process and uphold 85 percent efficiency; system also needed to support company’s continued growth and changing needs.

SOLUTION

• Infor ERP SyteLine system and Configurator module.

THE BENEFITS

• Main benefit has been that the entire process of specifying, con-figuring, pricing and billing for the company’s specialist heavy-duty ‘build-to-order’ doors is now integrated; job costing is also much faster and easier, and inventory can be easily tracked.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Infor
www.infor.com
P: 1800 656 575

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
www.emda.co.nz
P: +64 3 379 9530
P: +64 9 623 3001

Infor’s ERP SyteLine system has made for faster, easier production at the specialist heavy-duty door company, which aims for 85 percent efficiency…

Pacific Door Systems has significantly reduced the time it takes to specify, price and prepare bills of materials and work orders for its highly specialised doors.

The Lower Hutt, Wellington-based company doesn’t make just any old doors – these are ‘build-to-order’ precision creations that can cost upwards of $80,000. Now, with SyteLine, along with Infor’s Configurator module, the potential for human error has been significantly reduced.

“With SyteLine and the implementation team from EMDA, we’ve been able to streamline our whole ‘build-to-order’ process,” says Derek Pearson, Pacific Doors’ managing director. “This is a significant part of our business; and Configurator has eliminated the need for duplicate data entry – reducing the potential for human error – and has enabled us to standardise our procedures every step of the way.

“We follow the same specification processes that we did before, only now we can do the same job in significantly less time. This has allowed us to spend more time improving other aspects of the business.”

Pearson is a hands-on manager. “We acquired Pacific Doors in the early 1990s,” Pearson explains, “and bought the Timaru facility about five years ago. Between the two factories, we have a monthly turnover of around $1.1 million and close to 70 staff. We strive for efficiency – our goal is to maintain an 85% billable rate for factory floor staff. Over the years, we have developed some very complex specification, pricing, production and testing procedures for our build-to-order doors, but, unfortunately, our existing IT infrastructure didn’t allow us to tie them all together into a single, unified view. We knew we had to upgrade our operations to ensure continued growth.”

Specific needs
“We wanted, first of all, a system that we could adapt to our needs,” says Pearson.

“We realised that we couldn’t buy the perfect system off the shelf, so we looked for a solution that we could customise for our particular procedures. We required local support from people who could understand our business and fit in with our way of working. And, finally, we wanted a system that we could take ownership of. We would need initial help in set-up and training, of course, but our goal was to be able to drive the system when we were finished.”

Reference sites were a key consideration for Pearson. “We wanted to talk to the people who were using the solution in a similar situation as ourselves,” he says. “Sales people are great for the company line, but we wanted to get the inside information from the people who used it on a regular basis. Again, the availability of local reference sites already using SyteLine and Configurator was a major plus.”

Pearson and his team reviewed the various options on the market and eventually narrowed it down to two. After a thorough vetting of the two competing solutions and implementation teams, Pearson and his team selected SyteLine and Configurator as the solution, and EMDA as implementation partner.

Winning combination
Configurator was the key to the winning bid. “Infor’s Configurator was better suited to our needs,” explains Pearson. “And we thought the overall quality of the solution was better as well. Plus, the pricing was in line with our expectations and the EMDA people seemed like they would be able to provide the level of support we would require.”

As expected, the adaptability and flexibility of SyteLine and Configurator meant that Pearson’s team could modify them to fit their requirements.

“We set aside the boardroom for eight months for two of our top people to use as they ported over all of our business processes,” Pearson says.

“EMDA spent a lot of time showing us how to set up the rules, develop the interfaces and design the reporting formats. The assistance we have received from EMDA has been top-notch and they have really made an effort to ensure we could get the most out of the solution.”

Usability of the system was an important factor for Pearson. “We solicited input from our finance, contracts and pricing divisions, and production, as we designed the interfaces and database,” he explains.

“Again, we wanted the users to take ownership of the system and the best way to do that is get their advice from the very start. As a result, when we were finally in a position to roll it out in our Timaru facility, it slotted into our operations relatively easily.”

Integrated processes
The most significant benefit that Pacific Doors has realised is that the entire process of specifying, configuring, pricing and billing for ‘build-to-order’ doors is now integrated.

“These aren’t your standard household doors,” says Pearson. “These are heavy-duty security doors for prisons and hospitals that are built to exacting specifications for materials, dimensions and toughness. They are, typically, short runs – not mass-produced – and each door varies in dimensions and features like hardware, glazing and finishes. Configurator allows us to automatically build accurate Bills of Material that are individual to each order, and use costs in pricing that are always up-to-date. We can quickly re-configure when specifications change during the order process and immediately see the effect on the achievable margins.”

The benefits have also filtered through to inventory. “Because we can now track inventory and match the required parts for a limited production run,” says Pearson, “we can ensure that we don’t run out of any necessary components in the middle of a job. This is especially important because, again, these are not run-of-the-mill parts but highly specialised items that take some lead time for delivery. No parts means no production, which means we drop below our goal of 85% efficiency. But now we can see immediately if we have the stock on hand at the specification stage and take action if required.”

Pearson has a better handle on job costing as well. “We can see immediately exactly how much materials will cost, and have an accurate estimate of how many hours the build will take,” concludes Pearson. “We could do all of this before, of course, but now we can do it much faster and it is much easier. It makes decision-making more streamlined and gives us extra time to concentrate on other ways to make the business more efficient. The current economic environment is making things tough all over, but with the help of SyteLine, Configurator and the team from EMDA, we are working smarter and faster, and there is less potential for costly errors.”

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Published on the 21/03/2009 | Written by Infor

AT A GLANCE

• Carlton Taylor Industries

INDUSTRY

• Manufacturing

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• An integrated ERP solution was needed to address two issues: lack of integration between the company’s financial and manufacturing systems and those of the two companies with which it had recently amalgamated; and the need to better respond to customers’ needs in a competitive market.

SOLUTION

• Infor ERP SyteLine version 8. Implemented by EMDA.

THE BENEFITS

• Implementation of the fully integrated Infor ERP suite has resulted in more accurate information, improved productivity – a 30 percent saving in financial administration – and a better understanding of production, as well as better customer service and shorter lead times.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Infor
www.infor.com
P: 1800 656 575

PARTNER CONTACT

EMDA
www.emda.co.nz
P: +64 3 379 9530
P: +64 9 623 3001

The Christchurch metalwork solutions company has integrated disparate operations, nipping production problems in the bud before they get out of control…

Christchurch’s Carlton Taylor Industries Limited (CTI) provides metalwork solutions for the electronics and electrical industries, as well as for a wide variety of other industries, in both New Zealand and Australia.

It combines manufacturing, finishing and assembly services with metal fabrication technology, aluminium die-casting and precision CNC (computer numerical controlled) machining to provide total metalwork solutions.

The majority of its products are now made to order, to customers’ specifications. CTI supplies large OEM customers in the region. Based in Christchurch, the company operates two factories, where it employs 70 people.

CTI needed an integrated ERP solution that could address two issues. The immediate problem was a lack of integration between the company’s financial and manufacturing systems and those of two companies with which it had recently amalgamated. This systems mismatch was making it difficult to serve CTI’s customers’ needs. The company also needed to make improvements in this area, which were pressing because of increasing competition.

CTI chose Infor’s ERP SyteLine suite partly because it suits the idiosyncrasies of the metal fabrication industry, but also because it is a flexible system that can meet different manufacturing and distribution needs.

“Our customers require flexibility and responsiveness,” says David Hawes, CTI’s general manager. “We have plenty of competition from local and Asian companies, who also have a cost advantage, so it is vital that we have systems in place that are cost-efficient and flexible.”

Both CTI and the metal fabrication industry have seen significant change over the past few years. The days of long lead-times and large volumes have been replaced with demand for short lead-times and quick turnaround, and low-volume orders.

Making three into one
Another challenge facing the company was its recent amalgamation with Aluminium DieCasting and Hamer Precision. All three companies were running different systems and none were they capable of accommodating the new, expanded organisation. “The immediate task was to find a solution that would enable us to integrate all three businesses (each running a mix of manufacturing processes) under one set of systems and processes,” says Hawes.

“The solution needed to provide a view of the business as a whole and a detailed view of each specific area of our operations. Until this was achieved, it was impossible to make any real changes to the business.”

So the newly enlarged company went looking for a solution that had three critical qualities: it had to be fully integrated; easy to install, and come with strong local support. It found the solution in the combined capabilities of Infor ERP SyteLine and Infor’s New Zealand partner, EMDA. “Between them, they could fulfil CTI’s requirements for both the short and long term,” says Hawes.

Before settling on Infor’s ERP SyteLine, CTI looked at two other solutions as well. Infor’s system was chosen because of its combination of functionality and integration, and the quality of local support provided by partner EMDA. Hawes says he is particularly impressed with the system’s financial management functionality.

“The manufacturing functions are tightly integrated into the financials, bringing a level of discipline into the business that we never had before.”

Engineering to Order, Make to Order and Make to Stock functionalities are all built into the system, along with distribution capability, which naturally suits a business that runs a range of manufacturing scenarios.

The new version of SyteLine – version 8 – that CTI installed also has other benefits. Hawes says it was chosen because it can manage a range of manufacturing and distribution scenarios, but a bonus was the knowledge EMDA has built up dealing with other industries. Hawes says he was keen to draw on this knowledge to bring a fresh approach and new ideas into the business.

Quick results
Once the hardware was installed, getting the new ERP system up-and-running happened quickly. It took a mere four months to implement at both Christchurch sites.

The project team was led by CTI’s project manager working in close collaboration with EMDA.

The company also paid close attention to training. Understanding that learning is best acquired over time, and that much of it takes place once people are actually using a system, CTI opted for staggered training.

“We began with introductory courses, then later on we had post cut-over sessions to provide answers to ‘real-life’ questions,” says Hawes. As CTI’s was the first SyteLine 8 site to go live in the region, there were, not surprisingly, a few teething problems.

“But they were minor issues,” says Hawes. “What we have now is a vastly different solution, which gives us an accurate view of the whole business and access to information that helps us serve our customers better.”

Early benefits
While many of the planned outcomes of the new ERP system are yet to be realised, Hawes expects significant cost savings to result from the integration, efficiency and productivity improvements the system has brought about. The company has already seen a number of benefits. Productivity benefits include a 30 percent time-saving in financial administration and better time and cost management of contractors. Integration has also reduced manual data entry and checking, freeing up resources to be used more productively elsewhere.

There have also been improvements in accuracy. These have included faster and more accurate reporting; more precise stock control, and, generally, more accurate information in every area of the organisation.

And then there are the bigger-picture improvements that bode well for the future. The management team can now make better decisions because information is better presented in all areas of the business.

Specifically, management now has a better understanding of production and can view the current status in any area of production. This means it can spot potential or looming problems early on and nip them in the bud. Customer service has also improved, with CTI achieving a 100% fill rate – up from 80%, prior to SyteLine being installed, for customers running on a Kanban system.

An unexpected secondary benefit has been positive organisational improvement. “We noticed that several months after Infor SyteLine went live, many users began to look at better ways of doing their job. It seems the implementation presented an opportunity for positive organisational change,” says Hawes.

Looking to the future
CTI plans to carry on growing its business through both acquisitions and organic growth. “We selected ERP SyteLine with future growth in mind,” says Hawes. “It will enable us to increase the volume and complexity of our operations and also to incorporate acquired companies with ease.”

“While I will not pretend that we didn’t have some challenges in the early stages of the project,” he says, “the speed of implementation was impressive and the cut-over was painless. Everything functioned the day after. The implementation was a credit to both CTI and EMDA.”

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