Efficient Resource Planning

According to Wikipedia, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is one that integrates internal and external management information across an organization. Automated with an integrated software application, its purpose is to "facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders."

But for those who use the systems in their plants, ERP is likely to be thought of as an acronym for "Efficiency Really Pays!"

"ERP helps various departments work together to share the same information and data," said Jim Pade, information systems manager for flavor and seasonings manufacturer, Wixon Inc. An ERP ties together the data from all departments—from accounting to purchasing to shipping to customer service, so the entire business can be seen and managed as a single entity. "It keeps everyone playing on the same field," Pade said.

Wixon implemented its ERP system in 1999, and has upgraded it more than four times since then. While the system provides the company with resource efficiency, it is also a critical element of its food safety and quality initiatives.

At Wixon, the quality control department is the gatekeeper of the ERP system. "They have the control to stop things from proceeding before they have a chance to review them," Pade said. Even once it has approved an item, the quality department can stop a process, he said, citing the example of an ingredient that was approved for one product but not another.
 

CIP ERP. While an integrated information management system provides plants with one form of efficiency, a comprehensive clean-in-place (CIP) system can provide another form of "Efficiency Really Pays."

CIP systems are not new, but increased automation and customer control are more recent developments that can provide a great deal of efficiency, particularly for plants that are capacity constrained, said David McCarthy, president and CEO of TriCore, Inc.

In early CIP systems, a programmer was needed to calibrate systems, setting time, temperature, and chemical optimization; monitor profiles and chemical usage; and make changes. Thus vendor representatives were regularly in the plants reviewing the systems and working with plant managers on maintaining optimal conditions. And if a problem arose, the technician needed to be called in to deal with it.

However, it is the plant sanitarians themselves who best know what optimal conditions should be, McCarthy said, thus, many of these activities and decisions are better left in their hands—as can be done with systems of today.

"We are not sanitarians, so we want to put the power of the system in the hands of these people who know best how to use it," he explained. "It really takes a sanitarian to look at it product by product."

Putting the process in the hands of the user also increases efficiencies by enabling the plant to immediately make corrections if something does go wrong. Although the process is highly automated, there will be times that human intervention is needed. A great deal of efficiency can be lost if something does go wrong and it is not addressed efficiently, McCarthy said.

Enabling plants to maintain their own systems also enables more efficient changeovers and any required cleaning variance. For example, McCarthy said, a change from a chocolate product to a vanilla product would require a more extended cleaning, and may even be disallowed. With today's automation, such scheduling can be automated and integrated with the CIP system so any such variances are exposed up front, and product flow can be maintained at an optimal rate.

Along with providing for food safety and quality through in-place sanitation, CIP systems also provide efficiencies in time, McCarthy said. "It is a hidden way to increase capacity to make the equipment more efficient or push more product out the door."
 

ERP for Traceability. Maintaining in-plant control of food quality and safety is also a key component of ERP systems, which include integration of traceability.

"Our ERP system is what we use for lot traceability," Pade said. As a food ingredient blender, some of Wixon's products may have 40 ingredients and be packed several different ways and shipped to several different customers, he said. The system enables all this to be integrated to provide for efficient traceability—one forward and one back.

Pade sees Wixon's ERP system as critical to its traceability process. "The timeliness that we are required to provide in lot tracability couldn't be performed without a system like this," he said.

The author is Editor of QA magazine. She can be reached at llupo@gie.net.