3rd September
2013
Smurfit
Czech boosts productivity thanks to K3 Syspro
mobile solution
When
packaging specialist Smurfit Kappa opened a new Czech office, the company chose
to lift an established, successful SYSPRO batch mobile process that was in place
within one of the UK divisions but quickly recognised that SYSPRO could offer
greater levels of productivity when used to post real-time transactions
directly from the shop floor.
Smurfit Kappa is one of the leading producers of
paper-based packaging in the world with over 41,000 employees across 350
production sites in 32 countries. The company’s main business is corrugated
packaging, but it has leading positions in several other markets including
solid board and graphic board packaging. The company is headquartered in
Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland.
A SYSPRO user since
2010, the Czech-based division of Smurfit Kappa, Smurfit Czech, had already
experienced benefits from its ERP solution and had gained further advantage by streamlining
its sales order processing system from end-to-end. However, with the advent of real-time
mobile technologies and dealing with increasing volumes of orders, Packaging
Specialist Lukáš Konývka, who worked with K3 on the original batch transaction mobile
solution implementation, identified a way of increasing productivity levels
further.
The K3 Syspro mobile
scanning solution makes light work of managing inventories, receiving purchase
orders and picking orders. It also complements the powerful inventory
management features of SYSPRO and provides real time transaction processing to enable
quick and accurate data entry from barcode labels. This effectively eliminates issues
associated with manual data entry and transcribing notes from paper
documentation. Once scanned the information flows through to SYSPRO in real
time, to update its central database.
“Now that we have mobile scanners installed, we have made the process of
movements in stock much faster than it was before because we are able to send
data to SYSPRO directly from the shop floor. This means that we are completing
orders a lot quicker than we were previously doing and are now more reactive to
increased demand and high volumes of orders,” Lukáš
Konývka says.
In keeping with
SYSPRO’s intuitive approach, the K3 Syspro mobile solution requires very little
training because it is developed specifically for seamless integration with the
ERP solution. This eliminates the need for further training and means that the
staff at Smurfit Czech that are already trained to use SYSPRO could adapt very
quickly to the operational features of the mobile solution.
Lukáš Konývka says: “One of the initial concerns we had with introducing
a real-time mobile solution was the amount of time that the implementation
process would take, coupled with additional resources and time we would have to
commit to further staff training. But we soon realised that the real-time
mobile solution did not operate too differently to SYSPRO itself. We were able
to use the scanning equipment more or less immediately after they were
connected to the system which was a major benefit. The Implementation process
itself was quick and totally hassle free, so we were able to achieve our
go-live date.”
Implementation of the
K3 Syspro mobile solution began in November 2012 and was completed in a matter
of weeks. Throughout this time, K3 Syspro worked closely with a project
management team at Smurfit Czech to ensure that all of the aims of the business
were clearly understood and met. K3 Syspro worked closely with the company throughout
this time to quickly resolve any issues that arose.
Lukáš Konývka
explains: “The biggest issue we faced was
setting up the right settings on the mobile scanners for them to re-label our
stock catalogue. K3 Syspro were great and worked with us to ensure the task was
successfully completed without slowing down the implementation process.”
Smurfit Czech has
been using mobile scanners with SYSPRO for the last six months and is seeing a
real increase in productivity levels. The company no longer has to perform time
consuming manual downloads of stock information. The process of movements in
stock is also a lot quicker than when the company used manual methods and
Smurfit Czech is now able to fulfil a larger number of orders than it could previously.
Lukáš Konývka says: “The new technology in our mobile solution
has exceeded our expectations. We have been able to streamline our inventory
processes and really save time on manual processes. This has led to an increase
in productivity levels and enabled us to grow our business even further.
Throughout the entire implementation process K3 Syspro worked closely with our
project management team to ensure we successfully met our planned go live
date.”
Smurfit Czech is
currently in the process of upgrading its existing SYSPRO solution with K3 Syspro,
to SYSPRO 6.1 and is considering implementing real-time mobile solutions across
the entire business.
- Ends -
About K3 Syspro
K3
Syspro employs 80 people at its Manchester head office and its branches
throughout the UK and Ireland. The company offers solutions in enterprise
resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management, advanced planning
and scheduling, warehouse management, human resources and e-business. SYSPRO is
used by some 14,500 sites in over 60 countries. K3 Syspro is a division of K3
Business Technology Group, a global leader in providing next-generation
enterprise software for businesses in the retail, manufacturing and
distribution sectors. With more than 3,000 customer installations in over 30
countries, K3 is recognised as a safe, innovative and reliable provider of
world-class solutions, backed by world-class service.
For further information, please
contact:-
Editorial
– Sarah Winterbottom, Marketing Executive, K3 Syspro on 0161 876 4498, or
John
Edden, Bridge PR & Media Services on 024 76 520025, or e-mail john@bridgepr.co.uk.