CUSTOMER: Par-Way Tryson
www.parway.com

CORPORATE PROFILE
Headquarters: Saint Clair, Missouri
Type of Business: Food manufacturer
Number of Locations: Two
Number of Employees: 50
Size:$25 million

SYSTEM PROFILE
Operating System: MicrosoftWindows 2000
Users on system: 30
Sage PFW ERP Modules in Operation
. Accounts Payable
. Accounts Receivable
. Bank Book
. Costing
. Crystal Reports
. Customization Workbench
. Formulas
. FRx Advanced
. General Ledger
. Materials/Inventory
. MRP
. Order Entry
. Production
. Purchasing
. System Manager

Back in the old days, food stuck to grills and baking pans unless you
smeared on plenty of grease. Then along came Vegalene., a revolutionary
food-release spray developed by Par-Way Tryson to increase kitchen efficiencies. Vegalene provided a healthy alternative to heavier oils and solved the problem of damaged products for the commercial bakers.

A family-run business since 1948, Par-Way Tryson's numerous patents
have allowed manufacturing of exceptional products for the food
service and bakery industries. While its aerosol spray is most well-known, product packaging ranges from minute one-ounce packages for
backpackers, to 55-gallon drums for commercial bakeries.

THE CHALLENGE
Ten years ago, Par-Way Tryson saw that its manual systems were stretched to the limit, and could not handle the planned growth, and decided to automate both its manufacturing and information systems. After investigating various software packages, they selected BatchMaster Suite for handling all process manufacturing data and Platinum for DOS for the firm's business 、and accounting needs. The applications transformed operating efficiencies, cutting time previously spent on paperwork by at least 30 percent.

"Although production has increased by 40 percent, we have not had to add staff in our customer service, order entry or accounting groups - thanks to the robust capabilities of our software."
Patrick Kerr, IT Manager of Par-Way Tryson Company

But in many respects the two systems behaved as separate entities. So Par-Way upgraded to the Sage PFW ERP manufacturing and financial solution. Now it has an optimum answer - end-to-end integration, better reporting tools, and a user-friendly interface that saves time by permitting access to both programs from a single screen.

THE SOLUTION
"Sage PFW ERP is ideal for a liquid production business like ours,"
says Patrick Kerr, IT Manager at Par-Way Tryson. "We need a great deal of flexibility because we're constantly changing sizes of formulas, and our labeling requirements vary so much. Sage PFW ERP gives us everything we need in a seamless solution with rock-solid performance."

Sage PFW ERP is used by Par-Way's customer service team to enter orders. Pending order data flows to the production group. The system is used to select orders, pull raw materials from the warehouse, ship, create invoices and relieve inventory. Then orders are recorded as sales in Accounts Receivable, paying POs and travel expenses, updating the General Ledger and generating financial statements.

Roe Howell, production and inventory manager, could be considered a Sage PFW ERP power user. "The system helps me create production
schedules, a very complex task given that we use more than 50 different formulas and sell products in various package types and sizes," she explains. "Whether we're doing a short run of pint bottles or a major undertaking with 2,500-pound liquiplex tanks on pallets, I can count on
Sage PFW ERP to calculate formulas and manage the job from start to finish."

Howell stresses that she is not a "computer person." Yet she has found
Sage PFW ERP very easy to use. "The manufacturing and financial applications work together so smoothly. I'm even training people now, which says a lot for the simplicity and intuitive nature of the system. I'm very happy with it."

She especially likes improvements in the inventory system, which used to require a physical count every month and resulted in tedious adjustments. Now Sage PFW ERP provides such accurate inventory records that she can do cycle counts every three months instead.

Mike Abts, Par-Way's CFO, likes the refined financials he generates with Sage PFW ERP. "With the upgrade, our reporting capabilities are greatly improved," he says. "We can customize reports in many ways, pulling data directly from Sage PFW ERP and selecting by date ranges or numerous other criteria. Whereas before we had merely text-based reports, now we can make them visually attractive."

Par-Way's managers believe that the firm's exceptionally low attrition rate may be related, in part, to its willingness to provide state-of-the-art tools like Sage PFW ERP - eliminating rote tasks, streamlining everyone's workload, and ensuring good clean data for both internal and external purposes.

"Sage PFW ERP and Vegalene are two things I definitely wouldn't want
to do without," says Kerr. "Although production has increased by 40 percent, we have not had to add staff in our customer service, order entry or accounting groups - thanks to the robust capabilities of our software."