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| Case Studies
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Herman Miller/Infor (November 2008)
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With operations in more than 40 countries, Herman Miller is a leading global manufacturer of office and domestic working
environment furniture. The company maintains manufacturing and distribution centres in the UK, North America and Asia, and
sales offices, dealers and licensees in North America, Asia/Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. As Herman Miller’s international business developed, it became evident that it had outgrown its previous IT solutions – an
inhouse MRP system and a legacy ERP product from Symix (which later became part of Infor). In 1996, Herman Miller
upgraded its ERP to SyteLine 5, which supported the company well for the next 10 years.
In 2006, Herman Miller decided to implement Infor ERP SyteLine 7 throughout the business.
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Routeco plc/Strategix – exclusive interview (October 2008)
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Routeco plc is an independent, privately owned company. It was formed in 1978 and has established itself as one of the
UK’s leading distributors of industrial automation and control products.
During its lifetime Routeco has recorded continuous growth and has established a network of 19 regional sales offices in the
UK and one in Austria, employing over 250 people. Routeco needed to improve the efficiency of its transaction processes. In the old system it had to access two
or three different screens to get all the information required to complete a transaction. This was time-consuming and affected
its overall customer service. Routeco evaluated a number of solutions including the new ERP offering from Strategix called OneOffice and decided that
this would satisfy its future requirements with the minimum of disruption to its existing operations.
It was the flexibility provided by OneOffice to bring all the relevant information together from different data sources and present
it to the user, rather than having to go searching for it, which made it attractive.
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Doosan Babcock/IFS (September 2008)
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Doosan Babcock is an established leader in the provision of unique
energy and environmental solutions to clients worldwide, adding
value to energy markets.
The company’s operations range from new-build projects to contract
management and support, including test, refurbishment and
upgrades of control and instrumentation. Headquartered in the UK,
Doosan Babcock has operations in Europe, Asia Pacific, and the US. Doosan Babcock needed to meet the requirements of two distinctive business environments – large, long-term, new-build
projects, and more varied short-term activities such as repair, maintenance and day-to-day operating contracts. IFS Applications has enabled Doosan Babcock to increase the efficiency of its operations. Easy access to high-quality
information, improved cashflow and tight links between projects and financials are other benefits arising from the company’s
decision to implement the component-based business software from IFS.
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TOMRA/Exact Software (September 2008)
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TOMRA Systems BV is a daughter company of TOMRA Systems ASA (Norway) which
was founded by two brothers, Petter and Tore Planke, in 1972 in Asker, Norway.
Today the company operates in more than 45 countries around the
globe.
The heart of TOMRA’s business is creating innovative and reliable
technology for recovering used packaging and other materials for
re-use or recycling. TOMRA is a publicly held company which is
listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
TOMRA’s international operations are organised into four
business segments: collection technology, materials handling,
collection technology non-deposit solutions, and industrial
processing technology. The company maintains a strong
commitment to ensuring that its activities positively impact society and the environment. Exact solutions were urgently needed
to support TOMRA’s recycling and recovery operations and manage services for customers.
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Tyco Thermol Controls/IBS (August 2008)
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Tyco Thermal Controls (TTC) is part of Tyco International, a vast, US-based, multinational organisation. TTC manufactures and
distributes products and services for heat management, leak detection, wiring and temperature measurement in industrial and
construction markets.
TTC employs 2,000 people worldwide and some 400 people in Europe. The company’s turnover runs between €300 million
and €500 million depending on the size of its project-based business. Tyco Thermal Controls needed a new business system for its growing European operations. The company wanted to link 10
sales offices to its distribution facilities in Belgium and Sweden and its production facilities in the UK and Germany. Even though the US operation was using a rival software system, TTC Europe decided to go with IBS’ integrated supply chain
management solution.
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Scientific & Chemical Supplies/Sage (July 2008)
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Scientific & Chemical Supplies Limited has been serving its
customers for over 50 years. Originally established to supply local
industry with laboratory equipment and chemicals, the company
has over 100 employees across three main divisions and has
become one of the UK’s leading science equipment suppliers
to the education market, offering over 8,000 products.
Scientific & Chemical Supplies is also a major supplier to
laboratories in a wide range of industries and sectors, from aerospace to food manufacturing. Scientific & Chemical Supplies found that, as the business grew, its current IT systems no longer met requirements. The
company needed a more sophisticated IT environment to provide a single, holistic view of the business. This would enable cost
reductions and improved efficiency, but even more importantly, better customer management. Scientific & Chemical Supplies already used Sage Line 500 for its back-office requirements and ACT! software to help manage
its customer relations. The company’s requirement for a single business solution to support long-term growth plans
made Sage 1000 an ideal candidate.
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Star Technology Services/Oracle (June 2008)
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Star Technology Services is the largest independent business-to-business internet services provider in the UK, serving over
500,000 business users. Star provides practical internet-driven communications solutions to small and medium-sized
businesses. Its challenges were to deliver, maintain and enhance a world-class business infrastructure to enable Star to achieve and exceed its corporate
objectives; develop an integrated system which supports Star’s requirements and proposed business growth using a scalable
solution; increase employee productivity using a central office management system to integrate and automate Star’s business
operations; provide a robust and capable HR system to support existing internal systems, performance measurement, learning
management, compensation planning and execution; and support Star’s plans for business expansion and growth over the next five years. Star selected Oracle E-Business Suite over SAP’s solution based on scalability, lack of complexity, process integration,
advanced workflow, reporting flexibility, industry-specific functionality, rapid installation and lower cost of ownership.
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Thorntons plc/Oracle (June 2008)
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Established in 1911, Thorntons plc is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers and retailers of confectionery products. The
company’s wide range of premium quality chocolates, toffees and ice creams are distributed nationally through a 600 specialist
store network and multiple channels. Thornton's challenges were to optimise production to match a highly seasonal sales profile while ensuring consistent product quality, cutting cost of raw
materials and minimising waste; reduce operating costs through automation, enforce process standardisation, eliminate duplication, ensure compliance with
food safety regulations, and speed new product development; and integrate manufacturing with financials, inventory management and purchasing, and gain real-time business visibility. Thorntons implemented Oracle E-Business Suite’s integrated web enabled applications.
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Promethean/Infor (March 2008)
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Promethean is a global leader in interactive learning technology that helps teachers to engage, educate, assess and motivate
learners. Developed by and for educators, its award-winning products help teachers to prepare digital lessons quickly and with
greater ease. The technology enables them to create, customise and integrate text, web, video and audio content, so they can
more easily capture students’ attention and accommodate different learning styles.
Promethean is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with flagship headquarters in Blackburn, Lancashire. Its products are
distributed through a global network of partners in over 70 countries. Promethean needed a business-specific solution to provide it with an accurate and real-time view of all operations across
finance, sales, manufacturing, customer support and distribution. After a competitive tender process, Promethean selected Infor as its partner.
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Midwich/Strategix (January 2008)
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Midwich is one of the largest and most successful computer hardware distribution companies in the UK. The issues for Midwich were to streamline back-office procedures with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) capability that
would optimise information flow and achieve a professional and efficient customer relationship management (CRM) solution.
Strategix delivered with OneOffice, a comprehensive supply chain management package that provided the functionality
Midwich had been seeking in order to remain ahead of the competition. Strategix stood head and shoulders above other offerings as being a dedicated supply
chain management system with all the functionality and flexibility Midwich needed. Furthermore, the Strategix team demonstrated a
high level of understanding of Midwich’s business and the market pressures it would face once it began trading as an
independent entity. Strategix even installed a discrete server at Midwich so the company could migrate data across before the
purchase went through.
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Magnadata/Sanderson – exclusive interview (October 2007)
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Magnadata is a leading manufacturer of security print products, primarily for the mass transit industry, and has been trading
since the mid 1980s. In June 2000, a successful management buyout team supported by London investment bankers Close
Brothers acquired the business and re-branded it as Magnadata International.
In January 2006, Magnadata acquired Norprint, one of Europe’s largest labelling and systems companies. Norprint
produces over 7 billion labels a year and can supply a wide range of Print & Apply, Applicators and other bespoke
equipment solutions. It focuses on a number of market sectors including food, retail, security, commercial and industrial. Both companies had existing IT solutions but they had become out-of-date and could no longer meet all of Magnadata's business
objectives. Magnadata needed a system that had proven warehousing and logistics functionality. It evaluated the offerings of two existing suppliers who it considered to be the leading suppliers to the printing industry, and
in the end decided the Unity solution from Sanderson to be the better of the two products.
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Totally Fitness/NetSuite (October 2007)
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Totally Fitness is one of the UK’s hottest and fastest-growing providers of exercise equipment and solutions. In its first decade
the company has already established itself as a trusted supplier both to individual buyers as well as high-profile institutions
from Diageo to Unilever and to celebrities from Robert De Niro to the Saudi royal family. Backed by customer-friendly policies
such as a universal seven-day ‘peace of mind’ return policy on everything they sell, including shoes, Totally Fitness wanted to
keep its operations as trim and sculpted as its customers aspire to be.
As the company established its retail presence in 2002 and grew to five store locations, it became painfully clear that the
company’s Sage-based accounting and stock management solution was inadequate. As the company grew and its stock and locations expanded, the difficulties finally reached a breaking point and it was time to
abandon Sage for a new, fully-integrated web solution in the form of NetSuite.
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Uniq/IBM Business Consulting Services (September 2007)
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Uniq is a chilled convenience food group focused on the value-added sector of the food industry, addressing the growing market for convenience foods in the UK and Europe. It has a turnover of £900 million, employs 9,400 staff and has operations across three divisions and 28 manufacturing sites in Europe. The chilled food market is highly competitive, with manufacturers under increasing pressure to meet the stringent requirements of major retail chains that want high-quality food at low prices. As many of Uniq’s factories were acquired through mergers, the processes, staff organisation and systems at each had evolved separately. There were many opportunities to reduce inventory levels and costs, improve the manufacturing mix and ultimately improve customer service. Following an initial scoping exercise, Uniq’s Board decided to bring in external best practice expertise to help realise its vision for a leaner, more efficient organisation. Uniq was impressed by IBM’s industry knowledge and collaborative approach.
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Pressman Toy Corporation/IBM Global Services (September 2007)
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Founded in 1922, Pressman Toy Corporation is the third largest games manufacturer in the US. The company specialises in
board games featuring licensed characters from the children’s books, movies, and television programmes, such as Hulk,
Scooby Doo, Spiderman and The Simpsons. The company also produces games designed for an older audience, covering
popular television programmes. Pressman manufactures in New Jersey and serves retail stores, from giants such as Wal-Mart to one-off specialist retailers. The
company’s revenue of about $50 million is highly seasonal, with the majority coming from Christmas sales in August, September
and October. Judging required manufacturing and stock levels as accurately as possible is essential, as profitability is a fine
balance between longer, more economical production runs and the risk of overstocking warehouses with unsold product. Pressman wanted to lower its inventory levels and still maintain a high level
of customer service. It turned to IBM Global Services, and was pleasantly surprised to
find that an SAP solution was within its budget parameters.
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Sandvik Mining and Construction/Infor – exclusive interview (November 2006)
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Sandvik is a high-technology engineering group and Sandvik Mining and Construction is one of three business areas within the Sandvik Group and a world leading manufacturer
of drilling and excavation machinery, tools and service for the mining and construction industries. Its annual sales amount to
£1.5 billion and it has about 10,600 employees. Sandvik Mining and Construction’s latest ERP project is putting in place a new information and process infrastructure for its
service organisation across 40 companies. Sandvik is using System21 Aurora and Bluestream
software. System21 Aurora is an ERP solution from Infor. Bluestream is Infor’s service management solution which it jointly
developed with Sandvik. Bluestream is integrated into System21 Aurora but is an optional module which can be deployed or
removed depending on the needs of the user.
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Sherborne/Sanderson (June 2006)
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Based in Clayton near Bradford, Sherborne started out as a small family-run business and has been manufacturing
furniture since 1930. The company began using Sanderson solutions in 1984, when a system was purchased to help
produce a then modest range of furniture for high-street stores and specialist UK retailers. Twenty years on, and the
business is now one of the most successful upholstery companies in the UK. Sherborne has continued to grow its business with assistance from ongoing investment in the
Unity solution from Sanderson. By using Unity to manage its production processes, Sherborne is able to offer 100%
delivery service for its comprehensive portfolio of standard and made-to-order upholstered furniture.
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QAD case studies (May 2006)
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QAD provides enterprise solutions for manufacturers in six industries – automotive, consumer products, electronics, food and beverage, industrial products and life sciences.
To read case studies on how companies in the UK such as Johnson Controls, Cussons, Schlumberger, Grampian Foods, Perkins Engines and GSK have implemented QAD solutions based around MFG/PRO, please see QAD’s newsletter Excellence at www.qad.com/excellence/200605/.
For more information please contact Mark Feathers at QAD UK on +44 (0)1384 487433 or mhf@qad.com.
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Cullum Detuners/Infor (May 2006)
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Cullum Detuners Limited is a multi-disciplined company, offering make-to-order noise control solutions to worldwide
clients in the aerospace, power generation and oil & gas industries. It has over 50 years’ experience in the design,
development, manufacture and installation of jet engine test facilities and gas turbine packaging.
Since the 1940s the company has grown in the field of military and civil jet engines and aircraft test facilities. Cullum
Detuners has been instrumental in the advancement of complete turbine support systems packaging for power
generation as well as the oil and gas-driven applications for industrial gas turbines. With extensive experience in the area of acoustic equipment, Cullum Detuners has built up a considerable amount of
knowledge and expertise in order to compete very successfully in its market sector. However, in order to continue this success a new business system was seen as an essential investment. It chose Infor ERP SyteLine software as it was perceived globally as leading the field and was a very adaptable and
flexible solution.
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Budweiser Budvar UK/Geac – exclusive interview (December 2005)
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Budejovicky Budvar is the third-largest brewery in the Czech Republic. Almost half its production is exported to
around 60 countries worldwide, including the UK and Germany. In the UK, Budweiser Budvar is the best selling Czech lager. It is unusual among ‘imported’ beers into the UK, in that
the beer is actually brewed in and imported from the Czech Republic, and not in the UK. This means that the UK
company potentially has bigger distribution costs than its competitors. It upgraded its IT systems to the Geac System 21
Aurora ERP software to improve control over costs and to reflect its move from distributor to wholly owned subsidiary.
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Witwood Food Products/Sanderson (July 2005)
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Founded in 1982, Witwood is a multinational company manufacturing innovative batter mixes, breadcrumbs,
seasonings, pre-dusts and dry mix marinades to the frozen and chilled food markets of Europe, Australasia and North America. By 1999 the company’s UK-based R&D facility (Europe’s largest independent ingredients factory) had outgrown its
small-scale ERP system. A replacement was required that would support Witwood’s move towards more complex
manufacturing processes. With increasing reliance on its IT infrastructure and ERP software, Witwood needed to know that it had a reliable
system, capable of ‘round the clock’, 24x7 operation if necessary. As an IBM Business Partner, Sanderson was able to supply the high availability required with IBM’s pSeries servers. Coupled with the Sanderson system resilience software
module, this ensures minimum downtime in the event of a serious fault or a disaster.
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Le Meridien Park Atlantic/Epicor (June 2005)
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Le Meridien Park Atlantic in Lisbon and Porto are both five-star hotels, part of the award-winning Le Meridien Hotel
Group portfolio of 130 luxury and upscale hotels, which provides 34,000 rooms in 56 countries worldwide. At the end of 2002, senior management at Le Meridien Park Atlantic Lisboa decided that a new vision was needed for
the back-office organisation, which would improve financial control and allow for new services to be provided to guests.
The new structure would use ‘cell organisations’ within the hotel to organise the staff around similar jobs independent of
the workflow from either a revenue or cost perspective. For this plan to work, each cell would need access to better,
more timely budgeting, forecasting and operational data. The key criteria of flexibility,
daily reporting and integration with existing systems were priorities, and after several rounds of meetings and
demonstrations Epicor for Hospitality and Entertainment was chosen as the most suitable solution.
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Red Bull Racing/Epicor (June 2005)
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With the decision by Ford Motor Company in 2004 to move out of the world of Formula 1 racing, the future of the, then,
Jaguar Racing team was uncertain. The company was saved when energy drink manufacturer Red Bull stepped in to take over in
late 2004. The Jaguar Racing business had chosen Epicor’s Avanté manufacturing solution in 2003 to replace an ageing custombuilt,
inhouse manufacturing and parts system. Epicor Avanté is designed specifically for complex manufacturing
environments with integrated front and back-office applications. Avanté ties together every aspect of a manufacturer’s
business operation, from just-in-time manufacturing procedures, to supply chain management and logistics.
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APW Ltd/IFS (May 2005)
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APW, a global electronic equipment manufacturer, grew rapidly in the 1990s through a series of acquisitions. It embarked on a systems replacement strategy that provided the foundations for the low total cost of ownership it
enjoys today. Like many firms who find they have almost one of every application product on the market, APW needed
to decide on choosing one system or reduce the number to a few. Early in the review cycle, management set criteria
against which the cost and value of legacy systems and any potential replacement would be measured. Not surprisingly, the
APW strategy focused on value for money. IFS was selected as the preferred vendor.
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American Standard Italy/Sterling Commerce (February 2005)
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American Standard is a global company providing air conditioning systems, vehicle control systems and bathroom and
kitchen products to customers in over 40 countries. American
Standard Italy is the owner of the brands Ideal Standard and Ceramica Dolomite, and operates the bathroom and
kitchen line. Ideal Standard is present in 10 countries throughout Europe, and employs approximately 9,000 people
across 31 site locations. The key issue for American Standard Italy was that its Italian operations needed to integrate with the central SAP
system and the processing of numerous orders, invoices, shipping notes and delivery acknowledgements, to and from
each dealer. American Standard required a solution that would allow
it to align its business operations with the underlying processes, optimise interactions with each of its major dealers and
allow the operating unit to consolidate elements of its operations, such as the multiple EDI links. Sterling Commerce’s
integration and managed file transfer solutions (Gentran:Server and Connect:Direct) were selected to provide a stable
and scalable infrastructure to meet the demands of American Standard and to remove the costs of maintaining multiple
IT infrastructures.
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Gordon's Fine Foods/Ross Systems – exclusive interview (October 2004)
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Established in 1975 by Charles Gordon, Gordon’s Fine Foods manufactures specialist products such as wild
blueberry chutney, chilli jelly, orange & whiskey marmalade and Cranberry & Burgundy sauce for supermarkets,
high-street retailers and delicatessens. Gordon’s has 45 employees and an annual turnover of £2.4 million. It has
built up a portfolio of more than 300 recipes, many of them created to meet customers’ specific requirements, and
currently manufactures around 50 different products under the Gordon’s brand. Gordon’s has implemented a formal supply chain
strategy, underpinned by Ross Systems’ iRenaissance ERP package.
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