PURAC uses PORTOLAN's Accounting worldwide
Worldwide Product Calculation at PURAC
The Dutch PURAC Group is the worldwide leading and most experienced manufacturer of natural lactic acid, gluconic acid and its derivates. Those additives are produced at 5 production sites (in the Netherlands, in Brazil, in Spain, Thailand and in the USA) for the foods & pastries industry as well as for chemical-/pharmaceutical industries. The affiliate of the CSM Group employs more than 1000 employees at subsidiaries all around the globe and generates revenue of more than 300 mill. €.
PURAC has been using the ERP system Infor LX (BPCS) at production sites and distribution companies for many years. As requirements increased, PURAC decided to implement EVM modules from PORTOLAN which allow for a detailed product calculation using freely definable cost elements and cost rates with different calculation options. The deep integration into BPCS, which allows the user to read bills of material, work plans and cost master files and to save results periodically, played an important role in the decision to use PORTOLAN EVM modules.
In addition, a profound inventory valuation routine has been established in EVM, whose results are automatically transferred to Financial Accounting on a monthly basis. In this context, the individual cost elements of manufacturing costs for semi-finished and finished products are displayed explicitly on separate accounts. Up to now, this has not been possible within the predecessing system. This functionality is not only used at the 5 production sites mentioned above, but also at distribution companies in Germany, Poland, Mexico, China, Japan and in Singapore.
The comprehensive reporting functionalities within PORTOLAN EVM modules represent a considerable additional benefit due to their flexible valuation methods and functions that allow you to drill down to the respective material transaction. This range of functions is intensively used for reconciling material movements before postings to Financial Accounting take place.
Following the project launch in June 2009, the pilot implementation in Spain went live in October 2009 already, during which the entire product calculation for 2010 could be realized. The subsequent roll-out process in November 2009 included the remaining production sites.
Mr. Marc Zwijnenberg, Project Manager at PURAC, has welcomed the decision in favor of PORTOLAN and he is highly satisfied with the project's progress: "The implementation of EVM modules from PORTOLAN in just a few months provides us with a flexible and efficient tool for the calculation of manufacturing costs, along with controlling tools for the analysis and control of our sales activities."
The next step includes the implementation of production order analyses in PORTOLAN, which provide a detailed analysis function of deviations between budgeted, actual and standard consumption as well as difference postings with extensive valuations.