During the past 30 years, Westra established itself as
a major player in the fabrication and decoration of plastic bottles,
servicing clients throughout Canada and the United States from their plant
in Pointe-Claire, Quebec. Their client base lists the who’s who of both
the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry, amongst many others.
In 1999, Westra was facing a challenge. Their aging
manufacturing system was not Y2K compliant. Also, integration with their
Sage Accpac accounting system was virtually non-existent.
In the short term, Westra’s sales are expected to
grow from 12M$ to 18M$ annually. To meet demand, new larger facilities
will increase production capacity by 50% over the next 3 years. To support
this growth, more efficient information processing tools are required.
The market was offering integrated accounting and
manufacturing solutions which mostly ran upwards of $500,000. One system
did offer a lower cost package--the MISys Manufacturing System
integrated with Sage Accpac ERP. The total cost was
less than 35% of other solutions reviewed, and offered all the required
functionality.
With MISys, the manufactured inventory could be
transferred directly to the order entry module for shipping, a key feature
in reducing double entry. Also, with over 50 machines running 24 hours a
day, MRP and scheduling were on top of the list of must have features,
which was confirmed by a visit to an existing client. Westra also
considered the support and development expected of the soft-ware companies
involved, as long-term viability of the solution was also a deciding
factor. MISys, Inc., a company with 20 years experience, was the first to
offer an industry specific solution integrating with Sage Accpac
accounting packages. Sage is recognized as an industry
leader in accounting software solutions worldwide.
Implanciel, a Premier installer based in the Montreal
area with 12 years of experience, was chosen to implement the MRP system
and accounting solution. Each of their 12 consultants have strong
technical skills and all of them come with extensive accounting
backgrounds, as well as being qualified installers in their respective
fields. This proved to be much appreciated by Westra as they required a
strong presence on their part to meet their deadlines.
Apart from the practical user interface, providing
quick access to filtered information on the screen, Westra was pleased
with the custom reporting capabilities made possible through tools such as
Crystal Reports. The new Scheduling Report shows the total production
scheduled on each machine, giving current information useful in resolving
production conflicts.
Even better was the detailed cost information provided
for each item, enabling them to do better variance analysis. For improved
accounting information, a standard Order Listing Report was modified to
include additional data fields.
With this project completed, Westra is poised to
embrace additional information processing technology. Through Implanciel,
Westra is now studying the feasibility of implementing the MISys
bar-coding solution for production and shipping activities. Future
projects will involve e-commerce B2B solutions. All of these solutions
start with products available from MISys, Inc., Sage Accpac and
3rd party Solution Providers, keeping implementation costs at a reasonable
level and eliminating the headaches of extensive custom programming.
Westra recognizes that increased efficiency in their
manufacturing and accounting procedures is a key factor in the
profitability of their business. In our fast-paced market, technology is
often the leading change agent. The choice of the right technology can
make the difference between simply draining resources and making a
profitable efficiency gain.
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