Rich Products
www.richs.com

Rich Products Corporation is one of the world’s premiere family-owned food companies, posting annual sales exceeding $1.7 billion with more than 2000 products available in over 75 countries. After implementing SAP in 2000 to automate order-to-cash and procure-to-pay processes for US & Canadian businesses, the ERP footprint grew over the years to support Rich’s growth through acquisition model. As a result, a somewhat disparate order-to-cash process evolved to serve the various businesses and operating units. Facing competition from larger public companies and regional niche players, Rich realized the need to redesign these disparate order-to-cash processes to more effectively and efficiently serve customers and meet growth objectives. After carefully researching leading business improvement methodologies, Rich adopted the SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) Model as its baseline for process optimization. PRAGMATEK became Rich’s supply chain guides (the term “consultant” was purposely avoided!) because of broad experience applying SCOR and the willingness to design a flexible “High Impact – Short Duration – Self Funding” project. By focusing on D1 – Deliver Stocked Product, the Pinnacle Project teams mapped 46 SCOR Level 4 processes, captured 452 disconnects in distribution and order management, and identified 24 projects which align with the company’s strategic objectives. Rich’s required that the selected projects pay for themselves sequentially (i.e. financial return from Project 1 must pay for Project 2, and so on). Not only are the projects self-funding, they are also enabling Rich Products to meet growth objectives without adding staff. The SCOR-based initiatives as a whole are delivering an annualized 6x return on investment.

TEAM Industries
www.team-ind.com

TEAM Industries, headquartered in Bagley, MN, is a provider of OEM power-train and chassis components. Founded in 1967, the company is composed of its traditional OEM business plus an After Market division in recreational power sports. TEAM is an engineering-led organization responsible for total solutions in power-train product design applications. TEAM is a one-stop outsourcing partner for a variety of markets: All-Terrain Vehicles; Snowmobiles; Automotive; Golf/Utility; On/Off Road; Agricultural & Construction; Turf & Garden care. TEAM is engaging PRAGMATEK for a multi-phased engagement to stimulate executive and employee alignment in order to improve profits and embrace change in a global manufacturing environment. TEAM’s leadership challenge is to nurture a committed workforce that will go the extra mile for TEAM, its customers, and each other. Phase One – TEAM placed a PRAGMATEK consultant in the acting role of Director of Supply Chain. PRAGMATEK trained TEAM’s supply chain personnel on strategic sourcing and also assisted in the recruitment and selection of the new Director of Supply Chain. Phase Two – TEAM retained PRAGMATEK to facilitate a “Breakaway Leaders” session to gain alignment and “create the organization that, if it existed, would put TEAM out of business.” The joint team validated the organization’s Purpose, Values and Visions, and identified significant improvement opportunities to carry out alongside the culture change effort. Phase Three – After the “opportunity map” was established, the next step was to build expert-level capability within a group of dedicated TEAM employees. These change champions will reduce reliance on external consultants and significantly increase their ability to affect the culture shift. Phase Four – 40 individuals were trained in a “Breakaway Future” Leadership Academy program, a series of six sessions preparing these leaders for their role in the culture and organizational change process. TEAM Industries has improved its financial position as a result of initiating these programs – due in part to the alignment and engagement of the workforce that have experienced the Breakaway programs. Future phases promise more positive results as TEAM continues to internalize a sustainable healthy growth culture.

The Schwan Food Company
www.schwans.com

The Schwan Food Company, headquartered in Marshall, Minnesota, is the largest branded frozen-food company in the United States.   The company has major operations in 9 states and four countries, including food production, distribution and marketing divisions, as well as technology integration and foodservice equipment businesses.  Because of considerable intercompany operations in multiple currencies, Schwan desired to shorten its month-end close cycle and enhance end-user reporting capabilities.  Schwan also sought to formalize and automate its annual budgeting process to help manage planned company growth.   Based on an established track record with Schwan and experience with SAP’s SEM (Strategic Enterprise Management) functionality, Schwan hired PRAGMATEK to lead this system optimization effort.  PRAGMATEK’s SAP expert partnered with Schwan and SAP resources to implement SEM-Business Consolidations and SEM-Business Planning and Simulation, using many tricks and tools to enhance processes and reporting.  PRAGMATEK employed a multi-level architecture to optimize reporting, all the while satisfying Schwan’s audit requirement that reports must link directly to source documents. This project produced a key tool in the effort to shorten periodic close processes from 5 to 2 days.  Data integrity was improved and end users were empowered to maintain their own reports without IT assistance.  Visibility into the business planning process was heightened along with an improved level of flexibility and responsiveness.

Entegris, Inc.
www.entegris.com

Headquartered in Chaska, Minnesota, Entegris makes more than 10,000 products used to transport and protect semiconductor and disk drive materials during processing.  After successfully using SAP R/3 for its ERP backbone since 1998, Entegris wanted to exploit the functionality present in SAP SEM (Strategic Enterprise Management) Business Planning & Simulations to proactively plan for growth and effectively anticipate business change scenarios. PRAGMATEK’s SEM experts initially educated Entegris about SEM functionality, then built a working prototype six months prior to project start to demonstrate the benefit to future business users. To further ensure buy-in and understanding, PRAGMATEK conducted workshops to analyze existing business processes while incorporating desired future changes and best business practices. The combined team identified and developed supporting SAP BW (Business Warehouse) content to store financial results (plan and actual), and built versatility into the system to deal with mergers, organizational structure changes, various planning horizons, and fiscal year changes. With the SEM system tightly integrated to the SAP backbone, Entegris’ business planning process now enjoys greater visibility and versatility, reduced overhead and cost, and a condensed cycle time.

Flexsys
www.pragmatek.com/news/Quality%20Magazine%20Flexsys%20June%202005.pdf

Click url above to view case study published in Quality Magazine, 2005. Flexsys is an international provider of chemical products to the rubber industry, with over $500 million in annual sales. The company employs more than 1000 people at over 20 sites throughout the world. PRAGMATEK was introduced to Flexsys by its Six Sigma consultants when they began experiencing difficulty identifying new projects to feed the black belt teams. Six Sigma had been very effective at Flexsys in executing projects, but lacked a method to identify the “right” projects to pursue. With PRAGMATEK providing mentoring and project oversight, Flexsys applied the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model to identify inventory reduction projects in a $36mm division. Applying the SCOR analysis and SCORcarding process, the team identified over 150 “disconnects” that were categorized into 22 opportunity groups. Further P&L analysis was performed and five “low-hanging fruit” projects were scoped for immediate implementation by the black belt teams. These five projects delivered nearly $900 thousand to Flexsys’s bottom line. In addition, seventeen long-term projects were scoped and identified to deliver over $1.2mm in savings. Overall, PRAGMATEK and the application of SCOR helped Flexsys direct its black belt resources to projects that saved this division 6% of its annual revenue. According to Flexsys’s Global Supply Chain Director, “the principals of the SCOR approach continue to be used in our company as the basis for both operational and strategic decision making.”

Upsher Smith Laboratories
www.upsher-smith.com

Founded in 1919, Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc. (USL) is a customer-driven developer, manufacturer, and marketer of quality pharmaceutical products. Due to significant revenue growth through product development and acquisitions in recent years, USL recognized that existing business processes and information systems no longer met the needs of the organization; put simply, they had outgrown their systems. To lay a firm foundation and a statement of technology direction, USL engaged PRAGMATEK to lead the development of an enterprise Information Technology (IT) strategic plan. This included determining the alignment of IT with the business, and an assessment of existing business applications. One outcome of the IT strategic plan was to initiate a replacement of USL's legacy business systems. With PRAGMATEK leading the software selection effort, key USL business line owners and operational experts created a Request for Information (RFI). This effort was followed with extensive product demonstrations from leading ERP (enterprise resource planning) software providers. Upsher-Smith selected SAP as the ERP platform to support existing and future business system requirements. During this process, PRAGMATEK consultants gained valuable knowledge of USL business processes and issues. This knowledge, coupled with the successful completion of the IT strategic plan and software selection process, positioned PRAGMATEK to assist USL in the enterprise-wide SAP implementation process. The implementation project was completed successfully, meeting all strategic and operational requirements set out in the project charter. The new system lays a solid foundation for on-going business improvement and growth.

ADC Telecommunications
www.adctelecommunications.com

Headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, ADC Telecommunications is a world leader in providing global network infrastructure products and services that enable the profitable delivery of high-speed Internet, data, video, and voice services to consumers and businesses worldwide. The company sells into more than 100 countries. With the acquisition of the KRONE Group in 2004, ADC now offers global copper- and fiber-based connectivity solutions and cabling products to serve customers anywhere in the world. After the KRONE acquisition, ADC’s financial management realized their current decision support system (Hyperion) would not handle the company’s complex reporting requirements without complete reimplementation. Because the company had already established SAP as its ERP backbone, a logical step was to investigate the potential of SAP’s SEM-BCS (Strategic Enterprise Management – Business Consolidations) to replace the current system and lower total operating costs such as training, staffing, and integration. ADC project team members attended a public seminar on the topic hosted by PRAGMATEK and subsequently engaged PRAGMATEK to lead ADC through the conversion to SEM-BCS. PRAGMATEK’s experienced SEM consultants led executive-level demonstrations of functionality, discussions of potential, and helped craft the internal cost-justification document, all contributing to the executive buy-in necessary to secure funding and advance such a visible project. The conversion and implementation project, when approved, included several SAP R/3 base system enhancements and included new functionality from SAP BW (Business Warehouse) and SEM-BCS. Further, the joint team used multiple BW and SEM user exits, custom ABAP development, and SEM-BPS (SEM – Business Planning & Simulation) functionality to deliver a robust, customized solution that ADC staff can scale for anticipated future growth. PRAGMATEK performed formal training and informal knowledge transfer to ADC’s users and IT staff. As a result of the engagement, financial results are being collected, consolidated, and reported for more than 50 legal entities and over 1000 product lines from multiple disparate source systems. SEM-BCS provides ADC with a single, Sarbanes-Oxley compliant foundation for all management, legal, and tax financial reporting.

Cenveo
www.cenveo.com

With over 10,000 employees, 80 print facilities, and five state-of-the-art print fulfillment and distribution centers nationwide, Cenveo (formerly Mail-Well Inc.) is one of North America's leading providers of visual communications, including e-services, envelopes, offset and digital printing, and printed office products.   Cenveo’s purchase of the Document Related Services (DRS) division of American Express created a litany of complex integration requirements. The required scope of projects touched all areas of DRS, spanning business process integration, to infrastructure transition, to ERP and technology reconfiguration. Because of its successful track record with AmEx and demonstrated expertise in all required subject matter, PRAGMATEK successfully proposed to lead Cenveo in all facets of this challenging and complex transition.   In addition to Cenveo’s PMO, technology transition, and eCatalogue projects detailed in separate case studies, PRAGMATEK also led a significant reconfiguration of Cenveo’s SAP ERP system.   The SAP transition required reconfiguration of all core modules to support DRS as a stand-alone entity. In addition, the project team setup and configured the FI and CO modules, designed, developed, and deployed an RF solution, and developed a sophisticated interface to provide customers with timely inventory, billing and material planning detail. The joint team upgraded SAP to version 4.6c, reconfigured all processes to support DRS as a separate legal entity, converted SAP master data, deployed Vertex for tax calculations, and moved DRS warehouses and DCs from paper-based to RF-based operations.   To support Cenveo’s data security requirements, the project team developed and deployed role based profiles within SAP. Process and software training was provided to 130 users, and the joint team defined and developed procedures and teams for pre- and post-implementation support.

CMG Group

CMG is a division of global advertising, public relations, and marketing communications giant Interpublic Group. Faced with an aggressive timeline to deliver mission-critical business intelligence aimed at boosting productivity and profitability, CMG hired PRAGMATEK to enhance its SAP BW (Business Warehouse) delivery capabilities. In a quick-hitting 2 week engagement, PRAGMATEK delivered not only technical expertise, but also the requisite business knowledge to deliver functionality to CMG’s specifications on time and on budget with full knowledge transfer to internal resources. PRAGMATEK’s BW experts developed and applied creative solutions to enhance SAP BW and satisfy CMG’s unique industry reporting challenges. As a result of this engagement, CMG’s data processing and storage requirements have been significantly reduced and its report developers have a more consistent, streamlined process to generate reports more quickly. Immediate access to operational data enables management to take optimal actions to maximize financial performance of the marketing group.

The Schwan Food Company
www.schwans.com

The Schwan Food Company, headquartered in Marshall, Minnesota, is the largest branded frozen-food company in the United States.   The company has major operations in 9 states and four countries, including food production, distribution and marketing divisions, as well as technology integration and foodservice equipment businesses. Schwan’s Consumer Brands Division, distributors of products such as Red Baron and Freschetta pizza, sought to reduce cost and maximize sales opportunities by exploiting business intelligence developed within an integrated enterprise data warehouse. After a successful track record with other Schwan’s SAP projects, PRAGMATEK was hired to demonstrate the potential of SAP SEM (Strategic Enterprise Management), BW (Business Warehouse) and EP (Enterprise Portals) to establish executive buy-in, sponsorship, and authorization to embark on this transformational initiative. After proving the business case, PRAGMATEK interviewed stakeholders for input to form an enterprise performance scorecard and the associated KPIs and metrics to measure success. To manage the technology deployment, PRAGMATEK assisted with tools and functionality selection and architected the solution. Throughout, PRAGMATEK provided technical leadership where necessary and served as the liaison between project sponsors, end users, and the development team. As a result of this engagement, decision makers throughout the Schwan Consumer Brands Division have ready access to actionable and manageable business information, improving management responsiveness in identifying exceptions and dealing with unexpected variances from operational and financial goals.

Entegris, Inc.
www.entegris.com

Headquartered in Chaska, Minnesota, Entegris makes more than 10,000 products used to transport and protect semiconductor and disk drive materials during processing.  After successfully using SAP R/3 for its ERP backbone since 1998, Entegris desired to implement new functionality to exploit the power of R/3 and continue to derive return from its investment.  Specifically, the company wanted to improve the visibility of sales information and analysis for its top executives in a familiar, easy-to-use interface.    Because of its strong track record with Entegris and demonstrated expertise with SAP’s BW and SEM functionality, PRAGMATEK was engaged to extend Entegris’ SAP landscape.  PRAGMATEK’s SAP functional expert refined the company’s Profitability Analysis module, and implemented a balance of standard and custom Business Warehouse content.  Entegris' financial analysts were trained to analyze and report this data without reliance on the IT department.  The joint team designed and delivered management cockpit content to arm Entegris executives with real-time data to significantly improve decision-making speed and confidence, and ultimately, enhance company flexibility and customer responsiveness.

United Space Alliance
www.unitedspacealliance.com

Headquartered in Houston, United Space Alliance is one of the world's leading space operations companies. Established in 1996, USA is equally owned by The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin Corporation. As a prime contractor to NASA for Space Shuttle operations and maintenance, the company is involved in astronaut and flight controller training, flight software development, shuttle payload integration, vehicle processing, launch, and recovery operations. USA also provides training and operations planning for the International Space Station. USA initiated a large scale project to apply the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model to optimize four key supply chains -- Orbiter, Solid Rocket Boosters, Flight Crew Equipment, and Payload Integration. USA retained resources from PRAGMATEK with significant SCOR, Lean, and Six Sigma experience to provide overall program management, mentor USA leadership on the SCOR process, and facilitate project hand-offs to USA’s Lean Six Sigma (L6S) teams. The 19 week SCOR analysis identified over 200 improvement opportunities, which represented everything from millions of dollars in potential savings or cost avoidances, to enhanced safety. The opportunity project portfolio was then passed along to USA’s L6S organization for action, and, within the Logistics operations alone, 13 of 16 opportunities were addressed by L6S teams within the first 18 months. USA has been an essential proving ground to demonstrate the benefits of combining SCOR with Lean and Six Sigma to identify, prioritize, and complete meaningful business improvement initiatives.

Cenveo
www.cenveo.com

With over 10,000 employees, 80 print facilities, and five state-of-the-art print fulfillment and distribution centers nationwide, Cenveo (formerly Mail-Well Inc.) is one of North America's leading providers of visual communications, including e-services, envelopes, offset and digital printing, and printed office products. Cenveo’s purchase of the Document Related Services (DRS) division of American Express created a litany of complex integration requirements. The required scope of projects touched all areas of DRS, spanning business process integration, to infrastructure transition, to ERP and technology reconfiguration. Because of its successful track record with AmEx and demonstrated expertise in all required subject matter, PRAGMATEK successfully proposed to lead Cenveo in all facets of this challenging and complex transition. The joint PRAGMATEK and Cenveo team first established a Project Management Office (PMO) to organize and standardize the creation, execution, and management of all transition projects. Cenveo’s PMO ensures consistent discipline and reporting standards, and manages intricate project dependencies, communication, and issue resolution. In addition to Cenveo’s SAP reconfiguration and technology transition projects detailed in separate case studies, PRAGMATEK’s technology services consultants led a Cenveo team to develop, support, and host an eCatalogue to over 18,000 Amex Financial Advisors. Prior to eCatalogue development, the Advisors used the telephone and fax machine to conduct fulfillment business transactions with DRS, resulting in many inefficiencies and redundant processes. The new eCatalogue tools are accessed through an Internet site using single sign-on from within their “Advisor Link” Service Bureau portal. With this easy-to-use online eCatalogue, Advisors can spend significantly more time attending to client needs and requests rather than placing and tracing literature orders and other administrative tasks.

Upsher Smith Laboratories
www.upsher-smith.com

Founded in 1919, Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc. (USL) is a Minnesota-based developer, manufacturer, and marketer of an array of pharmaceutical products that advance human health. After enjoying a number of years of significant growth and profitability, the global economic downturn and severe healthcare market pressures forced USL’s senior management to aggressively manage costs and operational efficiency. Among other strategic and tactical initiatives, USL retained PRAGMATEK to examine and recommend improvements to the company’s indirect spend activities, with the ultimate intent of continuing to post excellent results while maintaining the existing organization’s size and culture. PRAGMATEK led USL through a thorough evaluation of all indirect spend activities including: spend data; the indirect sourcing process; the skills in the indirect sourcing organization; current sourcing agreements; the overall supply category marketplace. After identifying the savings opportunities, PRAGMATEK helped USL develop a sourcing strategic plan and led cross-functional teams through a process to deliver significant, increasing, sustainable value. PRAGMATEK identified and delivered cost savings for nearly all indirect spend categories, and immediately negotiated savings of over $240,000 from key suppliers. More importantly, PRAGMATEK helped USL implement a disciplined process for managing indirect spend to continue best sourcing practices, removed polarization and organizational conflict between groups, and positioned the purchasing organization to play a more visible and strategic role in USL’s total performance.

Remmele Engineering
www.remmele.com

Fred L. Remmele started his original tool and die business with just two employees in 1949. Today, Remmele Engineering employs nearly 500 people in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, and has grown to over $100 million in annual sales. Remmele is a leader in contract manufacturing and the design and build of custom equipment for companies worldwide. During a half-day strategic sourcing education session conducted by PRAGMATEK, Remmele’s leadership realized that a strategic focus in its purchasing organization would help maintain and expand its competitiveness. With increasing domestic and international competitive pressures, Remmele understood the need to elevate its sourcing organization and leverage the spend across all of its plants. PRAGMATEK was engaged to take an active role in developing Remmele’s enterprise sourcing organization, and filled the role of Director of Supply Chain until a permanent Director was hired. PRAGMATEK led the organization through an analysis of direct spend categories, identified and prioritized improvement opportunities, and led cross-functional teams in a thorough analysis of supply market conditions and pricing. PRAGMATEK facilitated sessions with current and new suppliers to negotiate strategic agreements that lowered Remmele’s cost by $3 million while improving quality, service and delivery. Finally, PRAGMATEK provided training and ongoing mentoring of Remmele’s new Director of Supply Chain to ensure a smooth transition and sustain the savings achieved.