EPA Foods
ProMark has increased efficiency both in production and administration...
We have received excellent service, and ProMark has resulted in tangible savings both on the payroll and in administration
”We implemented ProMark well over six months ago. Our company has developed significantly and was no longer a normal daytime workplace – it had become practically impossible to make employee scheduling and control wages. ProMark has increased efficiency both in production and administration, and today, we have data history being the Alpha and Omega of our ability to make optimum production plans.”
This is how Thomas Olsen describes the situation in EPA Foods before and after ProMark was implemented. He is the Project Manager at EPA Foods, which is Denmark's only supplier of fresh sushi for the retail trade. With their 25 employees, EPA Foods is one of the smaller companies. Anyway, requirements for sharp planning and logistics can make most people tremble.
”Today, the administrative payroll preparation is made 80% faster than was the case with the old solution. We have no doubt that our production has become much more efficient, but due to our growth, this is quite hard to measure. Simultaneously, we are convinced that more advantages lie ahead, once we have built up a larger amount of data so that we can start analyzing the data we get from ProMark”, explains Thomas Olsen.
The point is that EPA Foods sells products of unusually short durability. On top of that, each tray of sushi consists of several primary produces which come from every corner of the earth – often with times of delivery of up to 120 days.
”We must produce the precise amount of sushi trays in demand, because two days later, the sushi no longer tastes fresh, and then we demand that they are removed from the refrigerated displays in the shops. Eating sushi is still pleasurable, and the demand pattern therefore varies a lot according to weekday, season and campaign activities. This means that there are drastic fluctuations in our production up to as much as 400 percent between the busiest and the least busy week.
The mere calculation of when to start our production and with how many employees is a difficult arithmetical problem. If for instance we are overstaffed, so the sushi trays are ready in plenty of time before the carrier arrives, then this has direct effect on the durability in the shops. So even though we are a small company, we are totally dependent on efficient systems, and ProMark is one of them.”
Invaluable data history
EPA Foods utilizes ProMark for time and attendance for the 20 hourly-paid workers in production. This system has replaced a punch-card solution with manual entry of work hours into Excel spreadsheets. According to Thomas Olsen the previous system could in no way meet the company's requirements for data quality and data history, and therefore they were on the lookout for a future-orientated and user friendly solution.
”In ProMark we now have a system which meets all our needs, both now and on the long view. The best part of it is that we now have data history, which enables us to plan considerably better than before. Today we can go back and see how many employees were on duty in any given peak period. We can see when they clocked in and how long they worked to make the production puzzle succeed. It saves us a lot of time, and we avoid many errors in the planning process.”
Goodbye to an Excel nightmare
Another great advantage is that the payroll administration is now much simpler. According to Thomas Olsen this has resulted in highly improved data quality:
”Previously, we entered the punch cards manually into Excel and from there into the payroll system. When calculating working hours and supplements, we only counted quarters and half hours. I could work with 80 spreadsheets just to calculate wages. The particular conditions in our production results in a very high degree of flexi-time among our hourly-paid workers, and it became increasingly difficult to control all the different supplements for staggered working hours in Excel. This directly reduced data quality.
Today, all calculations are made automatically in ProMark, which is 100 percent integrated to our payroll system Multiløn. We now have a considerably greater accuracy in payroll calculations, and there is no risk of keying errors or miscalculations. This has appreciable economic effect and has also created greater confidence and trust among our employees.”
Exceptional service
EPA' satisfaction with ProMark is also due to the fact that the system has worked impeccably since the very first day, and that EPA Foods has had a unique co-operation with Mark Information, adds Thomas Olsen:
”We deliberately looked for a smaller supplier with solid references within food production, so Mark Information was an obvious possibility. After our first meeting, we only superficially looked at other options. We had no doubt that ProMark was the right thing for us, and the consultants from Mark Information also appeared to be the right persons for the job. We have received fantastic service all along. Before the implementation we were given a folder explaining the whole implementation process. It was extremely structured. The consultants have very broad knowledge of their fields of responsibility, and they know the system thoroughly. This filled us with calmness and confidence.”
| Even though EPA Foods is a small company, employee scheduling and payroll administration are highly complex. There are large fluctuations in the production, and the raw materials have very limited durability. It is therefore a demanding task to plan who is to be at work when and to remunerate the employees correctly. The ProMark system registers all data about each employee's working hours and transfers them automatically to Multiløn, which calculates the rates for the salary statements. |
About EPA Foods
EPA Foods is a new actor in the Danish market for ready-prepared dishes. At present, the core product is fresh sushi which is sold throughout Denmark as well as in Sweden and Norway. Production of sushi makes heavy demands on food safety and on the quality of the raw materials used. EPA Foods are abreast of the official requirements and pride themselves of delivering a high quality product not matched by anyone. Each and every rice ball is checked by hand and every single piece of fish is placed by hand. The production of sushi takes place near Copenhagen, in rooms built for this one single purpose to produce sushi, and they therefore meet all given standards for this.
EPA Foods was established in 2002 and today employes 25 persons, of which 20 are hourly-paid.
”EPA Foods is a very dynamic company with ambitious goals for the future. We now have a system which meets all our needs today, and which without problems can grow with us as new needs arise. Everybody in our company are happy with ProMark, and I consider the implementation of the system a great success.”
Time registration at EPA Foods
EPA Foods utilize the ProTime and ProManagement modules. They are implemented on a terminal by the entrance to the shop floor where all employees clock in and out when coming and going. The registration is extremely simple and is made when the employee passes a small tag past the terminal reader. The tag is personal so that all information is kept confidential.
| Even though EPA Foods is a small company, employee scheduling and payroll administration are highly complex. There are large fluctuations in the production, and the raw materials have very limited durability. It is therefore a demanding task to plan who is to be at work when and to remunerate the employees correctly. The ProMark system registers all data about each employee's working hours and transfers them automatically to Multiløn, which calculates the rates for the salary statements. |
About EPA Foods
EPA Foods is a new actor in the Danish market for ready-prepared dishes. At present, the core product is fresh sushi which is sold throughout Denmark as well as in Sweden and Norway. Production of sushi makes heavy demands on food safety and on the quality of the raw materials used. EPA Foods are abreast of the official requirements and pride themselves of delivering a high quality product not matched by anyone. Each and every rice ball is checked by hand and every single piece of fish is placed by hand. The production of sushi takes place near Copenhagen, in rooms built for this one single purpose to produce sushi, and they therefore meet all given standards for this.
EPA Foods was established in 2002 and today employes 25 persons, of which 20 are hourly-paid.
Published January 25, 2007
