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| Information Resources for Business Integration: EDI, XML, 1SYNC, RFID, Supply Chain Collaboration, Application and Process Integration |
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Customer Profile - Maple Leaf Farms |
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“Quality” is the buzz-word around Maple Leaf Farms. In fact, the company slogan is, “Quality You Can Count On.” The superior quality does not only apply to the duck products they sell, but also to the way the company handles transactions and integration with trading partners.
“One of our larger retail customers told me Maple Leaf Farms is ‘light years ahead’ of their other suppliers when it comes to EDI,” explains Ted Gillem, Application Support Specialist and EDI Coordinator for Maple Leaf Farms. “This is because we use EXTOL for business integration.”
Maple Leaf Farms, America’s premier producer of quality duck products, has thousands of customers, ranging in size and type from large retailers and food suppliers, to small Chinatown restaurants and markets. While the restaurant owners may not use EDI and business integration, most of Maple Leaf’s customers rely on it for accuracy, speed and efficiency. In fact, Maple Leaf has 100 trading partners, and sends and receives 2500 EDI transactions per month in more than a dozen different transaction formats.
“EXTOL is the common platform we use to manage all our business relationships,” states Mr. Gillem. Maple Leaf is using a suite of EXTOL solutions to address the demands of their customers and take advantage of business opportunities: EXTOL Integrator, EXTOL Secure and EXTOL Portal. Secure enables secure transaction exchange and protected communication via the Internet using AS2 protocol, and Portal is an economical alternative to traditional VANs when that method is required by a partner. EXTOL Integrator not only handles the high-speed exchange of B2B electronic trading documents and rapid set up of new trading relationships, but also facilitates automatic integration of these documents into the applications, systems and processes used by the company – without custom coded interfaces.
EXTOL Integrator carries transaction data directly into Maple Leaf’s ERP system, S2K from Vormittag Associates, Inc. (VAI). “The integration eliminates having to invest any staff time managing inbound or outbound transactions,” explains Mr. Gillem. “With EXTOL EDI, all the staff has to do is open up the order in VAI, and check the ship-to.”
Further, because of the accuracy of the incoming orders, and integration with Maple Leaf’s warehousing system, which was co-developed with VAI, shipping errors have been dramatically reduced, increasing the productivity of warehouse staff, and improving customer satisfaction. Additionally, charge-backs, penalties and fines from customers have been virtually eliminated.
Maple Leaf Farms duck products dominate the U.S. market. “We like to joke that we sell everything but the quack!” reports Mr. Gillem. Since 1958, the Milford, Indiana-based company has been living up to its commitment to quality by setting high standards for the raising and ethical treatment of their ducks. Also, they foster a business culture that is committed to family, friends, personal fulfillment and community involvement. The company has 1200 employees nationwide and sells 16 million ducks per year, shipping throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Asia.
Maple Leaf Farms has an EDI Department of one – Ted Gillem. And Mr. Gillem spends only about 10% of his time on EDI. The rest of his time is devoted to other strategic projects. The reason such an active company, with so many EDI transactions, needs less than one full time equivalent to handle all EDI-related activities, is the automation provided by EXTOL at every stage of the process.
EXTOL’s automated functionality enables Maple Leaf to readily take advantage of new business opportunities and revenue streams. For instance, EXTOL’s automated mapping enables immediate on-boarding of trading partners and rapid response to customers’ trading demands. EXTOL offers simple to use drag and drop and pull down menus for customizing partner-specific EDI documents and processes. “EXTOL helps me design my maps. I can quickly create an implementation for whatever the customer requires,” explains Gillem. “No two customers are the same. Every trading partner requires something different.” And with EXTOL, no programming or custom coding is required.
Mr. Gillem continues to find new ways to make himself more productive by using EXTOL functionality. “When I first assumed responsibility for the company’s EDI, I was spending 50% of my time on EDI. Now I spend just 10% of my time, says Mr. Gillem. “And recently I’ve started saving myself about 2 hours a day. I’ve set it up through EXTOL so that I no longer have to manually sweep our VAN. I automatically get an email when an EDI transaction comes in.” By replacing a manual process with an automated one, Mr. Gillem has gone from spending 3 hours a day retrieving EDI transactions, to 45 minutes.
Having experienced first hand the benefits of EXTOL’s full integration and automated processes, Mr. Gillem plans to take it further. “I want to make EDI totally ‘lights out.’ That’s my goal,” explains Mr. Gillem. And if Maple Leaf is already “light years ahead” in terms of EDI, going “lights out” with EXTOL will surely take them to a higher level of quality computing that supports the sale of more quality duck. |
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