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Infor ERP Blending at Remmers
Baustofftechnik Gmbh: Adding New
Shades to the Range Of Colours
Remmers Baustofftechnik GmbH has its headquarters in Löningen, Germany, and
manufactures construction materials based on master formulae, some of which have
hundreds of customer-specific variants. Its products are usually delivered within 48 hours
of the order being placed. This user report describes how Infor ERP Blending supports a
variety of the company's processes, such as production planning and materials
management, and the management of formulae and hazardous substances.
“Linking our
international sales
organization to the
central system
provides the basis for
real time processing
of sales orders.”
Remmers supplies construction companies, and is affected by seasonal fluctuations in
the same way as its customers are. In the main construction season from March to
October, total daily orders can amount to as much as 300 tons. The materials have to be
manufactured, made up into consignments, transported, delivered and invoiced, all within
a period of 48 hours. This produces a flood of data each day, which can only be managed
using an IT system tailored to the task. In the past Remmers used Comet and its industryspecific add-on Infor ERP Blending, filling gaps in functionality with programs written inhouse.
In 1998, it was decided to completely re-structure the IT system using Infor ERP
Blending. Remmers wanted to move away from a number of stand-alone systems to a
comprehensive solution providing end-to-end support for all their processes. With Infor
ERP Blending, production planning, procurement, warehouse management and
distribution are all integrated into a single system, along with order entry and formula
management. It also supports the specific requirements associated with formula-based
manufacturing processes. Moreover, use of the Windows GUI cuts down on user education
needs by providing an intuitive and familiar user interface.
Production of Variants Made Easy
Remmers Baustofftechnik GmbH also chose Infor ERP Blending because their
manufacturing processes are formula-based. There may be ten to twelve possible product
variants that need to be managed - in exceptional cases even up to one thousand. This is
done by storing a master formula, from which variants are derived through the
specifications of work instructions. The program uses the formula to generate a
production order, which is used to control manufacturing processes either manually or
automatically. The main ingredients and additives are weighed out, and Infor ERP
Blending ratios, temperatures and blend times are set.
In the automated production process, a programmable logic controller (PLC) is used to
communicate with the production equipment. Once the lot has been completed, the
program prints out a log detailing the respective manufacturing parameters. This is used
for purposes of quality control and also simplifies the process of error-tracking in the case
of a defective lot. With the new solution, Remmers can also capture data on raw materials
and include it on the log. This information can be used later to establish which raw
materials went into which product.
Production planning has to meet a further challenge. The number of customer-specific
orders is growing rapidly, requiring manufacturing processes to be even more flexible.
case study
“We wanted to move away from stand-alone solutions to a
total, end-to-end solution.”
Efficient stock management is also necessary to keep
inventories to a minimum while maintaining sufficient stocks
of standard products. Infor ERP Blending meets these
requirements out of the box. The software was modified to
ensure that the delivery of standard products is not delayed by
the manufacture of speciality products in custom shades, for
example. First, the program goes through the orders and sorts
out the codes of products needing special manufacture,
inserting placeholders. These codes are then processed
separately. Once the custom product has been manufactured
and has been passed by quality control, the product code is reassigned to the original order. Infor ERP Blending has
provided Remmers Baustofftechnik GmbH with a standard
software solution which provides end-to-end support for all it
business-critical processes.
Managing Laboratory Information
In 2002 the laboratory information system Infor ERP Blending
LIMS was installed as a further add-on. Until then,
development, control and release of formulae and production
orders had been conducted manually - a task which the
laboratory staff could no longer cope with. Using Infor ERP
Blending LIMS, formulae do no longer require double
recording in the development system and in Infor ERP
Blending, where they had been managed separately. Formulae
maintenance and release is now conducted centrally for test
formulae as well as for sales articles. Moreover, Infor ERP
Blending provides the option to automatically integrate
production orders in LIMS. The laboratory staff can only effect
the release for filling, after all essential quality controls and
postings have been carried out. Whenever the individual limits
are not met or exceeded, Infor ERP Blending automatically
recommends the necessary adjustments and reports them to
the corresponding production site.
Interface to Colour-Metric-System for Production of
Special Shades
One of the major advantages of Remmers Baustofftechnik is
the production of special paints made
up to customers’ specifications. The
colour-metric-system GrethagMacBeth can even analyse exotic
colours for which the client does not
provide any other technical instruction
but a sample. Based on the results of
measurement, Infor ERP Blending generates a formula
proposal for production of the shade and automatically records
the formula.
Linking Up Sales Partners and Subsidiaries
In Germany, Remmers conducts sales and distribution through
approx. 200 product representative offices. To integrate the
orders of the agents in its entire system Remmers decided in
2000 to consecutively equip its sales partners with Infor ERP
Blending. For this purpose it installed several Citrix servers
which provide the application and an individual SQL server
data base for each representative office. Located at Remmers
headquarters in Löningen, the servers can be accessed via
Internet. Sophisticated firewall systems prevent meddlers from
spying. The advantage already became clear during the
introduction period: Central maintenance of master data, order
entry by sales representatives combined with automatic
generation of orders in the central data base. Thus, the
material flow path reaching from ordering raw materials over
production up to delivery to the sales representatives is now
conducted automatically. Moreover, final delivery to the
customer has now been integrated in the central system
allowing for real time billing. The link up with the international
subsidiaries is based on the same concept: In September
2002 Remmers Bouwchemie B.V. in the Netherlands
successfully went online, as did Remmers Bouwchemie bvba
in Belgium The integration of further subsidiaries is planned
for 2003 – among others Remmers Poland.
Want to learn more about how Infor can help you improve your
customer-driven supply network, maximize your profits and
enhance your service levels?
Visit us on the web at http://www.infor.com/blending.
Remmers Baustofftechnik GmbH was founded in 1949 as a one-man
business, and today employs one thousand people, in 270 offices in
Germany, 11 European subsidiaries and branches in Asia, Australia and
Africa. It has supplied materials to construction sites all over the world,
even to remote places like the Angkor Wat temple complex in the heart of
Cambodia, and its long customer list includes many prestigious names.
A wide and varied range of products, including 5,000 for building,
façade, floor and timber preservation, earned the company world-wide
sales of nearly 20AC 135 million in 2002. Other products include silicon
sealants, bituminous waterproofing materials and coatings for
industrial floor-coverings, as well as a wide range of customer-specific
formulae.
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