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Collier & Associates brand mark featuring the core services: Business Transformation; Enterprise Systems; AI-Enabled Execution.

Feed, Seed and Fertilizer Production Company

Client Challenge

  • A large feed, seed, and fertilizer cooperative had embarked on a multi-year transformation spanning corporate, administrative, production, warehousing, distribution, and retail store operations

  • Seven feed mills and five fertilizer mills ran on largely manual, inefficient planning processes

  • Disconnected systems drove data integrity issues, rework, customer delivery mistakes, and excessive lead times

  • The 100-year-old organization carried deep cultural resistance to change

Client Solution

  • JD Edwards Education & Implementation: Established the education curriculum, orchestrated training, and designed complex master data taxonomies for inventory and manufacturing

  • Two-Level Supply Chain Planning: Architected a forecasting and planning framework with centralized corporate planning and decentralized mill execution

  • Systems Integration: Designed the bi-directional interface between JDE and Rockwell manufacturing process control, with finite scheduling for customer deliveries

  • Seed Operations Modernization: Implemented JDE modules for seed processing and warehouse automation

  • Commodity Price Management: Built the interface feeding daily commodity prices into product costing

Client Impact Results

  • Planning Efficiency: Reduced daily mill planning from over 3 hours to under 30 minutes

  • Automation: Moved operations from nearly 100% manual to approximately 90% automated

  • Scheduling Accuracy: Achieved ~98% on-the-hour accuracy for customer bulk pickups

  • Inventory Management: Improved retail inventory accuracy from under 50% to approximately 100%

  • Cost Reduction: Eliminated a multimillion-dollar pallet reuse operation

  • Price Management: Implemented daily repricing on commodity fluctuations

  • Cultural Transformation: Delivered lasting change inside a 100-year-old organization with embedded resistance

Client Technologies

  • JD Edwards ERP (PDM, Inventory, Forecasting, Manufacturing, MRP, Supplier Scheduling, Procurement, Product Costing)

  • Rockwell manufacturing process control integration

  • DSI barcode and scanning

  • Advanced warehouse automation

  • Two-level forecasting and supply chain planning

  • Blanket Purchase Order methodology

  • Gemba Walks and Lean process re-engineering

  • Commodity price management

Andy Collier was very professional and knowledgeable. He was able to gain a rapid understanding of our business and needs to help with the successful implementation of the JD Edwards ERP software.

Herb Brooks, Controller

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