Nulon lubricates supply chain efficiency

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Published on the 25/06/2019 | Written by Infor

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

Automotive manufacturer zooms into the industrial cloud…

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