Total Solution Software... The Future for Manufacturing Excellence Volume 28 A Focus on European Growth with Constantia Duropack All statistics point to the same conclusion—the world’s growth areas for the plant focus. This effort required a work re-design in sales and customer service corrugated packaging industry are in Asia and in Eastern Europe and will starting with the two Austrian sites. As Franz-Rene Saiko, General Manager continue to be so in the foreseeable future. With foresight, Kiwiplan customer Austria, says, “Together with Kiwiplan, we were able to coordinate our sales and Constantia Duropack, as part of logistical efforts as well as both its business strategy, is expanding production sites seamlessly across into its own “backyard,” the our Austrian businesses.” growth area of Central, Eastern The Duro Force and Southeastern Europe. The Duropack corporate Process The Constantia Duropack Group Management team is the group In the Corrugated Board leading the implementation phases segment, the Constantia of Kiwiplan and has been involved Duropack Group produces and since the beginning of the project. distributes all types of corrugated The team consists of five members board packaging and various each responsible for a certain specialty products, such as heavyprocess area. The Process Manageduty corrugated board, point-ofment team is lead by Thomas sale displays, and specialty Langthaler, along with his four containers. members, Johannes Berghofer, The Constantia Duropack Predrag Lekic, Kurt Schadl, and Group’s main markets include Christoph Lauer. Over the past two Austria, Germany, Hungary, years this team has installed the fully Constantia Duropack motto— Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech integrated order-to-cash solution “Big enough to dare, small enough to care!” Republic, Serbia and Bulgaria. from Kiwiplan in four plants in three Recently it purchased 20% of countries. stock for Belisce, a company with facilities in the former The Local Force Yugoslavian countries. The corporate Duropack team involves teams from the local Duropack AG is a 100% subsidiary of Constantia plants at a very early stage. This allows the plant time to clean Packaging AG which is listed on the Austrian stock up data and prepare for the upcoming install. The Process exchange. rollout time frames Management team believes that this local involvement pays The Duropack Strategy significant dividends in both acceptance and use of the new • 2006 & 2007 pilot sites The fully integrated order-to-cash solution from systems. installed full order-to-cash Kiwiplan, comprised of the modules making up the The Infrastructure solution in Austria Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Enterprise Duropack has developed a centralized IT solution with their • 2008 new order-to-cash Sales Processing (ESP), helped Duropack tailor its daysites connected via a virtual route. All of their infrastructure solution sites fully to-day business for what is needed in a dynamic setups are geared towards efficiency and being environmentally implemented in Czech company for both production and sales. SAP solutions friendly. Duropack strives to reduce the consumption of energy Republic (April) and including MM and FI/CO form the financial backbone by using virtual machines instead of using physical servers. This which are fully interfaced with their Kiwiplan solution. Slovakia (March) has proven to be fast, efficient and also robust for fail-over To ensure success, Duropack set out to change its • 2008 scheduled installation situations. This centralized IT solution has become possible with business practices by using Kiwiplan to manage the a dramatic improvement in technology, greatly surpassing what for Hungary site in planning and data from its isolated business units. This was available only four to five years earlier. September required a top-down “buy-in,” understanding, promotion The Kiwiplan Drive • 2009 installation planned for and support throughout the whole management and In the fast-growing European corrugated marketplace within Germany, Slovenia and Duropack employee team. One key operational change and outside the EU, Constantia Duropack intends to be the most Bulgaria was the change to an area concept from an individual effective and competitive force around. Duropack operates (Continues on page 6) “Big enough to dare, small enough to care!” Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation Chooses Kiwiplan Manufacturing Execution Systems . . . . pg. 2 SSCC Press Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 2 Sustainability—Certainly for the Environment, But How about for Your Business? . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 3 2008 User’s Group—A Major Success! . . . . . . . . . pg. 4 530th world-wide RSA (Roll Stock Analysis) . . . . pg. 4 Web-Based Training: PCS for Customer Service & Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 5 Kiwiplan Active in Industry and Trade Associations in 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 5 John Brereton “Saving the World One Box Plant at a Time” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 5 SuperCorr Expo 2008 Is Here!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 6 2 Vol. 28 Jim Walton (Kiwiplan President) —Serving North, Central, and South America 8650 Governor’s Hill Drive Suite 350 Cincinnati, OH 45249 USA Tel: +1 513 554-1500 Fax: +1 513 554-0280 sales@kiwiplan.com Rodney McGee (General Manager) NZ Limited Level 3, BDO House 116 Harris Road East Tamaki PO Box 58-456, Greenmount, East Tamaki Auckland, New Zealand Tel: +64 9 272 7622 Fax: +64 9 272 7621 sales@kiwiplan.co.nz Bruce Urquhart (General Manager) UK —Serving the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Africa, and the Middle East Unit 5 Crompton Ct. Burntwood Staffordshire WS7 3GG United Kingdom Tel: +44 1543 273073 Fax: +44 1543 273074 sales@kiwiplan-europe.com Paul Austin (General Manager UK and Europe) Germany—Serving Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Eastern Europe Kiwiplan GmbH Max-Eyth-Strasse 38 71088 Holzgerlingen Germany Tel: +49 (0) 7031 41600 0 Fax: +49 (0) 7031 41600 99 sales@kiwiplan-europe.com Stefan Nedbal (Geschäftsführer) Asia Pacific—Serving Australia and Asia Pacific Level 1, 651 Doncaster Rd. Doncaster, Melbourne Victoria 3108, Australia Tel: +61 3 9848-9055 Fax: +61 3 9848-5022 sales@kiwiplan.com.au Christopher Loh (General Manager) SMURFIT-STONE CONTAINER CORPORATION CHOOSES KIWIPLAN MANUFACTURING EXECUTION SYSTEMS Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (NASDAQ: SSCC) has signed an agreement with Kiwiplan Inc. to implement a full manufacturing applications suite in all of Smurfit-Stone’s corrugated container facilities. The project will take three years to implement fully. “Kiwiplan’s focus on improved customer service is an integral part of our supply chain excellence strategy,” said SmurfitStone president and chief operating officer Steven J. Klinger. “I expect to see improved performance this year and I expect further improvements in 2009.” Smurfit-Stone is working with Kiwiplan (a division of Illinois Tool Works Inc.—NYSE: ITW) to implement complete automation for all container plant scheduling functions. This will allow Smurfit-Stone staff to increase their focus on customer needs, quality functions, and process improvement. Kiwiplan’s Continuous Automatic Scheduling Environment (CASE) automatically schedules the entire plant 24/7—optimizing corrugators and converting equipment toward full ontime delivery. Jim Walton, Kiwiplan president, said utilizing Kiwiplan supply chain tools in addition to CASE, compliments SmurfitStone’s strategies. The process of optimizing paper grades, widths and quantities will then flow into the automated scheduling process in each plant, area or region. “The timing of the agreement could not be more perfect,” Walton said. “Building on a 20-year relationship with SmurfitStone, this project fits perfectly with current North American Kiwiplan activities, new initiatives in Europe and our recent acquisition by Illinois Tool Works (ITW).” Smurfit-Stone’s commitment to top-tier customer service and ongoing operational excellence, coupled with Kiwiplan’s decades-long proven reliability and ongoing product enhancement, made Kiwiplan the logical choice for automated scheduling technology, said Mark O’Bryan, senior vice president of strategic initiatives and chief information officer for Smurfit-Stone. “Our customers expect on-time delivery, quick turnaround, and the highest quality of product,” O’Bryan said. “Kiwiplan provides the tools we need to achieve these mandates.” Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (SSCC), recently issued a press release detailing the extreme success they achieved when they applied Kiwiplan’s complete automation suite, gave their work force the proper training, and had the foresight to have management monitor the process closely. Kiwiplan is pleased and proud that SmurfitStone, one of the leading companies in the packaging industry, has achieved this success, thus demonstrating once again that Kiwiplan is the world’s “premier” provider of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to the packaging industry. It is not without reason that 80% of integrated box plants have Published by © Copyright 2008 Kiwiplan Inc. All Rights Reserved www.kiwiplan.com chosen Kiwiplan as their choice for scheduling and inventory management systems. Kiwiplan extends congratulations to Smurfit-Stone on this achievement! 3 Vol. 28 Sustainability—Certainly for the Environment, But How about for Your Business? March 13, 2000—in New York City the NASDAQ pointed to a four percent lower opening. The DotCom era had started its bust. Interestingly, one outcome of the wild flurry of the high-flying, high-tech start-ups was a vast and global dissemination of knowledge. This was fueled in no small part by the unbridled growth of the Internet. We all began watching our world shrink. In 1981, Bangalore, India, starting with US$ 250, a new high-tech company opened its doors, Infosys Technologies Ltd. Today they are a power player, with offices in 23 countries, 80,500 employees strong and with revenues of over US$ 3 billion. Infosys pioneered the Global Delivery Model (GDM). The GDM is based on the principle of taking work to the location where the best talent is available, where it makes the best economic sense, with the least amount of acceptable risk. As Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Infosys Technologies, states: “The playing field is being leveled.” This “leveling of the playing field” is the basis for Thomas Friedman’s blockbuster bestseller with a title that describes it all, “The World is Flat.” Like it or not, today we’re competing in a world that is becoming flatter every day. Manufacturing, and thereby the competition, is no longer just down the street, across town, or a city over. Competition can be anywhere in the world. How to survive and thrive in this new world demands a new way of doing. Sustainability in a flat world A year ago, the manager of Packaging Technology at Georgia Pacific’s Innovation Institute wrote a white paper entitled: “Nine steps to greater profitability and sustainability.” In Packaging as in every other industry, world-class companies are reviewing every step, every system, and every department, with the goal being to remove any barriers to profitability. Sustainability for your business means that you are diametrically opposed to proceed with a business-asusual attitude. Too many companies have built-in barriers that hamper turning product into revenue— their orders to cash. The “that’s-the-way-we-always-dothings” mindset often creates departmental fiefdoms, disparate systems and isolated processes, making it difficult to achieve the degree of business integration needed to realize your important company goals. Kiwiplan’s key customers, those effectively competing in this exciting new “flat” world, are eliminating any and all barriers and thus are achieving the agility needed to rapidly respond to changing business requirements. These insightful customers are embracing new opportunities and customer demand. They realize that they cannot operate effectively without implementing and mastering the Kiwiplan tools and methods that allow them to gain visibility into business processes, thereby to better plan, forecast, and collaborate with customers. In many instances these best-ofthe-best Kiwiplan users can effectively become an extension of their customer’s enterprise, in terms of demand sensing, inventory and delivery. Specifics Moving away from the status quo is difficult. It forcibly removes the comfort shield we erect that allows us to gripe and self-righteously complain about all the problems (challenges) confronting us—business moving to China, lead time shrinkage, smaller order runs, pre-set delivery times, and you can add your own favorites. Instead, to survive and thrive, Kiwiplan power users position their businesses to charge forward. These Nature Endures—But Will Your Business? plants embrace the required changes that allow their businesses to be better positioned. They know that they must answer critical questions: • What do I need to do to make the RIGHT product at the RIGHT time? • How can I eliminate all choke points in the manufacturing process? • What are the bottlenecks in the order intake and distribution/scheduling process? • Why is the machinery in my plant not running anywhere near the manufacture’s advertised speeds but loping along at some preconceived sweet spot? • Is the work-in-process and finished goods inventoried WIP absolutely necessary and then kept at the absolute minimum? • Am I optimizing my scheduling practices so that orders flow in a manner that optimizes my shipping requirements? • Are my set-up times magically predetermined, or do they reflect actual requirements? • Are people expending energy performing unnecessary tasks, steps, paperwork, or processes? Kiwiplan power users know to ask customer-related questions: • Do I meet regularly with my customers to ask for a performance check? • Do I then also ask them, “What else can I do to further help you perform better?” • Do I allow the customer to gain visibility to their order status? • Do I voluntarily and even eagerly discuss with them the quality assurance processes and whether they would like any additional order-specific tests performed? If any answers are no, then they know to ask the follow-up: “Why not?” Kiwiplan customers, those who are the strategic thinkers, realize that not giving enough priority or attention to the exploration side of the business is one of the biggest strategic mistakes they can make. Kiwiplan has powerful tools that can assist. Kiwiplan has a strategic consulting team eager to support your efforts. Strategy Two key principles of a progressive manufacturing enterprise are: 1. the use of technology to create sustain able advantage. Using your Kiwiplan tools gives you an inherent “leg up.” 2. connecting the customer to the manufacturing process. Using your Kiwiplan systems gives you solutions that offer a level of automation that will give you a sustainable advantage. Fully embracing the technology is the best way to erase human bias from your enterprise. No commercial airliner is flown manually - it can’t. Today’s manufacturing facility is as sophisticated as an airliner, and it also cannot be run by “the seat of any employees’ pants.” Progressive Kiwiplan users evaluate every step in the manufacturing process, from receipt of an order to arrival at the customer and invoicing. Using Kiwiplan’s ESP coupled with CSC, PCS, and ULT gives plants the required visibility and automation. These users have the attitude that every point not directly contributing to a manufacturing step becomes a WASTE event. This means orders stuck in quotation, sitting waiting for scheduling, waiting for machine time, or sitting in a warehouse wastes opportunity. Kiwiplan systems offer the technology that allows your plant to be scheduled, automatically, with minimal human intervention, 24/7. CASE schedules in small and maneuverable batches so that a hot order becomes a natural component in the very next batch. (Continues on page 5) 4 Vol. 28 2008 User’s Group— A Major Success! Have you ever attended an event that was billed as the”biggest” or “best” only to be disappointed by the less-thanspectacular reality? Disappointment was nowhere to be found at the 2008 Kiwiplan European User’s Group meeting held Riga, Latvia in the Baltics. The conference exceeded by every criteria User’s Group meetings of previous years and by all counts surpassed the expectations of the attendees. Riga’s Hotel Ridzene, provided both an elegant and businessready atmosphere, thus providing the ideal setting for the Kiwiplan User’s Group business conference. Representatives from a world-wide customer base attended the meeting, with Franz-Rene Saiko from Duropack acting as lead person representing all attending Kiwiplan users. Riga was the perfect backdrop for this motivational and high energy event. The 2008 meeting in Latvia was also the first User’s Group meeting held after Kiwiplan’s acquisition by ITW. Bruce Howe, founder and a former owner of Kiwiplan, in his final address a year ago, stated, “Kiwiplan proactively seeks input from people who actually use its products.” The excellent match between Kiwiplan and ITW is demonstrated in the fact that Bruce’s insight into this important relationship between vendor and customer has not changed at all with the new ownership, thus ITW’s interest in continuing these Kiwiplancustomer conferences. Another demonstration of the success of the ITW-Kiwiplan relationship was the sharing of several of the many innovative and new features and product developments. Advances presented included: • Continuing success of Supply Chain Simulator (SCS), now installed in over 50 plants, enabling the paper supply chain to reach back from box plant, to warehouse, to the mill proper implementation of ESP. His talk was then followed by an excellent presentation by Bernd Karberg from • The new Quality Management Smurift Kappa Waren-Europe, the first System (QMS) and its real-time, European site to use CASE. Attendees plant-managed capabilities • Sharing of innovative graphic tools stressed the importance of customer presentations and expressed appreciaand products, such as graphical tion for the presenters. scheduling innovations and the Elaboration of the information Data Analysis Reporting Tool shared came naturally during the (DART) Gareth Cronin, Manager of the New workshop sessions. A number of ideas sprung from these workshop discusZealand-based Kiwiplan development team, lead a discussion on where future sions, among them were suggestions to improve the KALL system and the Kiwiplan product development efforts creation of a User Forum to be linked to are heading. Of high interest was the KALL. detailing of the ongoing program Begin planning now to attend the moving all products into Javatm and the 2009 meeting. By popular acclaim the accompanying implications and location in 2009 will be one of the key advantages to Kiwiplan users. cities in modern western Europe— Also of keen interest were several Berlin, Germany. See you there! presentations made to the group by current customers. From the US-based Green Bay Packaging Corporation, Greg Katers, Information Technology Director, spoke on server infrastructure and, more importantly, regarding the Did you know . . . On May 23, 2008 Kiwiplan completed the 530th world-wide RSA (Roll Stock Analysis)? th 530 world-wide RSA (Roll Stock Analysis) • 530 plants are now running more efficiently because they have optimized their paper ordering and consumption. These plants have achieved an immediate bottom-line ROI which addresses the highest cost item in a box plant-paper. • Since the early beginnings of the Roll Stock Analysis offering, plants that have taken advantage of a second or even a third analysis have noted the advances and the increased sophistication of the program. • RSA has become an integral “front end” to plants going forward with the Kiwiplan Supply Chain Simulator (SCS). The positive results of the combined offering have a multiplier effect as the paper supply chain becomes even leaner and more improved for these plants. Vol. 28 NEW Web-Based Training Module! PCS for Customer Service & Management Now Available! Kiwiplan’s continuing effort to make training available in a cost-effective, easily accessible, and comprehensive manner is ongoing via a brand new Web-based training module—PCS for Customer Service and Management. Topics included in the course: Introduction to the Kiwiplan Production Control System—PCS • Understanding how PCS will be used throughout your plant • Viewing the production schedule for each machine • “Seeing” what is happening in your plant and what has been happening • Understanding the Job Planning Board • Interpreting real-time order status information • Identifying jobs predicted to be late and what to do about it Introduction to the automated PCS scheduler: • Identifying load, lateness and time available on each machine • Determining achievable due dates with a customer on the phone • Understanding automated Load Balancing—what is it and what it can do for you • Seeing how the status of printing plates, tooling and board affect the schedule If you have PCS installed in your facility, you have the premier scheduling and automation tool available to the packaging industry. Your investment can be made even more powerful through the strength and knowledge of the system’s users. This new cost-effective learning tool is an absolute must for your plant! Discuss the specifics with your Kiwiplan Account Executive, or email us at training@kiwiplan.com. 5 John Brereton “Saving the World One Box Plant at a Time” 1971 - 2008 Kiwiplan employees have always considered themselves as family, possessing a huge pride in a company that has always treated them the same way. Probably no employee demonstrated a greater sense of pride in being part of the Kiwiplan “family” than “Johnny B”—and he did so with an even greater sense of humor. John’s tendency to work any technical issue to completion no matter what it took, while demanding the same from any other technician, endeared him to any customer touched by him. Often customer service would log an issue, and before entering the call, the request would be “Could John B handle this please?” We, his co-workers, still smile remembering his antics and personal joy of life. Our hearts go out to his partner for life, Sara, and to their four children, Hayden, Corry, Madison, and Sydnee. John Brereton, you were, but for too brief a time, not only a friend but also a gift to all of us at Kiwiplan and to the corrugated industry we serve. We will miss you dearly. Kiwiplan Active in Industry and Trade Associations in 2008 Kiwiplan continues to support and stay involved with the industry and the various trade associations. Recently through a series of articles and presentations Kiwiplan participated in the following: • February 2008 Chicago Chapter—TAPPI for their “What’s New” program presented to an audience of approximately 125 using the title: Kiwiplan—Presenting an Integrated Electronic Quality Management Tool Chicago Electric displays • AICC’s (Association of Independent CorruKiwi TV at the Tappi Show. gated Converters) BoxScore magazine — March 2008 an article detailing Sustainability • Mari-Latin Press—for the January 2008 edition and article entitled: Robust Inventory Management—Using Continund Charlie anager) a M l a er en ous Improvement Methods. cGee (G Rodney M Tappi. Kiwiplan's ount Manager) at • ACCCSA (Asociación de Corrugadores del cc (A s m a li il W Caribe, Centro y Sur América) Buenos Aires, Argentina—June 2008. Presented a technical paper to an audience of nearly 350, under the title : Sostenibilidad—ciertamente para el ambiente, ¿pero qué tal para su negocio? • AICC Spring Meeting, Palm Desert, California (Continued from page 3) Sustainability—Certainly for the Environment, But How about for Your Business? No order is scheduled if components such as tooling are not ready, and then the system alerts to that fact. CASE coupled with PCS pays critical attention to optimizing the converting machinery. And, most importantly, orders are scheduled in a manner that ensures that no machine is overbooked while other machines are starved for work. With QMS, quality checks are available from within the factory floor feedback screens (FFF), and thus completion of the tests is demanded from within the scheduling system. Connectivity to other systems are seamlessly complete, such as XMT to corrugator wet-end controls, dosing systems, and conveyors. Any waste is an enterprise’s enemy. And in today’s manufacturing climate, any waste impedes the agility the company requires to operate in the new “flat” world. Communicate with your customer. Bring them into your circle. Strategize with them. Give them visibility. Kiwiplan gives you the tools to connect fully with the customer; reasons for not doing so are just a mindset issue. Kiwiplan brings the right technology. You bring the right attitude, and then allow your company’s processes and systems to work together for efficient delivery of the right product, at the right price, at the right time...all in order to maximize revenue and avoid unnecessary costs. Look and grasp the new opportunities as they become apparent. Sustaining your company is the minimum; growing it should be your goal. Kiwiplan will be your partner—now and into the future. Vol. 28 6 SuperCorr Expo 2008 Is Here! At SuperCorr Expo 2008 Kiwiplan is looking forward to discussing, assisting, and dialoguing with you, our appreciated customers and new prospects. We’ll have 20 staff to meet with you, in the comfort of a 2100 square feet 2-level stand. Once again we’ll hold a drawing for a trip of a lifetime to New Zealand, the land of Kiwiplan’s origins. Obtain details for the drawing by stopping at stand number 1812. During SuperCorr we are offering two “guided” tours—a North Island and a South Island tour. Each tour is tailored to give you product offering details for your specific need and type of plant, whether yours is a box plant or sheet plant, high graphics or brown box, integrated or independent. Make plans now to visit us at SuperCorr 2008 and allow us to bring real power to your SuperCorrExpo experience: Power Learning through supplier and Kiwiplan presentations and demonstrations; Power Vision to see how Kiwiplan systems can improve your productivity today and into the future; and Power Trip by entering to win a fabulous trip to New Zealand. Let’s determine ways we can partner with you towards the Future For Manufacturing Excellence. See you in Atlanta, September 22 through 26, stand #1812. Winner of the free trip to New Zealand is drawn at SuperCorrExpo 2004 Your turn in 2008? First Time Ever! Suppliers Present at Kiwiplan Stand For the very first time at SuperCorr, Kiwiplan is making our amphitheater available to a series of partner suppliers. Each partner supplier will share details about their unique strengths and how a joint solution with Kiwiplan gives added power to you, our customers. Companies presenting on the Kiwiplan stage include: • Honeywell • SAP • Vantage Point/HRMS • Copar • Chicago Electric • Qualitek • Signode (cont. from page 1) A Focus on European Growth with Constantia Duropack currently in nine countries and is still growing or looking for opportunities to grow. The Kiwiplan product line, in particular the fully integrated order-to-cash solution with MES and ESP, directly contributes to the success at Duropack. Langthaler states: “Kiwiplan offers the best integrated solution for packaging to manage the demands across our expanding European marketplace.” The successful implementations Langthaler and his Process Management team have achieved, coupled with their ability to harness the capabilities of the Kiwiplan systems, will ensure a bright future. Congratulations to Constantia Duropack. 8650 Governor’s Hill Drive Suite 350 Cincinnati, Ohio 45249 USA Tel: +1 513 554-1500 Fax: +1 513 554-0280 E-mail: sales@kiwiplan.com Web site: www.kiwiplan.com Address Service Requested Duropack Corporate Process Management Team—from L to R: Christoph Lauer, Thomas Langthaler, Predrag Lekic, Kurt Schadl, Johannes Berghofer PRSRT. STD U.S. Postage PAID Cincinnati, Ohio Permit No. 7180