Frucor shifts manufacturing to SAP

Beverage manufacturer and V energy drink owner Frucor is preparing to switch on a new SAP solution in an effort to improve its Auckland-based plant and supply chain.

Anticipating a go-live in three weeks, Frucor IT solutions manager Barbara Ciancio told iTnews the new solution, built on SAP's ERP and MII (manufacturing integration intelligence) products, would transform the company’s manufacturing process.

Although the Australasian company has an existing significant SAP footprint across warehousing, supply chain and business intelligence - running some of the solution in a hosted Fujitsu environment - Frucor’s current process manufacturing solution is an outdated bespoke system based on Microsoft technology.

The current solution requires the manual input of items like inventory for warehousing purposes, as well as the manual relabelling and restacking of products from the New Zealand production line to fulfil Australian orders.

It means tracking of batches and dates for quality control purposes is a challenge. The manual system is also open to incorrect beverage production, wasted inventory and damaged packaging.

The SAP-based solution will mean Frucor is able to bring its manufacturing closer to the "just in time model" - where items are created to meet demand in order to avoid waste and excess inventory.

Drinks will come straight off the production line into the appropriately labelled packaging and Australian standard pallets for shipment across the Tasman.

After the project goes live, Ciancio and her IT team will look to utilise the company's extensive SAP footprint by promoting it to as many business departments as possible.

She has implemented a ‘sprint’ program in which a business intelligence analyst becomes immersed in a line of business and then works with that team to develop improved reporting, including dashboards and KPIs, using the SAP technology.

“Technology for technologies sake won’t add value to the business. The business needs to see the value,” Ciancio said.