Phocas Gives Homeware Supplier Caprice Big Data Insights

Formed in 1959, Caprice is a Australian-based family-owned business with a long heritage. The business employs close to 150 people, and supplies more than 15,000 products across half a dozen categories, ranging from bed linen to footwear and luggage. Caprice's customers include Spotlight, Kmart, Target, Briscoes, Farmers and The Warehouse and are consider the single largest home textile buyer and distributor in Australia and New Zealand.

When the company began its search for a BI tool, the Phocas team's solution provided an extremely good demonstration that showed exactly the kind of high-level information key decision-makers needed.

Before the Phocas Xpress implementation, Caprice used ad hoc reports to extract data from their system, and uploaded the information to Microsoft Excel. The process was cumbersome and hard for people to use on a daily basis.

Caprice now uses Phocas Xpress in conjunction with their existing ERP system, IBS Enterprise. System data is updated overnight, putting the latest information at the fingertips of the company’s divisional general managers each morning. Because of this, the benefits of monitoring sales and inventory management are most striking. The company estimates that the overall annual savings to the business is at least A$500,000 which has been achieved by reducing the amount of reporting staff and stock that wasn't selling.

As a result of the Phocas implementation, Caprice has improved their inventory management choices and the high-quality data that is extracted allows managers to make decisions about the quantities and lines needing to be ordered. Having the right items in stock in the right quantities has also resulted in improved customer relationships — and in the business world, satisfied customers are priceless.

To read more about Phocas Xpress, and view additional case studies, visit the Phocas Newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2015-16 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

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Ardo Automates New Facilities With IBS

Ardo, a family-owned producer, packager and distributor of frozen vegetables, fruit, pasta and rice, recently merged with Dujardin Foods Group. As a result, Ardo operates 20 production, packing and distribution units in eight European countries, and employs more than 3,800 people. The company produces and sells in excess of 805,000 tons of food worldwide, with an estimated consolidated turnover of €815 million.

As a result of the merger, the company's warehouse management system (WMS) needed updating and automation. The primary objective would be to integrate with Ardo’s cold store refrigeration system, streamline business processes to facilitate accurate, on-time order fulfillment, and reduce ongoing manual labor and cost. IBS was selected and the implementation team worked closely with Ardo management to ensure a strict timeline was maintained through regular, ongoing communication and accurate level-setting. The IBS Dynaman system was integrated with Ardo’s ERP system, as well as the Savoye warehouse control system, Datapolis SCADA system, Transwide transportation planning and communication software, and Easyform document management system to ensure a cohesive, efficient operation.

As the project unfolded, specialized functional requirements were exposed, including specific schedulers for box picking and label requirements, among others. The IBS team customized solutions to accommodate these special cases and support seamless, end-to-end performance.

By summer of 2014, the IBS Dynaman solution was up and running. The newly installed WMS effectively verifies that the correct pallets are distributed to the correct trucks by optically verifying the labels on the pallets. The Dynaman system has reduced the number of distribution errors by eliminating much of the manual labor, where each worker had a unique way of doing things using Excel spreadsheets. Inconsistencies and errors have been reduced by more than 90 percent.

To read more about the IBS implementation at Ardo, as well as additional case studies and whitepapers, visit the IBS Newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2015-16 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

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American Refrigeration Supplies Saves With Infor

Headquartered in Phoenix, American Refrigeration Supplies, Inc. (ARS) is a one-stop wholesaler of refrigeration, heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning equipment, parts, and supplies. With 33 locations in six states, the 69-year-old company sells primarily to licensed contractors for the repair and replacement market. The company stocks approximately 17,000 items from roughly 300 different vendors.

A growing number of product vendors sought new data exchange methods to increase efficiency in the supply chain, pushing ARS to upgrade its processes and approaches. "Our vendors were asking us to use EDI for sending our purchase orders," says Wendy Jindra, manager of IS. After surveying the available solutions in the market, ARS chose Commerce Connect by Infor™. It was an obvious decision as the company was already committed to Infor Distribution SX.e for enterprise resource planning.

More than 100 companies—both vendors and customers—were up and running on EDI within four months. Key benefits have emerged as the company’s purchasing department is freed from printing out purchase orders and walking them over to the fax machine. The process saves time, enabling professionals in this group to accomplish more. Greater accuracy was another benefit. By conducting transactions via EDI, the company eliminates the need for manual data entry—eliminating keypunch errors that would have needed to be reconciled and mistaken orders that would have had to be tracked down. However, the company is seeing its most immediate economic benefits in terms of enhancing its invoicing process. “Soon, we’ll be sending most of our customer invoicing through EDI instead of through postal mail and we’ll save postage costs,” says Jindra. She estimates the company will soon be saving as much as $45,000 a year in postal costs.

To learn more, read additional case studies and watch client interviews, visit the Infor Distribution Newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2015-16 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

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I.B.I.S. Fosters Supply Chain Collaboration

Modern supply chain management theory emphasizes collaboration – working together with partners for the benefit of the entire supply chain. This makes good business sense. Since the supply chain is intended to operate as a unified team aimed at providing customer value and profits for all participants, it requires that those participants collaborate.

In a practical sense, collaboration involves sharing information and joint decision-making, or at least coordination, on activities to be carried out by multiple parties. It has become a common practice to make point-of-sale data available up through the supply chain to enable more accurate forecasting and distribution planning at the source (manufacturer) and even make that data available to the factory’s suppliers to enhance their planning and support of the factory schedules.

Another common form of collaboration is working together on forecasts. The initial forecast is developed by one of the partners, let’s say the manufacturer, perhaps using data collected by the distributor or retailer. The initial forecast is passed to the retailer, who suggests changes that support planned promotional activities. The manufacturer may suggest changes to the promotion schedule to accommodate more efficient production or distribution.

The end result is a forecast that is a better fit for both production and sales. The retailer is assured of a better inventory plan to support promotions and the supplier is not surprised by unexpected demand driven by promotional activities.

To learn more about I.B.I.S., read case studies, white papers, and view product demos, visit the I.B.I.S. Manufacturing Newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2015-16 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

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Epicor Helps North American Lumber Integrate Operations

North American Lumber is a privately owned lumber and building products company that has been serving professional builders and do-it-yourselfers in western Canada for over 100 years. Fourth generation President, Martha Konantz, led the company’s efforts to implement Epicor's BisTrack as the single business management system across all operations - which previously had been running numerous different software and manual systems.

With 19 stores and lumberyard locations across Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario as well as a concrete plant, a truss plant and two ready-to-move home building facilities, North American Lumber’s management team needed Epicor BisTrack to bring additional levels of control over their business processes, and create a study, real-time link from the cash register to the GL. As a result of the implementation, managers appreciate the ability to access Epicor BisTrack and information about all their operations and inventory from anywhere with an internet connection—regardless of which branch they are at or whether they’re on the road. With accurate, up-to-the minute information, customer inquiries can be met quickly.

Additional benefits experienced by North American Lumber include:
• the ability to consolidate data from all operations
• processes are now standardized and integrated • great efficiencies and cost savings experienced throughout company
• GMROI up 6%
• improved cash flow
• refined rebate program management
• enhanced contractor services

To learn more about Epicor and read additional case studies and white papers, visit the Epicor Newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2015 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

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