A subsidiary of Coca-Cola Amatil, SPC Ardmona has until now done much of its plant management and strategic planning manually using Excel spreadsheets.
However, the company said as its business had expanded the volume of variable factors – from the cost of production, labour and freight, to the various seasonal fruit cycles – meant its manual systems were no longer viable.
After a successful pilot test of the Infor SCM AP system, SPC Ardmona corporate planning manager Mike McCormack said the company decided to proceed with a full roll-out because the solution had demonstrated the ability to deliver a “tactical model to help optimise our current facilities and drive cost out of the business.”
“(Infor AP would) enable us to balance the multitude of variables and averages in our industry and thereby assess the most likely cost-effective outcome of any decision for the business both in the short and long-term,” Mr McCormack said.
The company sought a solution that was able to cover broad “what if” scenarios that traded-off labour costs against fruit degradation and storage costs, and factor in market demand and other economic conditions affect production – and come up with the both long-term and short-term strategies.
Infor was this month awarded ‘Application Vendor of the Year 2006’ at Woolworths annual IT Supplier of the Year Awards.
The award recognised Infor’s participation in Woolworths’ massive national distribution network project in Australia. The project is underpinned by Infor SCM Warehouse Management 2000, and on completion next year will represent the largest and most complex retail distribution network in the southern hemisphere.
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