Monkhill confectionery goes for Lawson QuickStep implementation

They include its head office in Pontefract and production plants in York, Leeds and Cleckheaton. The initial project will cover 100 users and is aimed at improving supply chain visibility. Monkhill manufactures Barratt Refreshers, Flumps, Fruit Salad, Black Jacks and Butterkist Popcorn, as well as confectionery for supermarket chains. The company says it needed a system flexible enough to cope with its supply chains and to cover more varied products while providing for tighter production timescales and shorter production runs. Monkhill has gone for Lawson’s QuickStep Food and Beverage – which has just gone on general availability as a tailored version of M3 aimed at reducing the time, cost and risk of ERP implementations. “We chose QuickStep as we found a full ERP implementation too time consuming and expensive for our business model,” says Simon Barber, financial director for Monkhill Confectionary. “This way, we have lowered the cost of ownership of having this software in place by cutting implementation time by more than 50% with consequent savings in consulting and internal resourcing costs as well as reduced risk. It was a compelling investment to make.” Tim Langlois, system integration manager for Cadbury Trebor Bassett, adds: “We had several business needs, from being able to accurately predict supply and demand from production to shop floor, to being able to manage a complex supply chain, which could also meet business requirements around traceability and accountability. “It was vital that we invested in a software package that would not only enable us to have complete control and visibility across our supply chain, but also the flexibility to evolve and grow with our business. Lawson’s software and experience in the food and beverage market provided us with that fit.”