Introduction
For just over a year, teams of our employees have been working diligently on the set up of a new computer system to run our business and serve customers better. We currently have three different legacy computer systems on which we operate. They served their purpose but now that we have merged to form DCL, they are being replaced with a new, state-of-the-art ERP system that the entire company will operate on. We put together this article to provide updates on what you will see change on your end. We will update this article each month with new developments.
Project Goals
A key goal of this project is to provide better service to customers through an integrated planning system and more detailed management of our supply chain to improve on-time-delivery. Our business has stretched the capabilities of our current planning systems and the new tools that our cloud-based ERP system offers will bring us to the forefront of modern supply chain management. The roll out of this ERP could not come at a better time, given the challenging supply environment that the entire pigment industry finds itself in. The changes we are making will give our employees the powerful tools they need to better serve our customers and be the industry’s best pigment supplier.
Have a question about the new ERP System?
Please feel free to contact Frank Lavieri, DCL’s Executive VP of Sales & Marketing.
Order Confirmation Document
We would like to take this opportunity to introduce the Order Confirmation document which will be sent with each received order. The purpose of this document is to confirm order receipt and many important order details so that our customers are confident of clear communications and expectations. The new order confirmation document will be provided when we roll out our new ERP to US customers in a few months and by Q1 2022 for the remainder of our customers. On the accompanying “Sample” Order Confirmation document that we created, key information fields are highlighted and numbered for discussion.
- Customer Addresses – Numbers 2, 3 & 4. The Order Confirmation will show three addresses for the customer. The customers Mailing Address (2), Physical Address where this delivery is to be made (3) and the address where the invoice is mailed (4).
- Dates – Numbers 1 & 7. The Order Date (1) we received the customer’s order and the expected Delivery Date (7) are clearly indicated on this document. Our new ERP has a sophisticated logistics module which calculates shipping times between the warehouse of the ordered product and the customer to time shipment releases. Our plan is to confirm an expected delivery date at the time an order is placed.
- Order & Product details – On the order confirmation we will include the Customer Order Number (5), which is standard practice, as well as the Customer’s Code (6) for our product. Many of our customers have established their own internal raw material codes corresponding to our branded product. In our new system, we will store customer aliases for our products and print them on the order confirmation as another step to improve communication in the order fulfillment process, especially with our customers outside of the US where this feature has not been available.
- Charges – An estimate of any applicable charges (8) is summarized on the Order Confirmation with detail by order line in the body of the document. For customers in regions where VAT or HST is collected these charges will be shown in detail.
It is our expectation that our new Order Confirmation document will improve communication during the order fulfillment process and provide greater confidence for our customers.
New Product Codes
What follows is an overview of the changes to our product codes that are being made to both communicate information about the packaging of the product and to unify the multiple product coding systems which have arisen due to the merger of our different companies. We will also introduce new Item Number designations which are six-digit numbers that will appear on Order Confirmation, Invoices and other paperwork.
Examples:
|
New Product Code/Name |
Old Product Code |
Product Package |
New Item Number |
Product Description |
|
06-905-DP-20 |
06-905 |
20 kg all paper bag |
200486 |
DNA ORANGE, PO.5 |
|
5023-EP25 |
5023 |
25 kg bag (plastic) with European labeling |
100123 |
LEMON YELLOW, PY.34 |
|
2094-DP25 bag |
2094 |
25 kg all paper bag |
100001 |
BISMUTH VANADATE, PY.184 |
|
1225-DC20 |
1225 |
20 kg bag with a plastic liner |
200605 |
QUINACRIDONE MAGENTA 122 |
|
PR-289-DC50L |
PR.289 |
50 lb bag with plastic liner |
200620 |
LITHOL RUBINE 57:1 BS |
|
RED AX101-DD30 |
GemSperse Red AX 101 |
30 kg keg |
100197 |
GEMSPERSE RED AX101 |
As you can see in the above table, our new product codes are a relatively small change from the current ones but an important improvement in communication. There are a number of customers who have specific packaging requirements or questions about packaging and these new product codes will quickly communicate package construction (C if plastic is present in the bag), standard package size (the default is kg but an L is used to designate a package with a standard weight in pounds) and if the labeling complies with unique European requirements (designated with E).
Customers who have given us their specific internal codes for our products will see these printed on our Order Confirmation (see above).
New Certificate of Analysis
Each lot of our pigment(s) are tested against our standard(s). A Certificate of Analysis (COA) is available for each delivery of product we make to customers and can be requested at any time. The new COA shown below is annotated with numbers to highlight specific pieces of information referred to in the text below.
- 1, 2 & 3 – This line identifies the product and lot number for which the COA values apply.
- 4 – Importantly, our standard lot for this product is identified. We maintain a standard for each product and use it for Quality Control. Each lot of a product is compared to it in the standard tests that are performed each time a new lot is created. This means that our standard lots are consumed over time and eventually need to be replaced. ,When we change standard lots we notify customers and offer a sample of our new standard.
- 5, 6 & 7 – Test are identified with Test Method numbers and a description. For customers who are interested, we provide the test procedures used in our testing. The units of the values given on the COA are also shown.
- 8 – shows the minimum and maximum values for our specifications and the test results for this lot.
If customers have questions about COA’s or product qualities they can always ask customer service or contact our technical team directly.
New System Cutover September 1st for US Customers, Only
Our first step in this global implementation is to migrate our US business to the new system, targeted for September 1, 2021. Customers outside of the US will not be affected by this first phase of the transition but will be transitioned to the new system in January 2022.
In preparation for the US go-live, there will be black out period to ensure a successful migration of the system. This black out period will be August 30th to September 7th and during this time orders cannot be accepted, shipped, or invoiced for US customers. Shipping for US customers will resume after the Labor Day holiday on Sept 7th. Our customer service representatives will review all US orders scheduled to ship during those dates and work with you to move your orders up or to move them out to meet your requirements without disruption in supply. Your DCL sales account manager and customer service representative are available to assist you through this transition. Lastly, this only affects products sold by DCL Corporation (USA) LLC (formerly LANSCO COLORS) which are in DCL’s existing ERP system and does not impact the Bushy Park products being purchased by customers through the DCL Corporation (BP) LLC legal entity which is currently being serviced via a transition service agreement with Sun Chemical using their ERP.
If you have any questions, please contact your local sales representative.