AVERY CCL

The Challenge:

THE NEED TO ADAPT THEIR BUSINESS MODEL TO ADDRESS CHANGING CUSTOMER DEMANDS WAS LIMITED BY A HEAVILY CUSTOMIZED AND OUTDATED ERP SYSTEM.

Avery’s business model has changed over the last several years as consumer behavior shifts to a greater focus on the need for quick delivery of custom products. 

As Sean Flanagan, Operations Director at Avery tells it, “Avery believes in manufacturing locally, and we primarily sell to wholesalers and end-consumers. The traditional foundation of our business was contract stationers and companies in the office products industry, but more and more, we’re selling direct to consumers through Amazon acting as 
a 3PL (third party logistics). And that direct-to-consumer dynamic put pressure on our older ERP system.”

Flanagan continues, “We had been on an older version of QAD for a long time, and it was very resilient. It had worked well since we installed it, but over time, we had customized it in ways that made it difficult to adapt to the new business model. The modifications also prevented us from upgrading.”

One example of the ways in which the old system hampered Avery’s move to a more consumer-focused model involved outer case packs and inner product packages of their label products. 

In the past, Avery would sell by the outer case to wholesalers as these case packs included multiple packages of the product. Now, selling to both consumers and the traditional wholesale customer base meant they needed to sell in both case packs and individual packages, but the rigidity of the system due to so many customizations prevented them from using multiple units of measure for picking and selling the same item.

Avery was also using multiple systems for various areas of the business, resulting in a lack of visibility to inventory and the need to use cumbersome spreadsheets for planning. The financial applications were in yet another system, further complicating day-to-day processing. Some business processes were still paper-based. Maintaining the integrations between systems was costly and time-consuming, and it slowed Avery’s ability to respond to customer expectations.

The Solution:

QAD ADAPTIVE ERP IN THE CLOUD

Avery opted to upgrade to the latest version of QAD Adaptive ERP in the cloud. 

“Despite its restrictions, the old system was robust and had served us well for many years. And to be honest, I’m not really a pioneer. With the cloud, I was initially concerned about connectivity and ownership. I was reluctant to consider the cloud during our early discussions, but after further discussions with the QAD team, we realized the cloud would be good for us.” 

Working together, the QAD and Avery teams developed an extensive ROI and business benefits study of QAD in the cloud compared to on-premise and the results were clear. 

Avery minimized any modifications to the new system, and they have found that the built-in business processes and ability to navigate through different systems have allowed them to achieve greater efficiency in production as well as in IT.

“Our operational team members have become experts in the processes they use. Upgrades and changes are simpler, and we’ve been able to use our internal IT resources for more strategic activities rather than focusing on routine operations,” explains Flanagan.

Even more important than the move to the cloud was Avery’s ability to improve its planning and warehousing processes. By using QAD Automation Solutions, they were able to solve their unit of measure issue and sell products in both inner and outer case packs to meet customer requirements, and the entire logistics process has become much more efficient.
 

The Benefits:

QAD ADAPTIVE ERP ALLOWED GREATER VISIBILITY ACROSS THE SYSTEM AND MORE TIME TO DEDICATE TO GROWING THE BUSINESS

As the Avery team continues to utilize the upgraded aspects of their solution, they are finding numerous benefits. With once separate systems and processes now integrated under one solution, they have greater visibility and collaboration across teams. The IT team also has more time to dedicate to growing the business rather than maintaining the system.

“We have better visibility of inventory at every stage, from raw materials to finished goods. Our planner used to come in and spend eight hours on routine planning tasks. Now it’s about two hours a day on routine planning and the rest of the day on more strategic activities like adding our new equipment to the system. Planning, finished goods, raw material inventory, shipping, and warehouse management are all integrated and working directly with QAD Financials,” states Flanagan.

“Our logistics operation is now fully flexible to allow us to pick in single units or multiple units, we can do that and that’s a really big deal for us.”

“The QAD project manager and development team were really strong, and that made all the difference when working with our team. The project wasn’t about a system. It was about people and process,” says Flanagan.

This project was part of a phased series of projects including the addition of new solutions and enhancements across various sites. The most important aspect of this phase was to establish a strong base that would let Avery grow and adapt as needed to respond to changes in its business. 

“We knew we needed to take this next step, and we didn’t allow any scope creep or customizations.”

“What we have now is a solution that allows us to control our supplies, control our raw material storage, control our planning and shipments and allow us to be flexible in the new consumer world,” concludes Flanagan.