Astre Automotive, Australia’s largest and most successful importer and distributor of Hyundai and Audi vehicles, has implemented a new information technology infrastructure to improve the effectiveness of their organisation.
Currently Astre imports and distributes more than 65,000 vehicles, with most of the processing handled electronically. “There is a lot of data to process, from manufacturers, customs and pre-delivery agents and the RTA,” said Mr. Hedge, Operations Manager, Astre Automotive.
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Following a lengthy tender process, Astre selected Geac Enterprise Solution’s System21 Enterprise Resource Planning software. The inclusion of Business Intelligence tools from IBM, enables Astre to completely integrate their business management system with their supply chain.
The solution comprises System21 Financial, Logistics, Customer Service, Vehicle system and Workshop Warranty Management applications, and IBM’s MQ Series software, Lotus Domino messaging and groupware, running on an AS/400, and IBM’s Visual Warehouse, running on an IBM Netfinity server.
“The implementation is nearly completed after 18 months, half the time you would expect for a project of this size,” said Mr Hedge. “This was a system that had never been developed for the automotive industry before. All of us at Astre are very proud to work on this successful implementation with Geac,” he said.
The operating improvements in the distribution centre alone are immense. Today the average dispatch is up from 2,000 lines per day in 1997 to 5,000 lines, a 42% productivity increase, and with 37.55% fewer staff. The receipting of goods is more efficient, and there is 99.98% accuracy in locating stock.
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By GlobalDataThe small binning area is improved by 200% in efficiency, labor costs, accuracy and output. There is now real-time inventory control with the Interactive Warehousing module. “Our best operators can achieve over 400 picks and up to 300 “put-aways” a day. The picking and receipting groups have been combined, with an overall increase in activities of 300%, with a 65% reduction in staff,” said Mr Hedge.
The Cyclic Stocktaking with this new system enables Astre to service their customers more efficiently. Instead of a week, today a wall to wall stock-take is half a day’s work, without effecting the business of the other franchises. Mr Hedge concludes, “Service in this industry is important, and this system provides us with the tools to assist in providing the service our customers demand.”
About System21
System21 is an integrated set of enterprise-wide software applications. It satisfies the needs of a broad range of industries and contains sector-specific functionality to cater for the requirements of the apparel, food, drink and automotive component industries. The software is completely Web-enabled, allowing companies to launch themselves as e-businesses, and uses @ctive Enterprise technology to enable continual process improvement and business transformation. System21 is aimed specifically at mid-market companies and is based on IBM’s AS/400 e-business servers. With System21, Geac has a leading position as supplier of enterprise management software to the mid-market.
About Geac Computer Corporation
Geac Computer Corporation Limited (Toronto Stock Exchange Symbol:GAC) is a provider of mission critical software and systems solutions to corporations around the world. Geac solutions include cross-industry enterprise business applications for financial administration and human resources functions, and enterprise resource planning applications for manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain management. Geac provides several industry-specific mission critical business applications to the hospitality, property, banking and publishing marketplaces, as well as a wide range of applications for libraries and public safety administration.
Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Geac ranks as one of the world’s largest software companies. Further information is available on the World Wide Web at www.geac.com, or through email at info@geac.com.
