Kessler’s, a manufacturer of sausages and other prepared meats, has implemented Wonderware’s Protean ERP suite at its LeMoyne meat packing facility.
Kessler's joins the long list of customers within the food processing industry that have chosen Protean as their ERP software solution. Kessler's chose Protean because it fully addressed Kessler's immediate Y2K concerns while providing the company with the ability to streamline production by incorporating logistics, customer order management (COM) and asset management functions.
Protean is an open client/server solution for process companies supporting Microsoft's DNA for manufacturing architecture. It works with leading platforms and operating systems from companies such as Oracle, Microsoft and IBM.
"We produce about 60 different items which result in many more end products because we package these resources in different ways," said Bill Zoll, Vice President of Finance at Kessler's. "The company's legacy system could no longer satisfy Kessler's processing requirements, and with the New Year fast approaching, time was of the utmost concern. It was imperative that the company adopt an ERP system that was Y2K compliant and allowed for swift implementation. Prior to the installation of Protean, Kessler's had not used an order entry system. Protean's COM (customer order management) module will assist Kessler's in production planning and significantly reduce the number of stock shortages which will improve customer service. This capability also reduces costs, enabling the company to decrease the number of deliveries to customers.
"Protean was designed from the plant floor up, with operational excellence in mind," said Mike le Plastrier, Managing Director, Futuristix. "One major reason Kessler's was able to get up and running so fast is that Protean was actually developed with a great deal of input from process manufacturers. Wonderware customers typically implement Protean in their business without a great deal of customisation," continued le Plastrier.
The Protean suite also provides industry-specific capabilities that directly affect manufacturing results and measurements. "The detail of information saved in Protean will allow Kessler's not only to project sales more accurately, but also will enable the company to determine which market segments are most profitable," Zoll said.
"As a result, Kessler's can identify specific marketing strategies to best reach the company's target markets, whether they are individual grocery stores, chain restaurants or others. The company worked under a tight timetable during the fall of 1999 and went live with customer order management and financials in approximately five months. The company loaded massive volumes of data including information on several thousand trading partners and resources. The week we went live was Kessler's highest sales volume week of the year," Zoll said.
"Wonderware worked the night shift and into each following day to get the system up and running. I doubt that very few companies would have worked those hours." Zoll said.
Protean's production modules will also help Kessler's to more accurately determine the costs of manufactured products. This will enable the company to adjust the pricing of products in accordance with its manufacturing costs.
"Protean has given Kessler's the tools to effectively evaluate its production costs," Zoll said. "The company can now lower the prices of products that are costing less to produce resulting in higher sales volumes. In addition, the company can raise the selling prices of products that are being sold at too low a margin, thereby increasing the total profit of the company."
Kessler's plans to provide its sales representatives with laptops equipped with wireless communications for order entry at customer sites. According to Zoll, Protean has a lot of functionality and the product's add-on feature lets the company easily update its sales representative portable systems by adding fields without changing the application software.
Futuristix Advanced Control Systems
(011) 622 8181
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version