Tackling implementation challenges with topnotch change management
The implementation was challenging, with four separate sites, manpower shortages, high levels of complexity and the need for multiple, extremely specific rules to ensure recipes are followed correctly. In addition, Amaro’s staff had to transition from a manual system to fully integrated technology.
Nonetheless, the implementation was an outright success. Nel attributes this achievement to the excellent skills of the TransLution implementation team as well as his internal change management team.
“Without the dedication and hard work of our production system controllers, Azra Sheik-Amod and Berenice Thompson, this solution would never have worked,” Nel says. “It is essential to have change managers who own the system and drive it. We could have designed the best system ever, but without them it simply wouldn’t have been successful.”
Grant Wise, General Manager: Africa of TransLution Software, says: “The Amaro project is typical of how we prefer to implement TransLution. We like SYSPRO to be in place so that the business rules can be understood and put in place. Wouter was already getting the business running properly on SYSPRO, so our initial discussions revolved around gaps on the shop floor and ways to enhance efficiencies, reduce errors and improve timelines.”
Rather than adopting a big bang approach, Amaro and TransLution identified one of the plants for a pilot project. Once staff had a better understanding of how to use the solution, the next step was to take it throughout the entire process from purchase orders to data capture – and everything in-between – and finally the finished goods store.
“It’s taken 18 months to two years, with components of the system going live during that time,” Nel says. “We went live end-to-end on 1 January 2023 but will maintain our approach of continuous improvement and ongoing change management. Right now, everybody’s on board and we’re happy with the system. All in all, it was a highly successful implementation.”
Following recipes to a T
In the world of baking, it’s essential to follow each recipe to the last gram and be meticulous about steps such as proving times and oven temperatures. For a professional, high quality bakery like Amaro Foods, it’s even more important.
As a result, there was a strong focus on recipe adherence and product quality. With SYSPRO, Nel and his team can trace back and show the process that was followed compared to the recipe.
“With SYSPRO and TransLution, we have full traceability which ensures a consistent, high quality product every time. It also promotes accountability at specific stages in the manufacturing process and assures our team leaders, supervisors and users that they are receiving the correct information,” Nel says.
Previously, staff on the shop floor had no way of knowing if they were working from an old, incorrect version of a recipe, which caused significant problems with finished products as well as waste. Amaro Foods’ customers expect the highest quality, so the use of expired stock in the products is unacceptable.
“TransLution solved that problem, and I am confident our product quality will keep improving. We can guarantee that our information is live, close our jobs more frequently and identify variances quickly and easily, thereby reducing both waste and costs,” he says.
From a stocktake perspective, the system has added substantial value.
“In the past, it was impossible to do an accurate, timely stocktake, and there were many audit findings,” Nel says. “The traceability capability has made a huge difference in both those areas, to the extent that we now get top marks in our audits.”
Planning ahead
Nel explains that the first priority was to derive transactional value out of the system by managing the monetary movement of stock. The next step will cover the non-transactional information, which focuses on product quality.
“We will be going through every process step-by-step,” he says. “We will be quantifying waste by weight in the baking process and measuring the quality specs of the product. We currently don’t have those measures in place, so it’s critical that we are able to collect that value-adding information.
“We also want to include an Internet of Things project so that we can collect sensor information relating to temperatures, humidity and pH levels. Ultimately, our end goal is a completely paperless factory and warehouse. It’ll be tough, but that’s the dream,” Nel says.
“With SYSPRO and TransLution, we have full traceability which ensures a consistent, high quality product every
time. It also promotes accountability at specific stages in the manufacturing process and assures our team leaders, supervisors and users that they are receiving the correct information.”
– Wouter Nel, ICT Manager, Amaro Foods.
