AMCO Proteins, a specialty proteins manufacturer, was using technology to run their business much like other manufacturing companies in the United States: by customizing various types of software to deliver specific capabilities within their ERP system. While the company was able to ‘get by’ for a few years, gaps in their process were becoming more prominent as the complexity of the business developed. Here’s their story:
THE CHALLENGE
“We are very uncomfortable with bolt-on modules,” said Adam Cabot, CEO of AMCO Proteins. “Between the management of different modules for ERP, CRM, and maintenance, and manually inputting data into Excel for QC, formulation, and scheduling, our processes were beginning to cause disruption to our business. With such traditional types of software, each system speaks a different language and once you add customizations to the equation, you become trapped in technology that often cannot be upgraded. Consequently, it cannot keep up with business development.”
The manufacturer also has two sister companies which expands their industry focus: American Custom Drying, a toll manufacturer; and R-Kane Nutritionals, a B2B nutrition company.
“Acquisitions will continue to play a critical role in our growth but our experience in incorporating their business into our existing operations has been far more complicated and costly than it should be. We didn’t want a temporary solution for tomorrow, but a permanent solution for our future.” – Cabot
THE SELECTION
AMCO realized that in order to grow both strategically and organically, they needed to find an ERP solution that would eliminate a reliance on multiple systems and provide the flexibility to support future business acquisitions. Upon evaluation, the team unanimously agreed that Deacom’s all-encompassing ERP system would answer all of their critical business needs.
Rather than relying on the forced cooperation between a base ERP system and independent CRM, WMS, Formulation, and quality control modules, Deacom’s single piece of software houses it all for AMCO. It provides the company with the tools to not only avoid the restrictions of disjointed software but gain control over ERP costs by eliminating the need for customizations and their upkeep.
“We knew the DEACOM system would be faster, more efficient, and the updates weren’t going to negatively impact business continuity,” said Cabot.
Together, these factors contribute to a more seamless integration of new businesses. “With other ERP systems, you need to pay for entirely new implementations and shared resources,” he noted. “With DEACOM, the foundation is already in place so expanding our portfolio is not only much simpler, but also allows us to do it at a reasonable cost.”
With a customer base consisting of industry leaders in the process manufacturing industry, Deacom has proven their ability to support AMCO’s growing portfolio of business lines. As they continue to expand their footprint, integrating the new AMCO businesses into existing operations is seamless.
“Since acquiring R-Kane Nutritionals, it is clear that they will be using parts of DEACOM that our other business units will not,” said Cabot. “In the end, I believe we will end up using 100% of the entire system mixed throughout the different companies, yet we will all experience one interface, one login, and one support team.”
THE IMPLEMENTATION
With a guaranteed fixed-price implementation, AMCO was able to complete the digital transformation without encountering any unanticipated costs. “We really liked that and Deacom honored their promise throughout the entire process,” said Cabot.
Deacom and AMCO identified opportunities to strengthen operations through process control. With a team of in-house ERP and manufacturing experts, Deacom was able to provide a detailed level of insight into how the business can scale and reach their growth objectives.
The most significant enhancement of this implementation was developed to deliver heightened flexibility within production scheduling. AMCO regularly runs production jobs lasting multiple days and shares equipment between the vastly different companies. Therefore, the teams realized significant value in creating a flexible production scheduler. Within this tool, AMCO can create full production jobs and move them around a “test calendar” to determine the most efficient process and without ever impacting the live schedule. Once the user is secure in their decision, the production job can be moved to the main schedule to be applied immediately.
“We were most impressed with the Deacom team’s ability to go deep into the manufacturing process and our business needs. We weren’t dealing with bean counters. We were working with and leaning on people who really understood the manufacturing process.” – Cabot
This level of insight was particularly useful as the teams collaborated together to identify a standardized set of processes to be used between the businesses. This includes order entries, inventory management, purchase order processes, production transactions, inter-company transfers, and accounting procedures which now all have uniformity.
THE RESULTS
Since being live on DEACOM, AMCO has already seen significant value with improved visibility into business performance. Previously, the company relied on spreadsheets and handwritten notes of production runs, downtime, uptime, and yields. This information was then manually entered into spreadsheets to create graphs and PowerPoint presentations – a time-consuming and unsustainable method.
“Now we have real-time data right at our fingertips. We can instantly see what is being produced in shifts A, B, and C, and drill down into those details to identify inconsistencies and opportunities for improvement. The real-time information allows us to make faster and better decisions.” – Cabot
AMCO has introduced a higher level of process control to ensure finished goods are produced the right way, every time. When managing vastly different orders for three separate companies, QC checkpoints and standardized procedures are critical.
“Deacom’s impressive implementation success rate and loyal customer base contributed significantly to our commitment to not only the software, but the company,” Cabot continued. “By choosing Deacom as our comprehensive ERP partner, we are now well positioned to compete on higher grounds with bigger players.”
For more information about how Deacom’s ERP system can help drive efficiencies for manufacturing companies like yours, click here.
