Effective Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) was one of the main reasons for investing in an ERP system for Geiger & Klotzbucher. After an unsuccessful initial implementation attempt, AWCape was contracted to re-deploy Sage 300cloud in this manufacturing environment, with successful end-result, leading to much increased business efficiency for Geiger & Klotzbucher.

Geiger & Klotzbücher (Pty) Ltd, a family-owned business since 1967 is one of Southern Africa's leading suppliers of an exclusive range of packaging equipment and - material solutions required for the packaging of perishable food products - servicing the meat, seafood, poultry, dairy & convenience food industries from small to industrial enterprises.

Chris Klotzbucher, Managing Director of Geiger & Klotzbücher said "Our materials planning & procurement process before the re-deployment of the system by AWCape was time consuming and very much a paper driven procurement process, with a high demand on management time. The initial implemented system was not accurate with no access to actual live data."

He further commented "Our requirements for re-deployment of our system was to find a Sage business partner with the necessary knowledge and experience to successfully implement a Sage manufacturing solution. We found these attributes in AWCape, who has a track record of successful implementations of larger sites".

The re-deployment process at Geiger & Klotzbücher started with a detailed brief compiled by the G +K management team. The AWCape industrial engineering team then embarked on a BSP (Business Systems Planning) process which entailed several workshops with key staff members from G+K and over the period of three months the detailed scope for the new system was developed. The process included several "deep dives" into the existing business processes of materials management which included reviewing G + K's management of stores, stock locations, stock "on the water" (imports) and deployment of working capital, which was not very effective.

Klotzbücher added: "A year after we started with the project, we managed to significantly reduce our investment in over-stocking, slow moving stock and dead stock. Other benefits include accuracy of raw material orders & forecasting now significantly improved. Through this process we are also experiencing an improved supplier relationship because of accurate forecasting. Over time these improvements will lead to greater productivity and cost reductions directly benefitting end-customer pricing."

Dr Khalil du Plessis, AWCape's Director Professional Services added that "Sage 300 Accounting (previously called Accpac) together with fully integrated Sage 300 People HR & Payroll software has suffient build in functionality for the manufacturing industry to manage detailed labour costing, complex Bill of materials and kitting items with multiple stock locations. The sophisticated Sales Order and Purchase Order modules enabled G&K to have full control of their material order process through Just in Time principles. Building a tight integration between manufacturing processes and the system allowed G&K to improve stock forecasting and stock holding".