On-going rollout for Preactor planning software at Nicholl

CHIPPENHAM, UK – The Preactor Group, a leading provider of Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) solutions, said that its client Nicholl Food Packaging has successfully extended its Preactor implementation into the company’s French facility. Implementation is now also successfully underway into Nicholl’s German operation.

This decision to roll out Preactor into other companies within the group follows the highly successful implementation at the UK manufacturing site by Kudos Solutions, one of the most experienced UK Preactor partners. Key savings in the UK include cutting raw materials from 3-4 weeks average with a peak of 6 weeks down to only 1-2 weeks and reducing stock levels of some finished goods from over 3 months’ worth to less than 3 weeks’ worth.

Commenting on the significance of the rollout programme,Preactor global marketing director Valerie Goulevitch said, “We are increasingly finding larger groups of companies implementing Preactor in one site, proving the ability to deliver substantial benefits and then rolling it out to other facilities. Our ability to roll out a global solution but using local expertise is precisely what many larger companies are requiring and is one of the many reasons for our growing success.”

A key element of the Preactor rollout is ensuring the UK, French and German facilities can take advantage of the new Material Explorer which provides the ability to interrogate the entire supply chain to easily identify material shortages or production delays caused by, for example, non-available, later or surplus materials.

“The UK implementation was the proof of concept about how Preactor’s advanced production planning and scheduling technology could benefit a business with the unique challenges faced by the group. As such it was watched very closely throughout the group so when Preactor started delivering complete visibility across the UK facility as well as generating considerable cost and time savings, it was a natural decision for it to be rolled out to other plants within the group,” said Jeff Johnson, managing director of Kudos Solutions.

NFP is also an active part of the development program for the Preactor 400 GMPS (Graphical Master Planning Scheduling) project, a new planning solution to be launched jointly by Preactor International and Kudos Solutions. Preactor 400 GMPS offers unparalleled flexibility for demand and capacity planning, especially for larger companies in the food and FMCG sector requiring accurate and timely responses to fluctuations in forecast demand. Preactor GMPS is scheduled for final release in Q3 2012.