Kingsland Wines & Spirits invests pnds stlg 100,000 with Geac to help drive next day deliveries through new MRPII culture
January 25 2006 - 4:56PM
PR Newswire (US)
ROI expected by mid 2007 following reduction in stocks and
breakages WALTHAM, MA and STUDLEY, UK, Jan. 25
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Kingsland Wines & Spirits, a UK own
label manufacturer and supplier to the major supermarkets, has
invested pnds stlg 100,000 in new hardware and developments to its
System21 enterprise resource planning software. The investment has
been made with Geac(R) (TSX:GAC and NASDAQ:GEAC), a global
enterprise software company, to help the company take full
advantage of a new manufacturing and supply chain culture involving
MRPII (Manufacturing Requirements Planning). Kingsland Wines &
Spirits expects to adopt this new working environment fully by mid
2006. Then it expects its supply chain to benefit from
substantially improved stock management, which is anticipated to
provide a return on the Geac investment by mid 2007. Replacing a
tradition of holding two days of safety stocks, the new MRPII-based
environment will be geared towards just-in-time production,
purchasing and delivery. This will be based on using vendor
schedules and also providing suppliers with the production plans
from its bottling plant in Manchester. This will encourage lower
stock holdings as the plant will be controlled through Works
Orders, and in addition, raw materials will only be reordered as
they are consumed on a Kanban basis. Improved stock managements
will also generate fewer stock movements in the warehouse. Reducing
unnecessary pallet movements will result in less breakages and
wastage. As a result, Kingsland Wines & Spirits estimates that
pnds stlg 50,000 will be saved in reduced stock holdings and fewer
breakages in the first year, generating a full return on the Geac
investment by mid 2007. Tim Horton, CIO at Kingsland Wines &
Spirits, said: "Although we are mid-way through a 1 1/2 year
initiative, 90% of the MRPII effort is spent right at the beginning
when you need to be committed to improving data accuracy. Although
hard work, it is vital as the benefits can then really start to
flow. As a result of our efforts we expect our lead times to come
down quickly from 24 to 12 hours in 2006, and in 2007 we will
approach same day ordering and delivery. MRPII is truly that
powerful." Mike Stanbridge, a manufacturing consultant at Geac,
said: "You cannot force MRPII as it requires a fundamental cultural
change. Kingsland Wines & Spirits has really adopted the right
approach to MRPII by adopting a methodical and gradual two year
programme based on peer-to-peer training. It is vital to take your
time if long term benefits are to be realised. After all,
fundamental user resistance can scupper any best practice
initiative." A major part of the recent investment is a new IBM
iSeries server (model 520 - replacing a model 170). The extra
performance and capacity of the 520 was deemed necessary to handle
an expected 50 to 100-fold increase in transactions associated with
the new MRPII environment. Vastly greater data volumes are expected
as Kingsland Wines & Spirits moves from pallet-level to
product-level recording and 'lot level' control over packaging. Tim
Horton explained his choice of IT: "We chose Geac's System21 ERP
software in 1999 due to its excellent Customs & Excise/bonded
warehousing capabilities and we liked the iSeries as it delivers
the necessary disk and memory management that we need. Our new 520
has inbuilt flexibility to handle multiple operating systems if we
choose to adopt them. In addition, we could also use it as our PC
network server in the future if we so wish. Overall the iSeries is
more cost effective than its Unix and Windows rivals." About Geac
Geac (TSX: GAC, NASDAQ:GEAC) is a global enterprise software
company that addresses the needs of the Chief Financial Officer.
Geac's best-in-class technology products and services help
organisations do more with less in an increasingly competitive
environment, amidst growing regulatory pressure, and in response to
other business issues confronting the CFO. Further information is
available at http://www.geac.com/ or through e-mail at . This press
release may contain forward-looking statements of Geac's
intentions, beliefs, expectations and predictions for the future.
These forward-looking statements often include use of the future
tense with words such as "will," "may," "intends," "anticipates,"
"expects" and similar conditional or forward-looking words and
phrases. These forward-looking statements are neither promises nor
guarantees. They are only predictions that are subject to risks and
uncertainties, and they may differ materially from actual future
events or results. Geac undertakes no obligation to update or
revise the information contained herein. Important factors that
could cause a material difference between these forward-looking
statements and actual events include, among other things: our
ability to increase revenues from new license sales, cross-sell
into our existing customer base and reduce customer attrition;
whether we are able to deliver products and services within
required time frames and budgets to meet increasingly competitive
customer demands and performance guaranties; risks inherent in
fluctuating international currency exchange rates in light of our
global operations and the unpredictable effect of geopolitical
world and local events; whether we are successful in our continued
efforts to manage expenses effectively and maintain profitability;
our ability to achieve revenue from products and services that are
under development; the uncertain effect of the competitive
environment in which we operate and resulting pricing pressures;
and whether the anticipated effects and results of our new product
offerings and successful product implementation will be realized.
These and other potential risks and uncertainties that relate to
Geac's business and operations are summarized in more detail from
time to time in our filings with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission and with the Canadian Securities
Administrators. Please refer to Geac's most recent quarterly
reports available through the website maintained by the SEC at
http://www.sec.gov/ and through the website maintained by the
Canadian Securities Administrators and the Canadian Depository for
Securities Limited at http://www.sedar.com/ for more information on
risk factors that could cause actual results to differ. Geac is a
registered trademark of Geac Computer Corporation Limited. All
other marks are trademarks of their respective owners. DATASOURCE:
Geac Computer Corporation Limited CONTACT: Media Contacts: Nina
Wainwright, Citigate Dewe Rogerson, +44 (0)1604 232223, ; Richard
Moore, Geac, +44 (0) 1527 496189, ; Investor Contact: Alys Scott,
Geac, (781) 672-5980,
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