Multi-Plant Packaging Company Drives Revenue Improvement – The CIO’s Perspective

 

CIO Seeks Standardization to Minimize Cost of Ownership, Streamline Support

(This is one part of a two part story about how a multi-plant packaging company increased revenue. This part shares the Chief Information Officer’s perspective. Click here for the Senior Quality Manager’s perspective.)

An Unpopular Decision

The CIO for a multi-plant packaging company was in an uncomfortable spot.

Bringing six newly acquired plants under the corporate umbrella was going smoothly, but he saw at least one area, quality systems, that needed to change. And he knew it was not going to be a popular decision.

The acquired division was using two different quality software systems across the six plants, and they had little in common with the legacy facilities. For the CIO, multiple software systems meant multiple support contracts. Even more impactful, it meant maintaining knowledge to support three systems instead of one.

Leveraging Past Successes

The CIO was also well aware of the successes that his Corporate Senior Quality Manager had achieved at the legacy facilities using GainSeeker Suite. The Quality Manager had a reputation for using the system over many years to consistently improve productivity and profitability.

The CIO was confident the Quality Manager could easily extend GainSeeker access to the new facilities, and decided to take the plunge, even in the face of pushback. “All in all,” he said, “When I add it all up between the profitability, the reduced cost of ownership, the improvements, the new division just needs to change.”

“They Were Extremely Happy…”

Initially the plants did resist. As the Quality Manager put it, “They went kicking and screaming.”

Not surprisingly, the resistance was founded on lack of experience. Having never experienced GainSeeker Suite, the staff didn’t know what they were missing. According to the manager, “Once we got them converted, they’re extremely happy with it. They began to say, ‘Oh we didn’t know you could do those kind of things.’ Once they began to see what it could do for them, it took off from there.”

Now with all plants running under one quality system, the cost of ownership is reduced significantly. Moreover, with one system in place, the Quality Manager has the ability to harmonize quality across the corporation and more easily flex production to meet demand.