Denver August 23, 2002 Manufacturers from Latin America to Middle America are increasingly coming to view technology as the way to gain a competitive edge. By incorporating enterprise management software, these companies are seeking to better manage their production and distribution processes.
Fandeli, the top producer of coated abrasives in Mexico, is pursuing these benefits by using manufacturing software from J.D. Edwards.
The company has five distribution centers at various locations in Mexico and one in the United States. From these centers, it sends its products to more than 20 markets in North, Central and South America. Fandeli competes in those markets by offering a full spectrum of abrasives for tasks running anywhere from heavy sanding down to the finest polishing.
To accomplish this, the company has implemented an integrated system comprising J.D. Edwards' manufacturing, logistics and financial solutions.
"We used to have one system for business management and another for human resources," said Fernando Rubio, Fandeli's director of information technology. "Each process had its own separate interface, which means we weren't fully integrated. With J.D. Edwards, we were able to meet the challenge of bringing together the various processes. We now have a flawlessly integrated system, which has improved everything from internal control to customer service."
Grupo Lwart, another J.D. Edwards customer in the region, has found that the information capabilities built into its new technology are giving the company a competitive edge in its marketplace.
Grupo Lwart is a private industrial group established in 1975 in the municipality of Lencois Paulista in Brazil. Comprised of three companies, its business includes the refining of lubricating oils, the manufacture of asphalt products and the production of cellulose, among other operations.
"Now that we've implemented the J.D. Edwards solution, some of our customers call us to find out how much they owe us" said Sara Hughes, director of planning and control for Grupo Lwart. "They know our accounting information is absolutely reliable. With J.D. Edwards, our information is always correct and easily accessible. This makes us an excellent, credible business partner for our suppliers and customers."
In other news, Pelstar, a privately-held, Bridgeview, Ill.-based manufacturer and distributor of medical, office and food service scales, has adopted a J.D. Edwards solution through WTS, the first application service provider (ASP) partner for J.D. Edwards enterprise software.
Pelstar was a recent divestiture from Sunbeam Products Inc. and required a rapid implementation that allowed the production and manufacturing processes to continue while making the cutover from their legacy systems.
The WTS team was able to convert Pelstar from the legacy system in a short period of time and have the users continue their existing business processes with minimal interruption, according to Dan Maeir, Pelstar's senior vice president of finance and operations.
