Based out of Sebastopol in California, Manzana Products Co. has been producing organic apple products such as apple juice, apple sauce, and apple cider vinegar for nearly 100 years.
The historic apple cannery, started by the husband and wife duo of Rudolph and Maude Oehlmann, was originally a small dryer operation where local fruits such as apples, prunes, pears and hops were delivered and dried. It was in 1945 that this dryer business—known as Oehlmann Evaporator—changed its name to Manzana Products. In March 2012, Manzana Products was acquired by the Caen-based French agricultural products cooperative Agrial.
The acquisition was accompanied by a rich legacy and some still-in-use early 20th century equipment; the latter leading to manufacturing-related challenges. To stabilize processes, Manzana deployed Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 to handle accounting, warehousing and production management. However, the organization was finding it difficult to overcome hurdles in inventory management, accurate costing and quality maintenance.
Manzana and Columbus’ collaboration resulted in ColumbusFood getting deployed on the latest version of Dynamics ERP, improving the cannery’s production reporting, inventory accuracy and traceability capabilities. Columbus also developed an apple receiving module that helped Manzana accommodate hectic shipment schedules when the cannery was running at full capacity during harvest season.
Through Columbus’ Automated Data Capture (scanning solution), Manzana now has real-time visibility into the consumption and output of raw materials into finished goods using iPads mounted on forklifts and scanners along production lines.
Before the implementation, Manzana authorities did not have a real-time insight into their inventory since companywide, nobody was using scanners. With Columbus’ Automated Data Capture, Manzana was able to leverage more than 50 devices in the plant which helped to prevent hiccups in inventory management and gave actionable insights to frontline production and warehouse workers.
Columbus also helped Manzana employees to understand how to use ColumbusFood. The cannery was able to overcome the key personnel dependence problems it was facing as a result.
Since it was implemented, ColumbusFood has significantly improved processes in all departments across Manzana—from quality and production to sales; from warehousing to supply chain management.
Speaking on the various ways Manzana has benefitted from its partnership with Columbus, Simon said, “Particularly with the pandemic right now, we now always know when we are going to need to harvest data and drill down into the specific challenges to the business— whether it’s on margin, specific products, or the different lines. I would say after partnering with Columbus, we have KPIs that are more important than ever to help us navigate through a quickly changing business environment.”
“Manzana went through a steep learning curve, but there’s no reason for our sister companies to go through the same. We can expedite their process and make them successful faster,” he added
Quick overview of how ColumbusFood simplified and improved Manzana’s business:
1) Simplified production reporting:
The partnership with Columbus has helped Manzana set KPIs that will facilitate its business to grow over time. Manzana now has complete visibility into the specific challenges it faces—whether it is on margin, on particular products, or in different departments.
2) Real-time insights and increased ROI:
Manzana was finding it difficult to scale up to modern-day plant requirements when it was using JustFood ERP. After Columbus deployed the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics ERP and ColumbusFood, the cannery has been able to operate in real-time, bringing in significantly higher ROI. ColumbusFood has also helped Manzana to cover the cost of implementation and perform better and more accurate costing.
Manzana was able to leverage the FIFO (First in and First out) principle in a much more effective manner and integrate with external payroll systems to enable greater efficiency and transparency in cost and labor data.
3) Improved inventory accuracy:
The deployment of ColumbusFood has resulted in the enhanced inventory traceability of Manzana products, besides improving its inventory management capability.
