Background
A $150 million privately held manufacturer of non-dairy food products for the retail grocery industry, known for branded products including International Delight coffee creamers, Mocha Mix, individual UHT creamers, and RealWhip topping.
Situation
The company had run an antiquated accounting system for over 20 years — originally built for accounting and order entry, then heavily modified to try to support planning, manufacturing, sales, marketing, and warehouse functions. Information didn't flow properly between departments, planning and manufacturing were tracked on a yellow pad, and sales forecasts lived on spreadsheets — creating consistent shortages and production overruns. Management wanted to cut order-processing touch points from 30 to under 10 and cycle time from 36 hours to under 24.
Solution
We conducted a current-state evaluation to establish baseline metrics, held departmental meetings to define business and process requirements, and built a Request for Proposal. We managed selection of new UNIX hardware and an Enterprise Requirements Planning system from QAD, then led a six-month implementation across all modules at four locations.
Results
Implementation was completed in six months across four locations, at a cost of $1.1 million, resulting in $940 thousand in annual labor cost savings. Cycle time dropped to 20 hours, touch points fell to 8, and productivity increased by 30%.
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