S&B GmbH from Altenstadt, a manufacturer of packaging machines and systems for the supermarket-friendly packaging of fruit and vegetables, is now realising more transparent business processes and reducing the manual effort involved in business planning by implementing new ERP software from Sage.
The primary goal of this software project was to, Orders faster to machine assembly to the market. Regardless of whether it is a packaging line, film machine or weighing machine: 60 to 70 per cent of the machines that S&B manufactures are Customised solutions. Individual components of the packaging systems, such as a jogging machine, on the other hand, are Standard components, which are either manufactured in-house or purchased. This poses particular challenges for software that has to map these processes from the initial enquiry to order creation, scheduling and procurement through to delivery.
„The be-all and end-all of work at S&B is a precise parts list structure on which all processes are based. Our company's previous software was unable to fulfil this requirement. This meant that a lot of manual work was necessary to represent the basis of our business in the first place - both in terms of the production order and the calculation,“ reports Thomas Carta, Managing Director and shareholder of S&B Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH.
To get an order into assembly more quickly, the company was looking for a way to Increase the transparency of the data held in the system and the Reduce manual effort during planning. The new Manufacturing software should, for example, quickly and clearly show which parts still need to be purchased in order to realise an order.
Automated processes and system-based calculations
In the selection process, S&B opted for the ERP system Sage X3, which was subsequently customised and implemented to meet the company's individual requirements. Of the total of 25,000 articles, several thousand were initially created in Sage X3. Each new order type was followed by successively further data records. This effort has paid off, as the company is now a leader in the area of parts lists as well as in design, scheduling and procurement. Significantly better positioned than before.
For example, if an employee wants to reserve an order for a specific customer, he immediately receives an overview of the parts, The machine manufacturer can also see which parts are in the warehouse and which parts need to be reordered. Using the data on the forecast goods receipt, the working times on which the production machines are based and the personnel utilisation, the machine manufacturer can now predict the delivery date more accurately than before. This also applies to the determination of the machine price. Users and companies benefit today of automated and more efficient processes and system-based calculations.
Mobile data enquiry in customer service
With the introduction of the new Sage software, S&B was able to both Optimise order creation as well as scheduling and procurement, because the necessary database and parts list structure are now much clearer and more transparent than before. In addition, S&B can now reliably map the diversity of its variants in Sage X3. In the future, the special machine manufacturer also wants to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) into the new software. In addition, a Mobile use of the system for the company's sales and service employees. For example, they are to be given the opportunity to via mobile phone or tablet to enquire which parts are in stock or what delivery date the customer can expect.
S&B has the Switch to new business software used to future-proof and competitive because the flexible, customisable and highly functional software is also a reliable partner for successful digital change.
Source: Sage
