The challenge
The manufacturer was in the process of being acquired by a private equity investor and needed help meeting the requirements of the transitional services agreement (TSA). The company had to decide if it was going to stay on its current, costly ERP system or transition to a new one. Management needed a system with traceability and inventory tracking, two areas its existing system wasn’t adequately addressing. To meet the requirements of the TSA, numerous internal accounting processes also needed to be optimized, along with integrating the Plex HR module — all within five months.
The solution
The company had been working with our private equity team to prepare for the acquisition and decided a selection project was necessary to determine if the company would stay on its current system or implement a new one. Once the client chose Plex by Rockwell Automation to meet both their needs and the TSA requirements, our private equity consultants introduced them to Plex specialists at the firm who could help with implementation. We implemented the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform, including the HR module and its integration with a new payroll provider. Throughout the process, our team helped the manufacturer create new internal procedures to ensure the desired information would be captured accurately and the ERP implementation would be successful.
The benefit
The manufacturer began its journey with our private equity and due diligence consulting teams. However, given the depth and breadth of our firm, we also were able to provide immediate help with the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform implementation.
Our team made extra trips and provided in-person support to ensure the strict deadline would be met. We successfully implemented and went to the Smart Manufacturing Platform in just five months — including the integration of the HR module.
Through our relationship with Plex by Rockwell Automation, we were able to successfully and quickly transition 26 electronic data interchange (EDI) trading partners from the old system to Plex. As a result of implementing the cloud, the manufacturer was able to properly value inventory, track it across all phases of production, and have realtime visibility into all inventory on hand, as opposed to batched data. We also provided accounting assistance, including interim support and helped create a new costing model to provide more visibility into daily operations.
In the end, the manufacturer not only met the TSA requirements on time but also strengthened and developed many key processes.
