Vertical intelligence: Welch’s profits from BI solution designed for consumer goods makers
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 2/11/2008 8:26:00 AM MST
Welch’s, a leading food & beverage manufacturer, has new visibility into details about its shipments, orders, and associated costs after deploying a business intelligence (BI) solution designed specifically for makers of consumer packaged goods.
The solution was developed by Oco, which offers BI solutions in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) mode.
Welch’s is using Oco's Consumer Packaged Goods Transportation & Logistics module. It provides information that helps Welch's optimize its operations by making the best decisions regarding shipments, carriers, and lane utilization.
"We spend millions of dollars each year in transportation, so it is critical that we have deep, detailed visibility into our distribution system," says Bill Coyne, director of purchasing and logistics for Welch's. "Oco's solution allows us to extract and see integrated data from three different systems. We are using this information to find opportunities for cost savings and service improvements through more efficient routes, load levels, and carriers."
The Consumer Packaged Goods Transportation & Logistics module is one of two recently released solutions that Oco says perform particularly well for medium-size manufacturing companies. The other is called the Oco Industrial Products Solution.
Both modules come with dashboards, reports, and key performance indicators in areas such as sales & profitability, sourcing & procurement, inventory, and quality & production.
Oco says these pre-built solutions offer companies a great starting point for BI programs, and they can easily be tailored to meet a company’s specific needs.
"With intense competitive pressures and economic concerns, midsize manufacturers are looking for very focused BI solutions that will help them cut costs, gain efficiencies, and improve service levels in very specific areas," says Crawford Del Prete, executive VP of worldwide research for Framingham, Mass.-based IDC. "Oco's new solutions will give midsizecompanies access to leading business intelligence capabilities that typically have been priced out of their reach."
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