CHICAGO, IL, Aug. 21, 2008 (Business Wire) - Radius Solutions Ltd., the leading integrated Business Information Management/Enterprise Resource Planning provider for the Packaging and Printing industry, announced that the Sonoco Flexible Packaging division is implementing the PECAS Vision ERP system in its North America operations.
Founded in 1899, Sonoco serves industrial and consumer customers in 85 countries. The company produces packaging for a variety of industries and for many of the world's most recognized brands. Sonoco provides an emphasis on quality and on partnering with its clients to develop innovative packaging solutions to help provide competitive advantage. Headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina, it operates more than 300 manufacturing and sales locations in 35 countries around the world and employs approximately 18,600 people.
Over the past decade Sonoco's Flexible Packaging division had acquired a number of facilities each leveraging different enterprise management applications. The decision to implement a new system was based on the need to improve operational efficiencies, respond more quickly to customer needs and to gain immediate access to critical management information across its facilities. Reducing the costs and risks of maintaining highly customized legacy applications was also a factor.
"We had four disparate legacy systems all running on different technology platforms and databases. It was inefficient and difficult to get adequate levels of reporting and to respond quickly to the needs of our customers," said Ben Chan, Director of Division Business Systems, Flexible Packaging, Sonoco.
The company underwent a rapid software selection process, only considering industry specific ERP providers with enough resources and implementation expertise to move quickly in the sales and implementation processes. Solid management, long-time, happy clients and strong financial performance over time, were also essential vendor requirements. Key software requirements were a functionally rich solution requiring minimal or no modifications to support packaging operations. The solution also needed GUI applications and web-based customer portal support.
Sonoco's Flexible Packaging group is implementing the entire PECAS Vision operations suite across its seven facilities in the United States and Canada. The business unit's first site went live in only three and half months, with two more U.S. sites to go live this year. An additional U.S. site and three Canadian sites are scheduled to implement the system next year.
Partnering with Sonoco to provide industry leading ERP Software and services is a great fit for Radius Solutions. Sonoco had a very clear vision of what it required from an industry-specific software package and provider, and we are pleased they recognized the value we can provide to their organization,", said David Taylor, President and CEO of Radius Solutions.
