Aptean Ross ERP Improves Productivity at PEZ
2018 – PEZ Candy Inc., international manufacturer of brick candies, was founded in 1927 in Vienna, Austria and still remains a family-owned business over 90 years later. Their North American location in Orange, Connecticut handles all domestic business and typically produces approximately 4.5 million pounds of candy each year. Since 2005, PEZ has relied on Aptean Ross ERP to monitor and manage their manufacturing processes, and has remained active in adopting new Ross technologies to maintain their competitive edge in the marketplace.
Implementation of Change to Improve Productivity
After the release of Ross Inventory Manager (RIM) in 2017, PEZ Candy quickly began exploring implementing the product within their facility. PEZ was in the market for a much-needed upgrade to their mobile devices whose operating system was no longer supported by the provider. The purchase of mobile computers was a substantial investment, so the company felt they needed to provide a solution that looked beyond new devices and offered operational improvements that would boost productivity as well.
RIM was ultimately chosen as the solution best fit to the needs of the company, specifically because of the additional flexibility and speed that came with the product. By rolling these devices out with RIM, PEZ had a greater chance of operational success.
Flexible, Seamless Deployment
PEZ was already running an earlier version of Ross ERP and an IAF Mobile upgrade was the only step standing between their warehouse operations and the benefits of RIM. “The IAF upgrade was a process of only a couple of hours. It was easy, painless and a no-brainer because it was so simple to implement and get this functionality,” said Chris Balay, IT Director at PEZ. Balay went on to explain that once RIM was installed and configured, his team found that the product takes off seamlessly. No reconfiguration; no gradual adaptation; no workarounds.
RIM was developed to expand on the basic capabilities of data collection, eliminating usability limitations. The system not only fitted seamlessly into PEZ’s daily operations, but also provided mobile flexibility. “One thing we really like about the RIM product is – if we need to throw a few more people into the warehouse in addition to our 12 mobile devices, anyone who has an iPhone or Android can use them to go out and do the same work that we use our mobile devices to accomplish.” While downloading and installing IAF Mobile on handheld scanners is certainly still an option, connecting to Ross Data Collection with RIM can be as simple as following the URL in your browser. Aptean’s RIM product was designed to simplify the installation process, and enable use of Ross Data Collection on your device of choice so you can continue inventory processes on-the-go.
Decreasing Load Times with Agile Production
Approximately two weeks following their deployment of RIM in early December 2017, PEZ decided to test out its true performance capabilities by conducting their entire end of the year inventory in the new product. Previously, one of their obstacles was an inability to run multiple tasks at once, slowing productivity immensely. “With the IAF mobile product, if you were doing a bin transfer you couldn’t do an LPN inquiry at the same time,” explained Balay. “Now, the ability to
have multiple tasks open simultaneously has eliminated that issue, which alone has increased productivity.”
PEZ warehouse employees immediately found that they were able to fulfill orders quicker than ever before. Prior to the implementation of RIM, the company took about two weeks to complete a full inventory count. However, with RIM and its new
features, PEZ quickly realised a return on investment by cutting two days off of that process. IT Director, Chris Balay explained that this exciting feat wasn’t just their new found flexibility in the program, but said that RIM is just “plain faster.” Basic tasks like logging into the system and the response time of the program itself significantly decreased, moving much quicker than the old mobile product. The PEZ team now spends less time navigating the system and more time completing their inventory cycle count.
Supporting Future Goals
Chris Balay sums up PEZ’s implementation of RIM in a positive light: “The investment in RIM has absolutely been worthwhile. The investment in the hardware we were going to have to do anyway just because of the age of the devices we had, but adding the minimal cost of implementing RIM paid for itself almost instantly.”
Like many companies, PEZ likes to stay focused on improving the productivity of their processes while ensuring their employees are happy with the solutions they’re using. The flexibility of Ross Inventory Manager allows its users to decide what’s best for them, as opposed to asking users to adapt to the product.
