Granpak

The rapid expansion of the folding carton company spurs management to upgrade technology.

Granpak is a family owned company specializing in the production of folding carton and laminated packaging. Founded in 2001, Granpak offers services from concept to finished product to its customers in the EU. In 2013, Granpak built a state of the art production plant in Cracow, Poland.

“Because of the rapid growth of our company, we knew we needed to implement an ERP/MIS,” explains President Mariusz Korczak. Granpak was experiencing pain points typical of a rapidly expanding business:

Increased Production Demands: As the company grew, so did the complexity and volume of production jobs. Managing this efficiently required a robust system.

Organizational Complexity: With growth came more intricate organizational procedures that needed streamlining to maintain efficiency and effectiveness.

Future Growth Projections: Granpak expects significant growth in the coming decade, driven by extensive capital investments. Preparing for this growth necessitated a scalable, end-to-end ERP/MIS system.

Building a complete management system from the ground up in a brand new plant.

Granpak faced significant challenges as they transitioned from a manual system to a comprehensive ERP solution while building their new state-of-the-art plant. The primary objective was to replace their outdated processes with an integrated system that could streamline operations and enhance overall efficiency.

Granpak required a robust customer database that could store a detailed history of customer interactions, including quotes and documents related to jobs. In addition, a new product indexing system was required to organize and manage their diverse product range efficiently while being user-friendly for the sales and production teams. Sales could then analyze historical data in such a database to identify and pursue new business opportunities.

A comprehensive planning and scheduling system would provide detailed insights into machine utilization, tracked production progress, and monitored performance KPIs and provide real-time data and feedback, enabling effective management of production schedules and resource allocation. Granpak wanted immediate feedback on the status of jobs, including any issues or inventory shortages.

Quick feedback was needed as well, on machine downtimes, including reasons for downtime and their impact on production costs. Implementing a system that could accurately capture downtime data, compare actual costs to estimated valuations, and assess the efficiency of individual employees.

And finally, the implementation of a warehouse management system (WMS) that included supply chain management, inventory level assessments, and inventory turnover ratios. Creating an integrated WMS that could seamlessly manage inventory, track supply chain activities, and optimize inventory turnover to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Granpak implemented a significant overhaul of their management systems, creating smooth workflows, real time analytics and a WMS.

From Granpak’s perspective, implementing HiFlow’s ERP system was a strategic move that aligned with their growth objectives. From optimizing production scheduling and streamlining workflows to data collection for analytics, Granpak is taking full advantage of HiFlow’s many features to update their operations.

With HiFlow, Granpak now has direct access to comprehensive technological documentation for each job. This ensures that all job information is available at the planning and scheduling stage, facilitating a smooth transition from quote to production.

Once a quote is accepted, HiFlow’s job production workflow diagram is instantly created. This tool provides visibility into production processes, materials, machines and operators for every job. It enables Granpak’s planning and scheduling teams to see all job parameters in one place, verifying orders and identifying technological errors and specification mistakes early in the process.

Once on the production floor, HiFlow’s shop floor data collection modules provide extensive data at the machine level and from the shop floor. This data allows Granpak to analyze production processes before and after execution, providing insights into potential improvements. Data collected from machines generates real-time and downtime reports that highlight areas where changes or improvements are needed. This proactive approach enables Granpak to address issues promptly, minimizing downtime and optimizing machine performance.

Management uses HiFlow to analyze the performance of individual machines and assess the efficiency of operators. The performance data collected supports continuous improvement initiatives and helps identify training needs for operators. Front office uses the invoicing and receivables modules, since HiFlow automatically generates e-mails with payment reminders to selected customers.

In addition, HiFlow gathers crucial data for individual customer reports. Post-production calculations are compared with actual execution, allowing Granpak to accurately assess customer and job profitability. This detailed reporting helps the management team make informed decisions regarding future estimates and identify the most profitable clients. HiFlow’s comprehensive data collection and analysis capabilities empower Granpak to make data-driven decisions. By optimizing production scheduling, enhancing reporting, and managing errors effectively, Granpak has significantly improved its operational efficiency and profitability.

The solutions provided by HiFlow have not only addressed current inefficiencies but have also set the foundation for Granpak’s sustained growth and success. “As our company is now experiencing great growth, HiFlow is definitely helping us scale.”

Scales as company grows

Granpak’s investment in HiFlow’s ERP system was not just about addressing current challenges but also about preparing for future growth. “We expect a great amount of growth in the coming decade after our extensive capital investments and our investment in a comprehensive end-to-end MIS system,” says Korczak.

The ERP system’s scalability ensures that Granpak can continue to expand its operations without facing bottlenecks or inefficiencies. The ability to integrate new modules and adapt to changing business needs provides a robust foundation for sustained growth.

Customer – vendor relationship

Granpak’s packaging production profile is unique; almost every product is individual in design. And HiFlow acknowledges that fact. Tools and dies, machines, substrates, formats, projects and processes—the ideal technology takes all facets of a business into account and works to integrate them into one single seamless, productive system. According to Granpak’s team, providing for the unique needs of Granpak is what determined their final decision to choose HiFlow.