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New ERP system makes the material and information flow more transparent

In March 2008 the Hessian meat and sausage company Grasmehr decided to implement a new ERP system (ERP = Enterprise Resource Planning). Of major importance in the decision was the clear coordination of material flow and data flow as well as internal and external logistics.

At Edwin Grasmehr GmbH, Weilburg-Gaudernbach, the company structures were to be mapped holistically and consistently. In addition, it was important to be able to run important analyses quickly and with little effort, to increase the transparency of order processing, and to optimize sales - especially for the food retail sector, bulk caterers, and the hospitality industry. The switch from the old system to the new ERP software from the provider Winweb Informationstechnologie GmbH from Aldenhoven went smoothly and within budget during the planned period: Above all, the transfer of the legacy data was absolutely reliable and fast. All data can continue to be used. winweb-food as specialized industry software not only transferred the master data, but also older statistical data dating back up to three years.

Transparency in price calculation

The following modules have been used so far Purchasing,Sales with order acceptance, Telephone sales, Route processing (route lists, route sequence), Invoicing, Invoice lists, EDI, Evaluations, Management information system and sales channel costing, which is of considerable importance because of the share of deliveries to retail. Financial accounting was also converted. This conversion also went smoothly and quickly, since the new system has convenient interfaces for data exchange including open items. In the area of sales channel costing, it is immediately apparent at a glance which rebates to customers must be paid precisely by item in relation to sales. The merchandise management system quickly and reliably lists on demand all subsequent discounts that were agreed with customers. These include, for example, bonuses, rebates and advertising subsidies. Another beneficial functionality is the ability to immediately convert all subsequent conditions with retail partners into the respective contribution margins. This means that clear forecasts about sales and profit expectations can be made at an early stage.

Project focus price labeling

Grasmehr has three Price labeling lines. Winweb implemented seamless integration of the machines and the necessary integration into the ERP software via an interface. It is advantageous that the IT partner can connect all common devices from renowned manufacturers (such as semi- and fully automatic PAZ machines, scales, scanners, label printers). This gives Grasmehr considerably more flexibility and independence and ensures comprehensive investment protection, as existing devices can be connected immediately. The processes in the area of Price labelingare significantly accelerated by complete data integration. The complete data maintenance is carried out in Winweb. The servers and networks are clearly relieved and the remaining communication is more flexible and faster. Another main reason for the seamless automation of price labeling is the extensive reduction of errors in the entire labeling. Grasmehr can the Price labelingcarry out in three different variants – regardless of whether customer-related, article-related or labeling for Storage. Price labeling, weighing and order picking are highly integrated into one continuous work process. This eliminates the multi-stage work processes that are not connected to one another. Through the integration of price labeling into the ERP software, all necessary data is available for immediate retrieval in a central SQL database. Time- and cost-intensive duplicate entries are eliminated. The different labeling variants can be integrated into the company's overall logistics with different degrees of automation.

Transparent material and information flow

Material and information flow at Grasmehr could be made significantly more transparent through the new ERP system. Effort within the value chain is reduced to a minimum, so that a significant increase in productivity can be recorded. In addition to optimizations in price labeling and labeling, customer delivery as well as production, the coherent and meaningful evaluations within the framework of a management information system are of enormous importance for the meat products manufacturer. Current and user-specific information helps the meat and sausage products company to manage its own business even better and create solid bases for decision-making. The Management information system makes an important contribution to well-founded decision-making: The industry-specific IT solution as well as new methods and techniques for data processing have enormously expanded the possibilities of management support in our business processes. Now the company data can be transformed quickly and transparently into decision-relevant knowledge. There are no longer any time gaps between the creation of reports and their presentation. Thus, an analysis that used to take an entire weekend now only takes 15 minutes.

Further IT projects planned

In the future, Grasmehr has a lot planned and would like to continue generating secure, moderate growth. To this end, the new IT partner is to contribute with additional modules as part of the company-wide ERP project. Thus, the company from Gaudernbach is planning in the near future to introduce the production modules with planning and continuous product costing. Furthermore, theQuality assurancecan be integrated into the merchandise management system, whereby all required inspections, measurements and evaluations within the scope of quality management are integrated into the processes of the overall system.

www.grasmehr.de
www.winweb.de