IFS Applications slices into pet food market

UK pet food manufacturer Butcher’s Pet Care says it expects to get better visibility of business performance as a result of implementing an IFS Applications 2004 ERP system worth $1m, due to go live in March 2005. Jeff Martins, Butcher’s financial controller, says: “We recognised that to manage our business more efficiently, improve the manufacturing, production and capacity planning processes and enhance sales forecasting, we needed a more flexible and scaleable solution.” Key objectives are to streamline back office processes, gain better control of costs and provide greater visibility into financial, manufacturing and supply chain processes. Ultimately, IFS will also provide the company with a system to improve customer management, as well as a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to manufacturing. “We selected IFS because the enterprise software vendor combined functionality for our business, ease of use and understanding of our business goals most effectively,” says Martins. “Through our analysis it was clear that IFS was the right software vendor for us – both functionally and culturally. We wanted to be sure that the supplier we selected would support us in our future growth and expansion.” The system will run on HP servers, Microsoft Windows and Oracle 9i database. Implementation started in August, and is being conducted by IFS services.