Home: Issue 4 2010 › Quick reactions
Quick reactions
03/11/2010 | Channel: Information Technology, Manufacturer
CDC Software’s ERP solution for manufacturing businesses is helping a leading UK food manufacturer to grow
KK Fine Foods plc was established in North Wales in 1987 by Leyla Edwards, a housewife living in Mold, to produce a comprehensive range of vegetarian frozen foods for the food service industry. In 2003 it moved to the current Deeside premises, a 30,000 sq ft factory to support an expanded product range, and there are now ten productions lines in place.
The company portfolio currently has 393 different products supplied to and produced for leading brands and retailers including Welcome Break, JD Weatherspoons, Costa Coffee, Compass, Whitbreads, Mitchell and Butlers, the Restaurant Group, 3663 and Brakes, and to other catering companies serving private and public sector organisations. Each product is made up of different constituencies, all of which need to be sourced, recorded and quality managed with total traceability.
In 2006 there was diversification into meat, poultry and fish. This created an unprecedented demand for the company's products. In the last six years KK Fine Foods has grown 700 per cent, from a £1.5 million small business to a £15 million, mid-sized, market leader.
Growth
Over 120 new jobs have been created and new systems and premises accommodate the demand for the company's products. This growth was recognised by the Welsh Assembly Government and KK Fine Foods received support for Enterprise Funding and have twice been awarded the Welsh SME of the year.
A new system was required to meet the need to manage massive increase in transactions volumes and SKUs that need data captured. There was a also a requirement to analyse captured data in real time, gain control of margins, stocks and customer service levels, establish manufacturing controls to maximise profits and enhance customer service by optimising quality, price, service and innovation. Additionally, KK wanted to unify disparate systems including random spreadsheets, Sage, Access and pen & paper, create a culture in the organisation of empowered responsibility leading to motivation for reward and focus on the training and development of the employees throughout the company to the benefit of the customers.
The selection process
The system selected had to fully support all KK Fine Foods' manufacturing philosophies including, repetitive standard products with scheduled or forecasted high volumes and low volume specials, possible customised requirements, new projects and new product development. It also had to include actual and possible future strategies and growth, as well as being browser based and .NET compliant, employee and environmentally friendly.
Graham Jackson, chairman, KK Fine Foods, explained: “Food manufacturing can be a complex business. We produce nearly 400 products, each with multiple components. The manufacturing processes involve multiple units of measure conversions; take pastry, for example, - water by volume, flour by weight, and eggs by number. Within this are other variables such as numerics, kgs, litres and then possibly percentages. Ross ERP has given us the ability to react very quickly to changes in the product itself and in customer demand, supply chain management and market conditions. This is not just another MRP package.”
The key reasons KK Fine Foods selected Ross ERP from CDC Software
Ross ERP from CDC Software has enabled KK Fine Foods to:
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As a result of these benefits KK Fine Foods has been able to:
Installation of CDC Factory and BPM
Conclusion
Ross ERP has helped KK Fine Foods transform its business. It is now in full control of all its business processes, profits and products. "We know what is going on, why it is going on and therefore we are better able to react and manage issues, and the anticipated growth of the company in whatever markets we enter, the Ross systems being linked to the Glyndwr University management development work and the Toyota Production System training has completed the circle for the company,” explained Graham.
"When we started using Ross ERP we were a small company. In 2010 we are an extremely profitable medium-sized business and one of the UK's most successful suppliers of quality ready meals aimed at the foodservice, leisure, brewery and convenience sectors in the UK and Europe," concluded Graham. u
For more information visit kkfinefoods.com.
The company portfolio currently has 393 different products supplied to and produced for leading brands and retailers including Welcome Break, JD Weatherspoons, Costa Coffee, Compass, Whitbreads, Mitchell and Butlers, the Restaurant Group, 3663 and Brakes, and to other catering companies serving private and public sector organisations. Each product is made up of different constituencies, all of which need to be sourced, recorded and quality managed with total traceability.
In 2006 there was diversification into meat, poultry and fish. This created an unprecedented demand for the company's products. In the last six years KK Fine Foods has grown 700 per cent, from a £1.5 million small business to a £15 million, mid-sized, market leader.
Growth
Over 120 new jobs have been created and new systems and premises accommodate the demand for the company's products. This growth was recognised by the Welsh Assembly Government and KK Fine Foods received support for Enterprise Funding and have twice been awarded the Welsh SME of the year.
A new system was required to meet the need to manage massive increase in transactions volumes and SKUs that need data captured. There was a also a requirement to analyse captured data in real time, gain control of margins, stocks and customer service levels, establish manufacturing controls to maximise profits and enhance customer service by optimising quality, price, service and innovation. Additionally, KK wanted to unify disparate systems including random spreadsheets, Sage, Access and pen & paper, create a culture in the organisation of empowered responsibility leading to motivation for reward and focus on the training and development of the employees throughout the company to the benefit of the customers.
The selection process
The system selected had to fully support all KK Fine Foods' manufacturing philosophies including, repetitive standard products with scheduled or forecasted high volumes and low volume specials, possible customised requirements, new projects and new product development. It also had to include actual and possible future strategies and growth, as well as being browser based and .NET compliant, employee and environmentally friendly.
Graham Jackson, chairman, KK Fine Foods, explained: “Food manufacturing can be a complex business. We produce nearly 400 products, each with multiple components. The manufacturing processes involve multiple units of measure conversions; take pastry, for example, - water by volume, flour by weight, and eggs by number. Within this are other variables such as numerics, kgs, litres and then possibly percentages. Ross ERP has given us the ability to react very quickly to changes in the product itself and in customer demand, supply chain management and market conditions. This is not just another MRP package.”
The key reasons KK Fine Foods selected Ross ERP from CDC Software
- Confidence in the people - they listened and understood the business
- Software functionality - a more functionally complete system than competitor offerings, yet easy to use
- The technology - a modern system that is .NET and browser based
- Existing customer base - large installed base of competitor and similar manufacturing businesses
- Implementation - clever planning ensured a fully resourced team to deliver to a realistic plan
- Comprehensive training and development programmes linked to the local Glyndwr University and the Toyota based principles of lean management
- Costs - Overall very cost effective, with highly achievable and good ROI
Ross ERP from CDC Software has enabled KK Fine Foods to:
- Fully control processes, profits and products
- Know and understand what is going on and react
- Manage the anticipated growth of the company
')";>As a result of these benefits KK Fine Foods has been able to:
- Grow from a small business manufacturing 60 products in 2003 to a medium-sized business producing 393 products in 2010
- Have visibility of and control over the end-to-end production process
- Transform into a 3D- ‘Data Driven Decision’ company
- Move from a cumbersome and laborious vertically integrated system into a fast response, horizontally integrated unit where everybody is accountable within their own areas of responsibility in the organisation
- Huge cost savings resulting from eliminating duplication of effort and resources
- Business process management to ensure everyone knows what to do, when to do it and who is accountable for it
- Complete supply chain visibility enables proactivity and the use OTIF
- Provide customers and management with up-to-the-minute information
- Provide customers with first class service and highly competitive pricing
- Complete manufacturing control and quality management resulting from accurate process and recipe information stored in the system
- Accurate, real-time management reports
- Effective forward business and resource planning
- CDC Ross ERP version 6.2
- Sales & Promotions module
- Business Performance module
- Bar-coding and additional retail and service tools
- Demand Planning, Forecasting and Budgeting
- Ross Forecasting for trend analysis
Installation of CDC Factory and BPM
Conclusion
Ross ERP has helped KK Fine Foods transform its business. It is now in full control of all its business processes, profits and products. "We know what is going on, why it is going on and therefore we are better able to react and manage issues, and the anticipated growth of the company in whatever markets we enter, the Ross systems being linked to the Glyndwr University management development work and the Toyota Production System training has completed the circle for the company,” explained Graham.
"When we started using Ross ERP we were a small company. In 2010 we are an extremely profitable medium-sized business and one of the UK's most successful suppliers of quality ready meals aimed at the foodservice, leisure, brewery and convenience sectors in the UK and Europe," concluded Graham. u
For more information visit kkfinefoods.com.