New Industry-Specific ERP System for Compounders finds its way to Poland. Case Study Poly.ERP 2013

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1 New Industry-Specific ERP System for Compounders finds its way to Poland Case Study Poly.ERP 2013

2 Learn about about the introduction of Poly.ERP at Polimarky, a successful Polish producer of a wide range of plastic compounds designed for extrusion and injection molding Successful Introduction of Poly.ERP at Polimarky in Rzeszów Life before Poly.ERP: Working in sub-processes Quantitative stock reliability as the basis for increased efficiency Covering replaceability of raw materials and production plants in formulations A multi-stage introductory approach for a step-by-step conversion of work flows Copyright 2013 Kirchhoff Datensysteme Software GmbH & Co. KG; All Rights Reserved Poly.ERP, is a registered trademark of Kirchhoff Datensysteme Software GmbH & Co. KG

3 Interview with Managing Director Waldemar Purc Optimizing processes as a continuous task of structuring About Kirchhoff Datensysteme 3

4 Successful Introduction of Poly.ERP at Polimarky in Rzeszów Polimarky, the polish producer of polypropylene, polyamide and cable compounds, has been working since April 2013 with the industry solution Poly.ERP, developed in Germany. Remarkably, the person responsible for changeover of processes ( PRP ) evaluates the introduction as a complete success, as early as 8 weeks after going live, already! Not only did the changeover, which has been scheduled to last 7 months, run in time, but also in budget! Whoever has taken part in the roll out of a complex ERP system in process industry, knows that this is a result not to be taken for granted. German system provider Kirchhoff Datensysteme Software (KDS) calls the staff member who has been announced as responsible for changeover of processes PRP. After all, it is not only about the introduction of a software system, but primarily about establishing integrated workflows. This was one major reason for success, apart from providing a system that is specializing in the industry and its requirements: Polimarky took the task of process changeover and change management seriously, right from the start. 4

5 About Polimarky Polimarky is a successful Polish producer of a wide range of plastic compounds designed for extrusion and injection molding. Polimarky was founded in 1984 and today has two manufacturing sites equipped with specialized production lines as well as R&D centre. The headquarter is located in Rzeszów in the south-eastern part of Poland. Over 100 employees produced in 2012 a volume of about tons of compounds in forms of pellets and pipes for customers in various European markets like Germany, France, Czech Republic or Scandinavia. Life before Poly.ERP: Working in sub-processes Even before April 2013, Polimarky had used an ERP System. But there was one big difference: It was a standard system widely used across different industries that was not able to meet the special demands of a polymer compounder. The logical consequence was that beyond commercial functions of financial and cost accounting, Polimarky could just use the system in sub-process chains like Material Order - Procurement or Customer Order - Customer Invoice. Operational tasks like production planning, inventory control or quality assurance were depicted in non-integrated sub-systems or even in complex Excel charts, which generally became obsolete even more quickly than they could be generated by staff members who are concerned with planning. This is a very typical phenomenon for a job-lot producer who is reacting flexibly to the market and to customer orders. The following subsequent problems are as typical of this industry: Low stock reliability paired with stocktaking surprises, which are common in this industry Lack of adherence to delivery dates or unreliable delivery commitments towards the customer Low reliability in raw material planning

6 New Feature Quantitative stock reliability as the basis for increased efficiency 6 It is the company s strategy to continually implement new technological solutions and investing in innovations and thus to strive for consistent sales rise in Europe. Today, the whole organisation and Polimarky customers benefit from a systematic and continuous process support included in one system. Complete transparency about the actual stocks of raw materials, intermediate products and finished goods is the basis for increased efficiency. The unreliable retrograde inventory control via back-calculation of an order-related target consumption from the inventory has been replaced by bundle-based inventory control via scanning process. In the daily workflow at floor-level, this exactly is the actual revolution: Today, every movement of material at Polimarky is being scanned by a mobile data terminal ( MDT ) regardless of whether it concerns incoming goods, storage, destocking, actual raw material consumption or the creation of intermediates or finished goods in production. On this basis and by the integration of the order processes, inventory control today does not only know the exact inventory amount, but also the required amount of all necessary ingredients on the relevant time axis. In this way, material is only ordered, when it is really needed and that precisely for the scheduled production appointments.

7 Covering replaceability of raw materials and production plants in formulations Keyterm production planning: Here too, the introduction of Poly.ERP led to a work process that is completely new. In the past, the production planner had to make use of application technology for each replacement of a raw material or rescheduling to another plant in case of doubt, it first had to create a new formulation for this new constellation. Today, production planners find everything they need in Poly. ERP, says Anna Badurska, PRP at Polimarky. The basic formulation informs the planning engineer of alternative raw materials or plants he can resort to and which effect this has an enormous simplification of work and increase in speed for the whole process! 7

8 Adherence to delivery dates and quality as the decisive competitive factor in a contested market The key result of the new operational processes for the customer is that thanks to integrated planning of order dates a reliable promise of delivery can be made. Guaranteed adherence to promised delivery dates and amounts even combined with guaranteed quality standards according to customer specifications: These are the advantages that our customers notice and that are decisive competitive advantages. Because reliability gets around our industry and the market are still small enough for this to happen says Waldemar Purc, Managing Director at Polimarky. Adherence to promises regarding quality or the customer s specifications takes place via the Poly.ERP QA module, embedded in the overall process. Depending on customer s specifications and the testing instructions deposited in Poly.ERP, the system automatically generates the corresponding test jobs for quality assurance and documents test results, based on this naturally including the documentation of specification compliance for the customer. 8

9 A multi-stage introductory approach for a step-by-by conversion of work flows As PRP, Anna Badurska is particularly proud of the fact that only 8 weeks after the introduction, all members of staff are using the system as a matter of course. The step-by-step introductory approach, recommended by the supplier, was of major help. Today, Anna Badurska says, it was particularly important to start with first hands-on trainings, as soon as possible after the process workshops. KDS advised us to start by transferring all raw material and finished product inventories to the new system and supported us in the process. From this reference date onwards, we first focused on the basic processes of bundle-based inventory control. In this way, we could at the same time introduce the fundamentally important scanning processes and learn to think in terms of bundles. It was only after security in these workflows had been established, that functions like material planning or production control station were introduced step-by-step, on the basis of constitutive, valid inventories. Kirchhoff Datensysteme too, sees the biggest challenge when introducing a complex ERP system, in the manufacturers change management. This is why they consider themselves to be not only system providers, but above all consultants, who use workshops to coach staff to change their thinking and accompany the application s going-live on-site. 9

10 Why did you not choose a widely-used standard ERP system? We did already have experience with a standard ERP system. It does depict our requirements concerning financial accounting and cost center accounting, however it does not come close to match the requirements of our industry-specific plastics processing. In order to reach genuine process efficiency with a standard ERP system, staff and processes would have had to bend over backwards. of efficient processes in compounding. All of this based on a system that reliably supports these processes. But wasn t it still risky to opt for a comparatively unknown niche product? There is no decision that guarantees absolute security a certain risk always remains. But we tried to minimize this risk in advance and aimed at preparing our decision thoroughly. Interview 10 Mr. Purc, what made you consider introducing a new ERP system at your company, in the first place? W. Purc: Well, Polimarky has been successfully operating in the market for years but more or less at a constant level. It is our goal, to lead the company into a new dimension of growth, within the next years. I was hired as managing director to fulfil this task. After just a few weeks, one thing became clear to me: In order to reach growth target, first of all the company has to be prepared for growth personnelwise and by implementing more efficient processes. The latter is only possible with the help of a truly efficient system. with managing director Waldemar Purc And how did you arrive at choosing KDS respectively Poly.ERP? In fact, it was a lucky coincidence that Ms. Badurska had become acquainted with KDS last year at the FAKUMA trade fair. Since we were in the middle of the selection process, we quickly arranged an appointment for an introduction to Poly.ERP. We found the system convincing right from the start. We did not have to explain how our business works to the system provider. On the contrary, KDS showed us interesting approaches to the introduction There were preceding validation workshops with KDS, in which we tested Poly. ERP s system processes for conformity with our own processes and requirements. Finally, last doubts were removed by visiting a German Polymer Compounder, who had already started working with Poly.ERP. Getting feedback from users with handson experience and having the possibility to see system and processes live, with one s own eyes, ultimately convinced us.

11 Was the fact that the system is matching your requirements so well, one of the reasons for its comparatively smooth introduction? All departments were indeed able to carry out their day-to-day business successfully, from the first day on. Poly.ERP being specifically aligned to compounding processes was certainly one major factor for success but not the only one. It was also helpful, that the different departments are equipped with a relatively young management who is open for new things and sees a big opportunity in introducing the new system for the company and for themselves. Additionally, we took the change management task very seriously, right from the beginning. Ms. Badurska, the PRP announced by us, but also our partner KDS invested a lot of time and power, which paid-off in the end. stumbling block on the way to roll-out, but we were able to sweep it away with combined strength. With Poly.ERP, we today have a system at our disposal that comes up to formal requirements in Poland. Is there anything you would do differently, given the possibility to turn back time? I would try to acquaint the persons involved with the introductory process with first practical steps regarding the application even more quickly. This allows for a faster comprehension of the system s philosophy and for thinking in terms of bundles and overall processes. However, all in all we are very satisfied and are feeling well prepared for our future plans at Polimarky. A smooth introduction that sounds almost to good to be true. Were there really no problems at all? Of course there were some problems. We ourselves as well as KDS had underestimated the complexity of connecting Poly. ERP to our existing system that was still to be used for accounting and financial controlling. It was not so much the aspect of technical difficulties that was giving us a hard time as the modifications to suit country-specific legal requirements and documentation obligations. It was a big 11

12 Optimizing processes as a continuous task of structuring Today, functionaries in charge at Polimarky can hardly imagine working without Poly. ERP. At the same time, they are convinced that they have by far not exhausted all possibilities of increasing efficiency. In introducing the system, we have only taken half of the journey, says Waldemar Purc. The second half is still lying ahead and the task of optimizing processes will probably be a permanent one. But there is one important thing: We do have the appropriate system and in addition we have a partner with a profound consulting capability for compounding processes. This corresponds entirely with KDS philosophy. We are process consultants specialized in plastics manufacturing. In combining extensive industry-specific best practice know-how and the specialized industry system Poly.ERP, we drive at a continual improvement of our customers processes, says Oliver McKenzie, managing director at KDS. 12

13 Poly.ERP is a product of Wackernheim Location: Kirchhoff Datensysteme Software GmbH & Co. KG Kleine Hohl Wackernheim Phone: Fax: Erfurt Location: Kirchhoff Datensysteme Software GmbH & Co. KG Vollbrachtstraße Erfurt Kirchhoff Datensysteme Kirchhoff Group has been operating for more than 22 years as a respected software development and system house. It has more than 100 employees and offices in Erfurt (head office) and Mainz (Wackernheim). It also has a development center in Prague and additional locations in the Czech Republic (Šumperk, Brünn and Budweis). KDS focuses on the development of system solutions for the Automotive and Chemical industries. Since 2012, KDS has been operating as a supplier of standard ERP software for polymer compounders and has been very successful with its products in this industry. Phone: Fax: Internet: software.kds-kg.de polyerp.de software@kds-kg.de info@polyerp.de 13

14 We do speak compoundish. Contact us - in any language you like. Kirchhoff Datensysteme Software GmbH & Co. KG Kleine Hohl Wackernheim Phone: info@polyerp.eu Internet: Poly.ERP is a registered trademark of Kirchhoff Datensysteme Software GmbH & Co. KG