SMK Global has a strong corporate ethic based on its stated values of effective and modern management, customer responsiveness and availability, clarity and transparency in quality control, innovation and creativity in product development, responsiveness to market trends, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability. They support various programs to support environmental sustainability and fight the degradation of our planet.

They manufacture a wide variety of health products, such as grass-fed multi-collagen, probiotics, electrolytic hydration solutions, protein shakes, meal replacements, multivitamins, and many, many more. All this is done at their state-of-the-art 75,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant located in New Jersey, where they have garnered a reputation for top-quality precision manufacturing.

Problems Faced by SMK Global

SMK Global was facing the standard problems faced by most other manufacturing firms, such as employee management, inventory and logistics, and customer relations management. After facing certain problems in these areas, SMK Management decided to implement an all-in-one software suite to help run operations and began scouting for the same.

However, their high-quality standards and specialised operations meant that they preferred not to go for a run-of-the-mill, off-the-shelf software and instead contacted Silver Touch Technologies to design for them a bespoke customization of SAP Business One.

This case study will look at some of the problems faced by SMK Global, how SAP Business One helped tackle these issues, as well as SMK’s experience of working with Silver Touch Technologies. Some of the problems faced by SMK management included -

Employee Management

With a large roster of manufacturing and management staff and logistical, marketing, and research personnel, SMK was having serious problems managing such a large team. The different work hours, skill sets, responsibilities, and compensations of all these employees presented a serious challenge. Management perceived that both employee productivity and firm profitability were suffering as a result.

This is where SAP Business One’s dedicated employee management suite came in and instantly de-hassled the entire process. Managing thousands of employees became stunningly easy, as now SMK managers could search for and look at the work logs, employment history, productivity, and other statistics for any of their staff at a glance.

Not only was employee management now a painless and simple process, but further opportunities for growth were generated, as management could now look at detailed statistics and analyze weak spots, project future trends and eliminate efficiencies without trawling through entire libraries of employee data. Employee productivity also improved as the entire work process for staff became smoother, and morale rose.

Inventory and Logistics Management

As a manufacturing company, of course, SMK had to deal daily with logistics, inventory management, and warehousing headaches. Compounding this headache was their large array of products requiring a larger array of raw materials, and as such, they soon found a need for a system to help track, manage, and optimise their procurements as well as product stocks. In such a highly competitive business, every percentage point of efficiency is crucial, and SMK did not want to neglect such an important part of their daily operations.

Enter SAP Business One with its inventory management module. Now SMK overseers could easily see at a glance how much each raw material they had in stock, how much they needed to procure, what their manufacturing throughput was, how many of each product they had on hand, and how much more they needed to manufacture to fulfil sales, and where all of the above were stored.

This had a transformative effect on their operations, and their plant in New Jersey has become a model of efficiency. SMK was quickly able to analyse seasonal trends to optimise input purchases and manufacturing volumes, plug any leaks they had, optimise logistics to reduce wait times and costs, and thus beat any competitor on cost and deadlines.

Customer Relations Management

SMK Global prides itself on its dedication to providing a good customer experience for the entire process, from product conceptualization to commercialization. However, they dealt with a large number of partners, from raw material suppliers and third-party service providers to procurers. As such, the process of managing customer relations and tending to each partner’s special requirements and inquiries became a very cumbersome and time-consuming process, and once again, SAP Business One came to the rescue with its customer relations management module.

SAP Business One provided a customizable and expansive roster of all partners, with each one’s details easily available at a click and automatic reminders for any urgent or time-sensitive queries. As such, SMK was able to continue its tradition of providing a superior business experience to all partners, but now at a fraction of the time and tedium. This soon proved to be a vital competitive advantage for SMK over its peers.

SMK’s experience working with Silver Touch

Overall, SMK had heaps of praise for Silver Touch Technologies. They were looking for a technology partner who could devote individualised attention to SMK’s specific requirements, had experience working in similar fields and with similar firms, could provide not just software but ancillary services such as training and technical support, and, most of all, understood SMK’s specific problems and proactively provided solutions to these. Silver Touch Technologies ticked all of these boxes and more, and provided a smooth, hassle-free implementation experience for SMK.

The process began with Silver Touch having some pre-consultation meetings with SMK management to understand in-depth the problems they faced. Then they sent a team to inspect the facilities and develop a deep understanding of SMK’s operations. Only after interviewing and inspection did they develop a customised architecture of SAP Business One to SMK.

The process didn’t just stop there, however. Silver Touch also provided special training to all SMK employees to help them fully leverage SAP Business One’s powerful capabilities, not just on a one-time basis but ongoing, with refresher courses with every update. They were also available for 24/7 post-sales tech support, always available to fix any snags and provide security updates.

Overall SMK gave extremely positive reviews of their work with Silver Touch and stated that their firm’s efficiency and productivity had skyrocketed after implementing SAP Business One. They expressed hope for a long and fruitful partnership with Silver Touch and now strongly endorse any future firm looking to optimise their operations to look no further.