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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 introduce a new ERP system (ERP = Enterprise Resource Planning). Of key 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 catering industry. The migration from the legacy system to the new ERP software from the provider Winweb Informationstechnologie GmbH from Aldenhoven was smooth and on budget within 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

Modules have been used so farPurchasing,Sales with order acceptance, Telephone sales, route processing (route lists, route sequence), invoicing, invoice lists, EDI, evaluations, Management information system and the sales channel calculation, which is of considerable importance due to the share of deliveries to retail. Financial accounting was also switched over. This changeover also went smoothly and quickly, as the new system has convenient interfaces for data exchange including open items. In the area of sales channel calculation, it is immediately clear at a glance which rebates to customers must be paid exactly 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 useful functionality is the ability to immediately convert all subsequent conditions with trading 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 connectivity of the machines and the required integration into the ERP software via an interface. An advantage here is that the IT partner can connect all common devices (such as semi-automatic and fully automatic machines in price labeling, scales, scanners, label printers) from well-known manufacturers. Grasmehr thus gains considerably in flexibility and independence and achieves comprehensive investment protection, as existing devices can be connected immediately. The processes in the area of Price labeling are significantly accelerated by complete data integration. The entire data maintenance takes place at Winweb. The servers and networks are clearly relieved and the remaining communication runs more flexibly and faster. Another main reason for the seamless automation of price labeling is the comprehensive reduction of errors in the entire labeling process. Grasmehr can the Price labeling carry out in three different variants - regardless of whether customer-related, item-related or labeling for Storage. Price labeling, weighing and picking are integrated at a high level into one continuous work process. This eliminates the multi-stage work processes that are not connected to each other. By integrating 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 various labeling variants can be integrated into the company's overall logistics with different degrees of automation.

Transparent material and information flow

The 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 seen. In addition to the 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 preparation have enormously expanded the possibilities of management support in our business processes. Now company data can be quickly and transparently transformed into decision-relevant knowledge. There are no longer any time gaps between the creation of reports and their presentation. An evaluation that used to take an entire weekend now takes only 15 minutes.

Further IT projects planned

In the future, Grasmehr has a lot planned and would like to continue generating secure, moderate growth. The new IT partner is to contribute to this with additional modules as part of the company-wide ERP project. Thus, the Gaudernbach-based company is planning in the near future to introduce the production modules with planning and end-to-end product costing. In addition, the Quality assurance be integrated into the inventory 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