VICTORIA – AUSTRALIA:
Established in 1965, Wodonga Abattoir is a leading export-focused multi-species meat processor, based in Northern Victoria, Australia. Wodonga Abattoir processes approximately 45,000 tonnes of meat per annum, including 70,000 cattle, 1,200,000 sheep and lambs, 10,000 Bobby Calves and 300,000 goats. Their products are 100% processed for export markets including USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Russia, South Africa, Indonesia, China, Malaysia and Middle Eastern Countries and hold both Halal and Organic Certifications.
Warehouse Management System & Sales Order Processing
Wodonga approached Emydex in 2016 with a requirement for a flexible Warehouse Management system that would work in tandem with their existing internal IT systems, but would offer them more accurate and faster reporting across the organisation. They needed a system that covered Sales Order Entry as well as Dispatch, that also managed transfers of stock between their main site and external Coldstores, as well as dispatches from the external Coldstores to end customers. They also needed a centralised data repository to consolidate and integrate departmental data and a system that could grow as required with the option to implement additional modules at a later stage.
As Wodonga are an export focused processor, they needed a system that could operate in foreign currencies, that could be linked to a particular vessel leaving Australia for export markets. Finally, they needed a system that could interface with OzDocs, an Australian export documentation system.
OzDocs Export Documentation
As part of the Emydex Product File setup for Wodonga, Emydex configured a new export tab specifically for the meat standard cut codes in Australia, that are used to describe export products. Export data is sent, along with the units and weights, production dates etc. to OzDocs, which is then able to communicate with the regulatory authorities and produce the necessary physical documentation. In Australia, a statutory requirement for exporting goods is the ability to assign port mark stamps to items for export. Emydex’s Australian system is now configured such that assigning Port Mark stamps to box labels is a very quick and easy process, fully audited, and allows Wodonga to decide how they are going to assign Port Marks on each shipment.
Inter-site Transfers
Another feature Emydex added was the ability to scan items (both cartons and carcasses) to a ‘transfer’ order to track it leaving the plant, as well as the ability to re-scan back into stock at the other end. This can be an automatic transfer where goods are ‘auto received’ into sites where there is no integration in place between Emydex and the receiving site’s system, or they can be scanned in at the pallet level to confirm receipt where Integration is in place. As part of this process Wodonga can print an ‘MTC attachment’ which describes the export markets the product can be sent to and reduces the manual paperwork involved in transferring stock.
Inventory Reporting
Emydex provided Wodonga with an advanced Inventory Stock reporting system, providing real-time visibility of stock across the organisation, including reports for 3rd Party Cold Stores, detailing what stocks have been dispatched on their behalf. Wodonga now have automatic stock reconciliations with Cold Stores, significantly reducing the time taken to track and reconcile external stock.
Dual Units of Measure
As part of the inventory management system, Emydex allows Wodonga to view their stock in one unit of measure, such as KG’s for example, but then to price/sell products in a different units of measure such as lbs and pieces (units). “The ability to procure, store, and sell products in different units of measure is an area standard ERP systems really struggle with”, said Ian Carson of Emydex Australia “the fact that Emydex was designed to specially cater for such scenarios is one of the big differentiators between Emydex and other factory floor systems” he added.
Commenting on the project, Rod Scarvell of Wodonga said “Overall there have been some great speed improvements and efficiencies with the introduction of Emydex in Wodonga. The company now has better visibility of inventory stocks across the extended organisation, so the benefits of installing Emydex are immediately obvious”
Due to the nature of the company, Wodonga Sales Orders are typically quite large. Emydex provided Wodonga with functionality that enables the company to break down large sales orders into smaller ‘dispatch’ orders that they can track and invoice, while at the same time retaining links to the larger overall Sales Orders.
Forwards and Backwards Traceability
As with all Emydex systems, full backwards and forwards traceability reporting is included as standard. Wodonga can easily track all movements of stock including movements and dispatches that happen at the External Coldstores. The forward and backwards traceability reporting allows operators to find quickly and easily, what Sales Order a box was dispatched on or vice versa, find what Boxes went out on all Sales Orders.
Emydex System Benefits
Wodonga now have a simple, consistent and clean user interface which has been readily adopted by their users. By using the Emydex in-built report writer, Wodonga’s IT users now have the ability to write their own reports, eliminating the reliance and cost for external technical support. With the removal of the need for a separate ‘reporting’ database, reporting accuracy and speed have been greatly improved.
Commenting on the project, Rod Scarvell, IT Manager with Wodonga Abattoir said “we had been talking to Emydex for almost 3 years before we made the decision to implement their factory floor IT system. The Implementation itself went very smoothly, so much so we decided to change some of our internal work practices along the way to suit the system, ultimately improving the business. The Emydex project manager kept everybody on track and ensured each person got their required jobs done in a timely manner, and their Lead developer and local representatives were very knowledgeable about not only the Emydex product but also how this related to our particular business processes. The main advantages of Emydex we see at this early stage are the company now has better visibility of inventory stocks, coupled with the overall speed of operation, and system running on a modern SQL platform. Post go-live the follow up from the Helpdesk support team for any issues that arise has been excellent.”
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