Business News
Innovative Packaging Solutions Provider Outlook Group
Friday 27. August 2010 - Outlook Group of Neenah, Wisconsin, supplies innovative packaging solutions in label, folding carton, film and contract packaging, as well as supplies a range of supply chain services in direct marketing.
These diverse product capabilities drive a diverse set of internal processes that, in the past, created administrative re-work, double entries, and cumbersome accounting practices. Essentially three distinct companies did not realize the synergy and cost savings of one whole company. The selection, installation, and implementation of Prism WIN and QTMS have enabled a consolidation of work processes, while maintaining the ability to deal with the unique requirements of each customer, business unit, and product.
“Prism allows Outlook to be more capable of handling the myriad of unique customer requirements we encounter each day,” says Jody Franz, CTO.
Selecting a Management Information System
Outlook Group was using a legacy management information system (MIS) that was a holdover from one of their consolidated companies. The MIS was capable of managing a printing operation, but when combined with flexible packaging and labels, Outlook quickly outgrew its capabilities.
With a diverse set of requirements, and a tremendous selection of management information systems, Outlook Group hired a consultancy to benchmark Outlook Groups requirements against over 150 available solutions. The request for proposal, due diligence, product demonstrations, and team voting, resulted in the selection of Prism WIN MIS and QTMS production management system. Prism WIN was one of the few solutions that allowed the management of distinct workflows in a single solution rolled up into unified accounting practices.
Return on Investment
Outlook Groups investment in Prism WIN and QTMS realized significant operational savings and benefits to their customers. Through an integrated approach to customer service, one account representative can handle a single customers needs across all divisions of the company resulting in a 15% reduction in staffing. The tight integration between estimating and order entry allowed a 25% reduction in estimating staff through the seamless conversion of estimating specifications to job specifications.
The centralized database across all divisions has had a tremendous impact on the accounting practices and procedures at Outlook Group. Prism WIN enabled the elimination of a third party financial statement application which has helped reduce month end activities by 50%.
Mobile Enabled
Outlook Group has taken advantage of QTMS scripting technology to mobile enable many of their inventory and material handling functions via Wi-Fi, browser-based, industrial handheld scanners and computers. Mobile enabling tasks that occur on the shop floor drastically reduces the labor necessary to process transactions at a stationary PC.
Complementary Technologies
A single system is not the answer to all of Outlooks needs and Prism WIN Connect is a module that Outlook Group finds extremely helpful. When it comes to shipping, Outlook Group relies on UPS Worldship. Through Prism WIN Connect, WINs application programming interface, Outlook Group is able to send all shipping information into UPS Worldship and receive shipping data back from Worldship for costing and tracking.
Web to Print solutions, best in class business reporting solutions, and enterprise collaboration tools are all being evaluated to keep Outlook Group moving forward on their continuous improvement efforts. These complementary technologies are not limited by Outlook Groups choice of MIS and production management systems. Prism WIN and QTMS are open systems that effectively integrate into the other systems a business needs to operate profitably.