The Answer Company Gets The Project Back On Track
When Demers joined the company, a legacy system was in place, but the implementation had stalled. “We had lost some key staff members who knew the product and we were looking for a new business partner who could help get the project going again,” recalls Demers. “Our COO at GPI had a connection to The Answer Company and asked them to come in, evaluate our situation, and make recommendations to move us forward.” The Answer Company made strong recommendations addressing each of the areas of concern for GPI. “The Answer Company first helped us identify and define our business processes and then laid out a concrete plan for implementing the software to support each process,” says Demers. “This was a hugely valuable step and led to the ultimate success of this project.”
Refining Systems
The Answer Company worked with GPI to allow its radio frequency handheld devices to communicate in real-time with the new ERP. “Immediately we gained both speed and accuracy in our shipping cycle,” notes Demers. Lot tracking, a necessity for food manufacturers like GPI, had been a huge challenge for the company. The software automated and streamlined this task. “We can now easily meet the quality requirements of our industry,” explains Demers. “Should a recall ever be necessary, we have the system in place that will allow us to trace every ingredient through the entire cycle, ultimately identifying which products it went into and the customers who purchased the products.”
Lower Costs And Increase Accuracy
As a result of the control the new ERP system provides, inventory accuracy has increased dramatically. “Before implementation, inventory accuracy was around 50 percent,” Demers says. “Since implementation accuracy has steadily increased and is now better than 95 percent.” Increased accuracy means lower inventory carrying costs and lower labour costs. “We used to do monthly counts,” says Demers. “Now with the confidence we have in the system, we are moving to cycle counts.”
Pinpoint Production Costs
Accurately pinpointing production costs is key to calculating the profit margin for each product, and through the use of the reporting tools included in the new ERP solution, GPI discovered that it was underestimating the material costs and quantities associated with many of its products. “We were able to compare batches to standards we realized we were off in some areas,” says Demers. “As a result of that information, we were able to make adjustments to ensure profitability.”
Meet Demand Without Overstocking
The food manufacturing industry operates on short lead times. “We need to know precisely what we have on hand, our production schedule, and our capacity,” says Demers. “[The ERP] delivers that level of information. We are now much better able to meet our customers’ demands without wasteful overstocking.” GPI praises The Answer Company as a strong business partner. “They are adaptable, flexible problem-solvers and they brought a great deal of expertise to this project and came up with creative solutions to meet our needs,” Demers says.
“We have seen double-digit growth in each of the last few years,” explains Peter Demers, vice president of operations at GPI. Growth like this requires a company to be flexible and adaptable – traits that GPI has perfected with the help of simple yet powerful technology and the talented team at The Answer Company.