1. The Problem
Food Manufacturer’s ERP system used standard costing models with assumptions that often varied up to 50% from reality. With sales demand exceeding capacity, management needed to decide which orders to accept or decline, but ERP data couldn’t reliably show true profitability by SKU.
2. The Solution:
Integrated real production data from MES, historian, and ERP with costing models to determine actual cost per SKU. Data included:
Raw material consumption
Packaging usage
Changeover times
Waste and rework
OEE and production states
FrameworX dashboards visualized this costing intelligence, enabling sales and operations to base decisions on actual margins rather than ERP standards.
Technical Specifications:
ERP: Microsoft D365 (Cloud)
MES: GE Plant Applications
Historian: GE Proficy Historian
Front End: Tatsoft FrameworX (dashboards for costing analysis)
PLCs: Rockwell Automation
Scope: Cost modeling based on years of historical production data
3. Key Enablers:
Real-time integration of production metrics with ERP costing
FrameworX dashboards to visualize true SKU profitability
Flexible data model that grows as more production metrics are tracked
4. The Results:
Identified SKUs and customers that appeared profitable but actually lost money
Allowed sales to prioritize high-margin orders during capacity constraints
Improved bottom line by 10–12% simply by shedding low-margin products
Provided sales and marketing tools for negotiating based on real costs
In this section...