PEZ Candy Inc. and Aptean Ross ERP

In a time when instant gratification has become the rule, not the exception, consumers often base their buying decision on convenience; we want easy access to products, and we want them now. So it should be no surprise that every company at one point or another has grappled with identifying new ways to incorporate real-time information into their processes to stay competitive.

Over the past 13 years, PEZ Candy has relied on Aptean Ross ERP to do just that - offer new solutions to maintain their competitive edge by tackling critical operations like inventory. With an annual production of approximately 4.5 million pounds of candy, PEZ is no stranger to the importance and difficulty of managing their inventory effectively. When the age of their mobile devices started affecting their ability to administer those functions, PEZ turned to Ross in the hopes of adopting a solution that looked beyond the hardware and offered operational improvements to boost productivity as well.

Ross Inventory Manager (RIM), a solution designed to enable simple installation and use of Ross Data Collection, was ultimately chosen as the solution best fit to the needs of the company. The additional flexibility, ease of use and speed that came with the product made the decision to deploy RIM a no-brainer for the PEZ team.

Flexibility

In the fast-paced environment of manufacturing, the ability to adjust to circumstances on the fly is crucial and, often times, we rely heavily on technology to help us accomplish that. RIM not only fit seamlessly into PEZ’s daily operations, but also provided mobile flexibility – a benefit the PEZ team noticed almost immediately. “One thing we’ve really liked about the RIM product is that if we need to throw a few more people into the warehouse in addition to our 12 mobile devices, anyone who has an iPhone or Android can use them to go out and do the same work that we use our mobile devices to accomplish,” said Chris Balay, IT Director at PEZ. Since RIM was designed to enable the use of Ross Data Collection on your device of choice, the team found they were able to continue their inventory processes on-the-go.

Ease of Use

In addition to this new found flexibility, the PEZ team quickly realized RIM’s ease of use compared to their old devices. Right away, PEZ warehouse employees found their production becoming more agile and, consequently, their lead times were noticeably decreasing. “Anytime we can ship stuff faster and with fewer errors, that’s a good thing and RIM certainly helps with that. We can fulfill orders quicker than we were before…the ability to have multiple tasks open at once is a game-changer because it really helps you work more efficiently.”

Speed

Aside from the platform’s enhanced usability, Chris Balay explained that RIM is just “plain faster.” Basic tasks like logging into the system and the response time of the program itself significantly decreased, moving much quicker than the old mobile product. Prior to the implementation of RIM, the company took about two weeks to complete a full inventory count. However, with RIM and its new features, PEZ was able to cut two days off of that process by spending less time navigating the system and more time actually completing their inventory count.

Throughout their deployment of the solution, PEZ came to appreciate how Aptean Ross ERP focused the development of RIM on the end-user and aimed to address ways the software could assist that individual in driving results. No matter the industry, solutions that allow users to decide what’s best for them, as opposed to asking users to adapt to the product, are the key to standing out in the crowded competition.