iRely
With three sites situated in New Jersey, California and Georgia, quality is of paramount importance. Using iRely software has enabled the business to manage quality throughout its entire supply chain, as Kaup explains. “We have an extensive quality engine built into the iRely system that covers everything, and from the moment the first vendor sample comes in, it is captured and tracked at every step through to pre-shipment, shipping, blending, packaging and distribution. Everything is completely traceable, from farm to fork, which is crucial in today’s regulated environment.” The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays a vital role in regulating America’s food and drink industry, and iRely has to comply with stringent FDA checks (including good manufacturing practices) before it can be offered to commodity businesses. So what was the catalyst for iRely’s development? Kaup and colleagues had previously worked extensively within the commodities sector in various IT roles and had seen a software focus on front-office automation only, which was great for accounting and sales but did little to enhance operational excellence on the shop floor. Kaup takes up the story: “We saw that most companies focused on typical ERP systems that did not distinguish from the issues prevalent for manufacturing companies who were into commodities. For those businesses there are two distinct parts, and aside from the front office, there is a strong emphasis on manufacturing. “Because challenges associated with procurement and manufacturing of commodities are unique,” he continues, “it requires a different kind of risk and quality management to work effectively. We felt that there were no software packages around that helped to create operational excellence on the shop floor and came to that conclusion after evaluating lots of ERP systems that simply could not manage the commodity side. “We were able to leverage the vast knowledge base of leading commodity experts to create a system for the plant floor that is able to manage risk from commodity price fluctuations through all the key processes associated with procurement of the commodity and the entire production cycle. We developed iRely software over a 10-year period. Harris Tea went live with the system a couple of years ago across all its locations,” Kaup concludes. The system is ideal for companies that have
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