Business Case Study-ERP Food Management
Business Process improvement Plan, Sales and Customer Relations Management, Inventory Management and Accounting System implementation
Business Objectives and Goals
CAS Worldwide was retained by a national food manufacturer, with a concentration in sales of high protein ice cream and dry snack foods, in order to review their overall business and manufacturing process and provide recommendations for improvement in their physical processes related to production, inventory management, trade allowance management, and their overall accounting systems. In addition we were requested to assist them in the finding of new software to help with the recommendations for improvement. The Company experienced extreme growth with limited resources and saw that their inefficiencies were causing them to lose gross margin and control around the distribution of their product.
The Challenge
The overall goal of the project was to complete the following:
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Increase business performance by identifying and eliminating inefficiencies in business process – specifically in the manufacturing process around lot and quality control.
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Provide better tools used for order management, starting with promotional spend and following through inventory demands.
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Ensure that all departments in the company were communicating proper information related to customer’s needs and requirements, along with providing sales with the proper reporting on sell-through and promotional commitments.
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Review current software applications and suggest changes to these applications to meet the objectives stated above
The Solution
The process began with a review and documentation of their current business process in all areas of the company. Once the processes were documented and an understanding of their process mix was determined a proper business process change management program was created. This program allowed the company to create a road map of what was needed for system configuration and customization. We were then able to assist the company in implementation of a new enterprise level inventory management and accounting system, which was integrated with all departments to provide all areas with real-time information related to both production, sales, and accounting.
Workflow and Process Flowcharts
The two diagrams that follow are a comparison of the current processes and links to technology and the streamlined process that was implemented with their new ERP Software selection.
The Benefit’s
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The company increased efficiencies in the following areas:
- Two desperate system databases were integrated into one, which provided real-time reporting and eliminated the need for massive Excel spreadsheets and many manual processes used to manage production and inventory movement
- Sales and management reporting, showing net margins, based on products and customers and the overall affects that marketing and trade-allowances had on the movement of inventory.
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- Workflow and approval processes were integrated into the systems to provide a better level of control around both the sale and manufacturing processes – increased overall efficiencies by over 68% in certain departments
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Through cloud-based technologies the different offices were all able to access the system with no additional investments in hardware
Final Software selection
After careful guided consideration the company chose the Goldfinch Food ERP system.
The Goldfinch solution is 100% native Sales force and is specifically designed for food suppliers and distributors. Sales CRM functionality is combined with a full ERP solution to manage inventory, lot tracking, trade promotions etc. The pricing starts at $99 per user will give the end user both Sales force CRM & ERP and can be found on the Sales force Appexchange. The Sales force Appexchange has over 4,000 apps that can easily be applied to your Sales force instance. A vast majority are free to use. No costly coding to add or remove.
https://appexchange.salesforce.com/listingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000ExyKBUAZ
Check out the above website – and click on review to see the glowing review provided by the executives at Beyond Better Foods related to this business case study.
The Goldfinch Food ERP website details all the functionality that is included with the Goldfinch solution. The product goes from quote to invoicing with one system using an integrated Accounting Solution, Accounting Seed to handle your general ledger, financial statements and cash management. Or if you prefer, we can connect seamlessly to QuickBooks Online "QBO" for the financials & cash management. Visit the website at https://www.goldfinchcloudsolutions.com