INFOR HELPS AUSTRALIAN CABLE MANUFACTURER TYCAB TO ACHIEVE BETTER SERVICE STANDARDS

Infor ERP Syteline Solution Provides Competitive Advantage Through  Business Specific Pick and Ship Capabilities

Infor has completed a major ERP implementation at Australian cable manufacturer Tycab. Tycab replaced three disparate, ageing and paper-intensive systems with Infor ERP SyteLine, a business specific solution with industry experience built in which provides customers with a lower total cost of ownership. The centralised solution has provided Tycab single barcode scan functionality for picking and shipping, and a paperless shopfloor for manufacturing; helping the manufacturer to streamline operations, achieve high service standards and gain market share.

Dandenong-based Tycab Australia is a specialised manufacturer of quality electrical cable products used across a broad range of industries, from automotive wiring harnesses and aftermarket, to welding and switchboards. Tycab's speciality is its ability to produce quality cable quickly with smaller minimum run sizes than other cable manufacturers or importers. To alleviate some of the impact on service standards that the company's ageing green screen and paper-based systems were making, Tycab realised it needed a solution that was highly specific to its business.

A key challenge was that Tycab was operating three disparate systems:

• OSAS: its front-end customer service and dispatch management system.
• Dataflex: a separate, twenty-five-year old manufacturing system with a green screen.
• An in-house e-commerce system which handled accounts, order placement and inventory.

Tycab had already attempted to combine the systems after a company consolidation several years ago. However Ash Labib, Manufacturing Manager at Tycab, said "the integration just wasn't cutting the mustard. We still had translation issues between inventory and manufacturing job numbers, and between customers and staff. We could not ignore the burden on our staff to ensure data accuracy and synchronization between each of the systems". In order to address the concern, Tycab  reviewed six manufacturing software suppliers before selecting Infor as its business management system.
       
"Infor understood our needs more than anyone else," said Mr Labib. "While we wanted a system that was easy to implement and use, we found that out-of-the-box solutions fell short in supporting the unique processes that had given us our competitive edge over the years. Infor had the business specific solutions and domain expertise that could provide us with the best processes for efficiency improvements, but also the flexibility for customisation which we needed."
       
Syteline is easy to customize without loss of integrity and this enabled Infor's professional services team to tailor the solution to meet Tycab's specific business needs for handling spools, multiples and sets, and volume picking and shipping.

The system went live in two stages to minimise operational disruption. The first phase (purchasing, financial, customer services and dispatch operations) went live in June 2006, followed by the manufacturing operation in October 2006.
       
Immediately, Tycab benefited from:

• Accurate information and data: which, importantly, increased staff confidence in the company system.
• A paperless warehouse. Now a single scan completes most transactions and this has improved delivery accuracy and service efficiency.
• Tighter shipping control. For example, Tycab no longer ships to customers with credit hold.
• Improved track and trace: this means Tycab is now able to quickly find stored inventory in a very large warehouse and optimise inventory for reduced wastage.

Mr Labib said "we have gained enormous efficiencies and productivity as a result of the improved control of our operations and inventory delivered by the Infor system".

About Infor ERP Syteline

Infor ERP SyteLine is a comprehensive solution that supports the business specific processes and operational functionality requirements of manufacturers, including capabilities for Design, Sell, Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, Service and Finance.  SyteLine's advanced automation technology enables customers to seamlessly improve processes as their business needs change, while the built-in scalability allows companies to add users, products, production sites or warehouses, and make other changes as their businesses grow.

About Infor

Infor delivers business-specific software to enterprising organizations. With experience built in, Infor's solutions enable businesses of all sizes to be more enterprising and adapt to the rapid changes of a global marketplace. With more than 70,000 customers, Infor is changing what businesses expect from an enterprise software provider.