ERP implementation at Emirates Flight Catering Co.

 A true success story

EKFC has successfully completed its Enterprise Application implementation to achieve the following major corporate objectives:

• Integrate information across the organization providing a common platform & database for strategic planning and operational information
• To enable EKFC to provide an improved level of response to its customers, employees, vendors and shareholders
• Help EKFC to remain competitive
• To benchmark for performance evaluation
• To sustain business growth
• To retain its position of market leader

A suitable ERP package (Peoplesoft OneWorld) was identified and then implemented successfully ahead of schedule.

The ERP implementation project was christened Project Catersoft. The project duration was approximately 1 year and standard industry methodology (One Methodology) was followed for implementation. Though all ERP implementations have typical characteristics, what is important to consider is that the Airline Catering has its own peculiarities, such as:

• The airline catering industry is very time critical industry.  All meals to all aircraft must be delivered in time.  Airlines operate around the clock hence the business also runs on round the same basis. This necessitates a 24x7 IT infrastructure operation.
• The transaction volume is very high – in the range of millions of transactions.
• EKFC produces approximately 65,000 meals per day and caters to 105 airlines and ad-hoc flights operating through Dubai International Airport.
• The catering business is very dynamic and order revisions continue to be sent by airlines until flight departure.
• The Flight Catering Solution (FCS) module which covers the complete supply chain for airline catering is the first of its kind to be implemented globally.

Users from multiple locations were covered under this implementation. As of now, there are approximately 200 users of the system. The implementation was carried out with minimum possible customization, thereby using only the standard functionalities of the original ERP software package.

This project was also unique in another way – some of the quick wins became visible, even while the implementation was under progress; these included standard costing, item master consolidation, UoM standardization, customer master data & supplier master data cleansing, and cleaner Bills of Material (BoM) for menus. In other implementations the business starts seeing these benefits only after go-live.

The extensive use of the Forecasting & MRP features of JD Edwards was a significant cornerstone for the project as well as the business – unlike many other businesses the planning & forecasting in this industry vertical is very critical; if not done correctly, there is a distinct possibility of over- and under production, both of which negatively impact the organizations potential profitability and customer service. It is also important to bear in mind that most of the items we are dealing with are perishable.

The following modules were implemented:

• Financials (AR,AP,FA and GL)
• Plant & equipments maintenance
• Purchase
• Warehouse & Inventory
• Production & manufacturing
• Flight Catering Solution (FCS)
• Human Resources
• Payroll

ERP implementation is just the beginning of a journey and not the destination; improvements & benefits are gradual and are seen and realized over a period of time. EKFC management is looking for further process improvements, more freedom & autonomy to its employees, and increased transparency across the organization.

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