Trioplast
modernise their iSeries application and improve
user productivity
Background
Trioplast is
a large multi-national company headquartered in
Smålandsstenar, Sweden and with sales offices
and manufacturing plants in various countries
including Denmark, France and Germany. It has
around 1500 employees and net sales in 2002 of
SEK2.9 billion (Euro 315m). Trioplast's 4 main
divisions Industrial Film, Stretch Film, Hygiene
Film and Printed Packaging have been long time
IBM Midrange users.
Challenge
The Industrial Film Division manufactures and
markets packaging film, primarily for industry,
as well as recycled products. The main products
are customised shrink and industrial films and
industrial bags. Stretch hood film and FFS (Form,
Fill and Seal) are key product groups.
Large volumes
of refuse
sacks are
manufactured
from recycled
polyethylene
within the
Recycled
Products
line. The
market is
mainly central
and northern
Europe. Manufacturing
takes place
at plants
at Nyborg
in Denmark,
Wittenheim
in France
and at Smålandsstenar
and Fjugesta
in Sweden.
The facility
at Sundsvall
in Sweden
manufactures
special products
for timber
wrapping.
In 2003,
the IT management
at the division
in Nyborg,
Denmark identified
a requirement
to update
their ERP
application
known as
OPOF, which
handles Order
Processing,
Planning,
Follow Up
and Invoicing.
The application
is also used
in the division’s
other locations
at Fjugesta & SIFAB
(Sweden)
and Wittenheim
(France).
It was developed
in-house
by the development
team at Nyborg
and specifically
tailored
to the plastics
business.
It operates
in three
different
languages
and consists
of 700 screens.
Solution
After initial
discussions
with and
presentations
from looksoftware’s
Danish reseller – Excel
Data – the
decision
was made
to move ahead
with the
project using newlook.
In the words
of Niels
Henrik Egebjerg,
IT Developer
at Nyborg, "OPOF
needed a
facelift!
We wanted
a more modern
look for
the application
plus the
ability to
have integration
with a variety
of Windows
functions
and mouse
click events."
Training was another issue, and apart from providing
existing users with a much improved interface,
they needed to be able to more easily train new
users – who typically have no experience
with traditional navigation methods like function
keys and subfile options. Major productivity gains
were expected from improved business process automation
and reduced errors resulting from automated integration
of OPOF with desktop applications like Word, Excel
and Outlook.
"We tested newlook
and another leading vendor's product and chose
newlook for a number of key reasons."
These included:
- It was very easy to use and we were working
effectively with it almost from the start
- It is
great for
reducing
the burden
of maintenance – it’s
dynamic ‘on-the-fly’ architecture
means we
can alter
or enhance
screens
or add
new functions
within
OPOF with
no double
maintenance.
This was
a high
priority
for us
as OPOF
is a very
dynamic
application.
Due to
the need
for constant
changes,
managing
the on-going
development
process
had to
be easy
and efficient
- The excellent
value of
macro functions.
During
the assessment
of newlook,
we quickly
realised
the benefits
we could
have from
utilising
these macros
- We have implemented transfer of data to Excel
spreadsheets, auto-generated emails in specific
situations and have the option to easily retrieve
relevant data from other environments. It soon
became evident to us that all of these macro
functions were a major factor in choosing newlook
- Most importantly, we needed to know that looksoftware's
products would take us beyond a simple reface.
We needed more than just a pretty face and ease
of use for OPOF! So the path forward using centric
for application integration is an important
next step.
Benefits
Having made
their choice,
Trioplast
embarked
on a formal
training
program.
They had
learnt a
lot during
the product
assessment
process but
they opted
to take formal
training
to consolidate
their knowledge
of the product.
They found that the training gave them a really
good understanding of exactly how newlook
works and it also gave them the confidence to
get the project underway from a much stronger
starting position. "We really believe
it saved us a lot of time in the long run",
said Niels.
The ongoing support from Excel Data has been
excellent. The Nyborg team has also kept close
contact with looksoftware so
as to keep themselves
up-to-date with upcoming enhancements to the product
suite.
"Looking
forward,
we are
currently
in the
process
of taking
our modernization
project
to the
next stage
where Enterprise
Application
Integration
is the
top priority. looksoftware’s centric
toolset
will allow
us to easily
and cost-effectively
integrate
our back-end
applications
with our
core ERP
application
OPOF," said
Niels.
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