SAP MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES FORUM 2015 RUN SIMPLE: INTELLIGENTLY CONNECT EVERYWHERE

SAP Manufacturing Industries Forum – The Westin Lombard

Lombard, IL | June 23-25, 2015

SAP Manufacturing Industries Forum – The Westin Lombard

Lombard, IL | June 23-25, 2015

How Alliance One International Optimized Global Product Labeling

©2014 Loftware, Inc. | V.11.14

Loftware At A Glance

• Global Leader in Enterprise Labeling

• 5,000 Customers in 100+ Countries

• Global Sales and Support

– Loftware, USA

– Loftware GmbH, Germany

– Loftware Asia Pacific Ltd., Singapore

• 28 Years Of Labeling Expertise

©2014 Loftware, Inc. | V.11.14

Enterprise Labeling Across the SAP Value Chain

SAP Business Process Triggers Labeling • Utilize master and transactional data • Maintains a single version of the truth • Support label template management

Customer Compliant Labeling • Formatting conditional by customer • One face to the customer/multiple languages • Competitive differentiation drives revenue

Global Label Standardization • Improve supply chain continuity • Increase perfect orders and on time delivery • Any label, Anywhere, Anytime

Optimize Operational Efficiency • Eliminate manual labeling, data entry & human errors • Native device drivers optimize print function & speed • Provides mission critical labeling performance

Business Rules Drive Global Labeling • Dynamic based on item, customer & country • Minimize label templates and optimize operations • Minimize cross-border delays and regulatory fines

Product Lifecycle Management

Sales and Distribution

Supply Chain Management

Manufacturing Execution

Warehouse & Transportation Management

External Supply Chain Optimization • Eliminate re-labeling upon receipt (Supplier Labeling) • Eliminate 3rd party labeling cost & errors (3PL Labeling) • Reduce counterfeiting and branding errors (Contract Mfg Labeling)

Business Partner Collaboration

Aftermarket Sales & Service

Mobile/Web Based Access • Integrate internal & service partners • Reduce time & cost to repair • Improve customer satisfaction

• Maintain compliance • Rapid change & time to revenue • Minimize counterfeiting • Properly represent brand & product

Customer & Regulatory Agencies Drive Labeling Design

©2014 Loftware, Inc. | V.11.14

Key Business Drivers Impact Labeling

Regulatory Compliance

Customer Responsiveness

Supply Chain Efficiency

Business Partner Collaboration

Business Continuity

©2014 Loftware, Inc. | V.11.14

Enterprise Labeling Delivers Value

Integrate to ERP &

SCM applications & business processes

Automate for rapid changes

and flexibility

with data-driven

labeling

Optimize

printing for

guaranteed on-time delivery, speed & reliability

Empower business users to manage

label design & Improve response

times

Easily scale

for high volume, global

printing

Standardize for

consistency &

performance across

supply chain

Significantly reduce manual

effort and the need to

relabel

Enterprise Labeling Solution

©2014 Loftware, Inc. | V.11.14

Loftware Helps SAP Customers with Labeling

Case Study: How Alliance One International Optimized Global Product Labeling

June 25, 2015

Donald McCoy

Director of Operational Systems

9

Agenda

• Alliance One Fact Sheet

• SAP/Loftware Landscape

• Labeling Requirements

• Why Loftware

• Label Printing Methods

• Label Documentation

• Lessons Learned

10

11

Why Labeling is Important

• Delays in labeling can impact the entire supply chain

• All product movements (SLoc to SLoc, Plant to Plant, Picking, Goods Issue, Inventory Counts etc.) have to be recorded by scanning labels which update SAP real time. This is critical for data integrity/accuracy.

• Customers have requirements that must be addressed with a minimum turnaround time.

• Labels are the vehicle that enable product to be distributed globally

• Labeling errors impact customer satisfaction and the bottom line

12

SAP Environment

• SAP ECC 6.03 – Single Global Instance

• 3000+/- SAP users

• SAP Implemented in Operating Units and HQ locations. 39 Company Codes, 35 Sales Organizations, 169 Plants.

• SAP Core Modules – FI, CO, SD, MM, BI/BW and PLM.

• Production and Inventory Management transactions are entered by floor operatives, in real-time.

• Alliance One is a ‘batch’ managed company. A single carton or bale of tobacco is treated as a ‘batch’ in SAP.

Each batch can have up to 97 batch characteristics.

Labels printed from SAP source data from these characteristics.

Mass batch characteristic updates - AOI has developed a custom transactions to easily update batch characteristics so labels can be changed as per customer requirements.

13

AOI Loftware Footprint - SAP

• Used for relabeling prior to shipment.

• Printing over 1.6 million labels per year

14

AOI Loftware Footprint – Manufacturing System

• Each factory runs a standalone instance of Loftware Print Server (LPS) integrated with our production planning and control application called ToPS (Tobacco Processing System).

• Since this is our production system we can not rely on network connectivity back to a centralized LPS instance.

• Network connectivity can be interrupted for various reasons with available redundant links not available or cost prohibitive.

• Over 7.5 million labels printed annually.

15

Labeling Challenges – Before Loftware

• Various labeling software and solutions used at the locations.

• Label software used was sometimes out of date and no longer supported

• Redundant effort creating the same labels for different labeling software

• Lack of centralized label design management

• Customer labeling requirements outpaced the current solutions

• Lack of knowledge and control of software used for labeling

• No IT standards for label printers or software

16

Labeling Requirements

• One global labeling solution

• Easy integration with SAP and Legacy applications

• Extensive Printer Support

• Standard label designs across applications and locations

• Easy to use label designer

• Incorporate logos and graphics into label

• Support Multiple Languages (eg. Latin based, Mandarin, Arabic, etc.)

• Supports wide range of barcode symbologies

• Print at low network speeds

• Near 100% availability

• Cost competitive

Any product at any point in time MUST be labeled: any delay to generate the label may impact the entire supply chain

17

Why Loftware?

• Support for Latest Barcode Symbologies

Code 93 is the standard for internal barcodes used by Alliance One for Finished Product labels.

AOI customers utilize various symbologies on their labels. The challenge was to identify a symbology that was not used by any of our customers and had a low probability of adoption in the future. This is to ensure customer fix position scanners did not pick up the AOI barcode.

Customers are continually changing their label requirements and adopting newer barcode types. AOI must be in a position to respond. Loftware has kept us ahead of the curve.

18

Label Samples

19

Label Samples

20

Why Loftware? (2)

• Intuitive Label Designer

Easily create or modify labels.

Incorporating text, formulas, graphics, lines…

Easily incorporate data from SAP or other sources directly into a label using defined variable listing

Enables quick label changes with no development effort to support customer requirements

21

Why Loftware? (3)

• Ease of System Integration

Loftware offers a variety of integration methods to integrate with SAP and Non SAP applications. AOI extensively uses file drop.

This method was selected due to the simplicity and dependability. With over 15 Loftware instances globally we required a method that could be supported by staff with varying levels of capabilities.

• Extensive Printer Support

Alliance One uses three printer brands (Data Max, Printronix and Zebra) globally due to available support and pricing.

However if we move into an existing operation we will use available hardware until end of useful life. To date AOI has not encountered a printer that was not supported.

Offers native font supports for over 1,000 printer types

22

Label Printing

• Directly from Production Application as goods are produced.

• Reprint Labels from SAP

Print Labels based on Material and Customer Information

Plant and Storage Location

A range of other SAP document types

Offline label printing option is available for facilitating sales of third party inventory.

• Labels can also be printed for batches no longer in inventory.

• Label printing available through SAP Gui or RF scanners

23

Label Documentation

• With the importance of labeling to Alliance One and our customers, we needed to have a repository of label documentation supporting all production label designs.

• We created a SharePoint portal and a standard label document template.

• Label documents check in requires:

Customer

Printer

Label Size

Origin

Document Language

24

Label Documentation (2)

• Each Label document includes:

Label Stock

Printer

Customer

Definition of all label components Generic Text, Formulas, Variables, Barcode Types…

Label Sample

25

Lessons Learned

• Use Native Fonts. Non native fonts are sent to the printer as images instead of text. This can cause slow print speeds over slow network connections.

• If your customers require non standard date formats, pass Month, Day and Year as separate variables and concatenate in the label designer.

• Standardize on a few printer brands and models to simplify label design. Each printer model has different fonts. When you convert labels from one printer brand to another you will need to verify the fonts.

• Up front planning. Define the list of fields that will need to be available before starting work on integration with SAP/other applications or designing labels.

• If using file drop method of integration you will need to select FIFO in the configuration to have labels printed in order they were created.

• Label printing log is kept for 24 hours by default. This can be reset based on your company requirements.

26

©2014 Loftware, Inc. | V.11.14

Enterprise Labeling Delivers Value

Integrate to ERP &

SCM applications & business processes

Automate for rapid changes

and flexibility

with data-driven

labeling

Optimize

printing for

guaranteed on-time delivery, speed & reliability

Empower business users to manage

label design & Improve response

times

Easily scale

for high volume, global

printing

Standardize for

consistency &

performance across

supply chain

Significantly reduce manual

effort and the need to

relabel

Enterprise Labeling Solution

©2014 Loftware, Inc. | V.11.14

For More Information

Questions?

Donald McCoy, Director of Operational Systems

AllianceOne

DMcCOY@aointl.com

Linda Bowers, Director of Strategic Markets

Loftware

lbowers@loftware.com

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Upcoming Webinar

How to Optimize Regulatory Barcode Labeling

from SAP

Featuring: Michael Poelzl of Sigma-Aldrich

Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at 1:00 PM EDT

http://resources.loftware.com/Sigma-Aldrich