Customer Story
Cascades integrates and standardizes data for just-in-time operation
Cascades integrates and standardizes data for just-in-time operation
Headquarters
Global
Industry
Manufacturing
Technology
ibi data platform
Profile
Founded in 1964, Cascades produces, converts, and markets packaging and tissue products composed mainly of recycled fibers.
Challenge
Cascades’ IT department is implementing SAP R/3 as part of an enterprise-wide strategy to reengineer financials, procurement, purchasing, production planning, warehouse management, plant maintenance, and other essential business functions. A significant challenge in this multi-year SAP deployment involves tying its existing infrastructure to its new, evolving SAP environment.
Cascades chose the ibi data platform to integrate technologies to monitor shop floor equipment and move data, messages, and transactions seamlessly across its complex infrastructure. “ibi showed us how we could set up interfaces to transfer messages, integrate legacy systems, and trigger actions among multiple systems,” says Martin Gauthier, technology coordinator at Cascades. This initiative’s success prompted Gauthier and his team to choose the ibi data platform to transfer data in and out of SAP.
Solution
The team deployed the SAP interfaces in two phases. First, it created secure file transfer protocol (FTP) channels to move legacy data into a multichannel architecture. These interfaces enabled plants to send and receive data between a legacy inventory system, a legacy production manufacturing system, and two SAP modules. “ibi consultants taught us to use their tools and gave us premium support whenever we encountered problems,” says Eric Mayrand, a software development manager at Cascades.
As time went on, the team decided they needed better recovery techniques and greater visibility into these transactions; they used the ibi data platform to upgrade to a more traditional queuing technology. “We decided to go with the FTP solution initially,” explains Mayrand. “This deployment demonstrated that the ibi platform was stable and easy to use. But as traffic increased, we decided to replace these interfaces with a message queuing system.”
Benefits
The ibi data platform provides a “plug-and-play” interchange among technology assets. Out-of-the-box integration capabilities allow seamless access to any application or data store. A built-in enterprise service bus enables the creation, composition, and management of many middleware services, whether invoked as web services or through other interfaces.
“Thanks to the ibi data platform, we have implemented SAP without having to change our existing applications,” says Mayrand. “We can make a smooth transition by keeping our new and old applications running in tandem.”
Cascades now uses real-time information from the ibi data platform to keep its production equipment running optimally, monitor the quality of finished goods, improve forecasting, and remove waste from the supply chain – ensuring prompt and accurate production and delivery of its products to customers.
We got the integration project off the ground quickly by leveraging existing assets and common off-the-shelf technology, creating a multi-channel architecture for moving data from one system to another.”
Martin Gauthier
Chief of Technology
Cascades
