Fast, faster, Korch – Part 1

The winweb-food ERP system was implemented at Fleisch- und Wurstwaren Korch in Radeberg in just one year.

Radeberger Fleisch- und Wurstwaren Korch and software provider Winweb have demonstrated how quickly a complete system changeover can be accomplished – naturally without interrupting operations. The on-site kick-off meeting in Radeberg took place on 14 January 2019, and the system went live on 6 January 2020. “For a company of this size with around 400 employees, who process roughly 65 tonnes of meat every week, this was no small feat,” says Winweb Managing Director Willi von Berg. Time to look back after just over a year with the new ERP system winweb-food. Felix Alber still clearly remembers his early days as the new Managing Director at Radeberger Fleisch- und Wurstwaren Korch: “I started here in September 2018 and by December I was already completely frustrated with the existing ERP system: no consistency, unintuitive to use, different modules, extremely slow and lousy support,” Alber recounts.

ERP system as an executive responsibility

And for the former management consultant, figures that show profits or losses at the touch of a button are essential to managing a company: „Today, nothing is based on gut feeling anymore, it is based on figures. You need transparency to make sound decisions and answer questions such as: Where are we making money and where are we not?“, says Alber, summing up his approach. He therefore quickly made up his mind: „We urgently needed a new ERP system.“ After several discussions with potential software providers, it was clear: „The discussions with Winweb were really good, and it was immediately obvious that they know what they are doing and also have extensive experience in our industry“, says Alber. Of course, the workforce was initially skeptical, but Alber made the issue his absolute top priority: „Simply saying, you go ahead and do it, does not work; everyone has to get involved, a change like this is a team effort“, explains the 47-year-old.

He had also made it clear that he needed a management tool with good, reliable data otherwise it would be like driving without lights: at the next bend you go off the road.”

A project team headed by Chief Controller Dirk Oswald was quickly set up: “I fully supported the transition from the outset, even though it was a difficult period in terms of workload.” The team also included master butcher Frank Schönfeld, who had a good rapport with his colleagues in production. “From an IT perspective,” Alber says, “the transition was fairly straightforward. The crucial and time-consuming question was how we wanted to map our processes—we spent months thinking about it.” Support came from Pascal Eckerscham, Senior Consultant and Project Manager at Winweb, who was able to contribute his many years of experience: How should the production workflow be mapped so that it reflects reality as closely as possible? How should each item be recorded? How should recipes be set up, and how can batch traceability be documented seamlessly? How does an order move through the entire process from start to finish? “At first, it was like practicing on dry land,” Alber recalls.

Data revised

Next, the data from the old system was not simply transferred, but was thoroughly revised and cleaned before being imported into winweb-food. „Cleaning up the master data and categorizing all the information was particularly important“, Alber explains. Management accountant Oswald remembers this period well: „While operations still had to run on the old system, we were setting up winweb- food at the same time.“ Thanks to the thorough preparation, everything could then be switched from the old system to winweb-food all at once in January 2020. „That was what made this project special for us“, says Pascal Eckerscham. „Since all departments are interconnected, all processes had to work across the board from the very first day after the changeover.“ The fact that this went smoothly was certainly also due to Winweb efficiently coordinating the implementation through a combination of online and on-site meetings.

Since then, the quantities ordered have been compared with the quantities actually delivered during goods receipt, while quality assurance inspection plans are retrieved at the same time. The invoices for the goods received are then checked in the system, assigned in the integrated document management system and forwarded to financial accounting.

(Part 2 follows)

Radeberger Fleisch- und Wurstwaren Korch GmbH, founded in 1991 and originating from a butcher’s business in Silesia, processes and sells 140 tonnes of ham and sausage products per week with around 400 employees. Annual revenue amounts to approximately 50 million euros. The products are sold nationwide under the “Original Radeberger” brand on self-service shelves, as well as at fresh food counters in regional retail outlets and through the company’s own branch network. “Original Radeberger” enjoys high brand awareness of up to 90 percent in Germany’s eastern federal states.

www.korch.de
www.winweb.de