Division of Cadbury Trebor Bassett, manufacturer of iconic British sweets, selects Lawson M3 to gain control over demanding supply chain

Lawson Software has announced that Monkhill Confectionery, a division of Cadbury Trebor Bassett, manufacturer of sugar and gum products, has selected Lawson M3 applications to be used across its four manufacturing sites, including the head office in Pontefract and sites in York, Leeds and Cleckheaton.

Lawson merged with the former Intentia International AB in April 2006. The initial project will encompass 100 users and help provide greater transparency across the supply chain. The contract was signed in Lawson's first quarter of fiscal 2007, which ended on Aug. 31, 2006.

In addition to manufacturing well-known sweets such as Barratt Refreshers, Flumps, Fruit Salad, Black Jacks and Butterkist Popcorn, Monkhill also manufactures confectionery products on behalf of supermarket chains offering a full range of sugar confectionery.

With this in mind, the company needed to invest in a system that would not only provide transparency across the supply chain, but would also be flexible enough to cope with a demanding business model and cover more varied products, tighter production timescales and shorter production runs.

Monkhill selected Lawson QuickStep Food and Beverage, an industry-tailored solution based on the latest version of the Lawson M3 product line. QuickStep was designed to help reduce the time, cost and risk involved with an enterprise software implementation, but just as importantly to help deliver the value and benefits of an enterprise solution. Monkhill will be able to expand its use of Lawson applications as its business evolves, by adding features, components and specific configuration as part of a continuous improvement program.

"We chose QuickStep as we found a full ERP implementation too time consuming and expensive for our business model," said Simon Barber, financial director for Monkhill Confectionary. "This way, we have lowered the cost of ownership of having this software in place by cutting implementation time by more than 50 percent with consequent savings in consulting and internal resourcing costs and reduced risk. It was a compelling investment to make."

"We had several business needs that needed to be met; from being able to accurately predict supply and demand from production to shop floor, to being able to manage a complex supply chain which could also meet business requirements around traceability and accountability," said Tim Langlois, system integration manager for Cadbury Trebor Bassett.

"It was vital that we invested in a software package that would not only enable us to have complete control and visibility across our supply chain, but also the flexibility to evolve and grow with our business. Lawson's software and proven experience in the food and beverage market provided us with that fit."