Monsanto Case Study

Background
In May of 1998, Monsanto Antwerpen, in Belgium, began their global rollout of SAP. Part of this rollout, led by Deloitte Consulting, was the implementation of Pervasive Computing for the sMRO (Materials, Repairs, Orders) stores of Monsanto.

As pioneers of biotechnology and environmental responsibility, Monsanto has consistently led the race in research and development of new products and technology to achieve their goal of sustainable agriculture. Behind the scenes, Monsanto has also paced the industry in corporate efficiency and business processes.

Keeping it Simple
The Monsanto site in Antwerp recently integrated all of their business practices to an ERP system from SAP. A major focus of the new cutover involved the materials management processes and how the change would affect Monsanto's current efficiency. The existing warehouse system was a DOS batch system. Data was updated into Monsanto's system when time was allowed. There was no way to track inventory transfers, receipts of goods or purchase orders in real-time, when the information was needed most.

The search for a new solution began and Monsanto went directly to Abaco. "Their SAP connectivity and flexibility to support a broad range of business processes greatly influenced our selection of Abaco," said Walter van der Elst, Director of IT. "Deloitte Consulting had also recommended Abaco for our project."

Pervasive Warehouse Application
The warehouse barcode system consists of the following seven standard SAP transactions:
Put-away of goods by using transfer orders
Picking of goods by transfer
Bin to Bin Transfers
Creation of Cycle Count lists
Enter physical count results
Goods Receipt
Goods Issue

As special requirements, three customized transactions were added to the project:
Receipt Confirmation.
Temporary bin location assignment
Picking / Routing Throughout Stores

The development of the solution was done in two phases, running concurrently with the SAP implementation, and completed in only six months.

"This was a really important project for Monsanto," said Armand Gijsbers, Project Supervisor for Stores. "Abaco's knowledge of SAP, coupled with their warehouse and automated data collection expertise, made us very confident about the transition to the R/3 system".

Flexibility
The core of Monsanto's warehouse solution is the Abaco Bridge for R/3 software, a data collection and interface development tool that provides the connectivity and interaction to all versions of SAP. The Abaco Bridge is a Windows NT-based technology platform that enables mobile computing devices to connect directly with ERP systems. The Abaco Bridge is hardware independent, supporting a wide variety of RF and batch devices, including barcode scanners and fixed position terminals from all leading ADC equipment manufacturers. The Bridge also supports scales and printers.

During the assessment phase of the solution, an interesting and possibly difficult issue surfaced. The 250-acre Monsanto site consisted of seven physical locations that all needed to be connected. Only two of the seven locations were within RF range. The solution had to accommodate both batch and online transactions.
"I was excited about the challenge," commented Marcel Theuns, Technical Consultant for Abaco. "One of the great features of the Abaco Bridge is the flexibility of the product. It supports all types of hardware and connectivity, so I knew the mixed solution would be no problem to develop."

Hardware
The devices chosen had to be different, due to the diverse solution that was required for the project. The devices included varied connectivity options supporting both RF and batch, as well as varied operating systems consisting of DOS and Windows CE. Abaco's Varadero Wireless Framework product made the addition of the Windows CE platform possible.

Varadero is built upon an open architecture, using thin client technology to create, deploy and maintain robust mobile computing applications. Varadero supports standard development tools and languages such as Visual Basic and Delphi for easy and cost-efficient application development. In addition, Varadero is hardware independent and supports Palm OS, Pocket PC, Windows CE and DOS-based handheld devices.

Future Plans
"Abaco's products allowed so many options," said Armand Gijsbers. "The combination of Varadero and the Bridge gives Monsanto the ability to create our applications using the languages we already know, as well as provides the technology we need to add new devices and transactions in the future."

After six months of development, Monsanto took their system live and were very pleased with the Abaco solution. The overall goal of improving the existing materials management procedures was achieved. Monsanto has benefited from the improvements of the SAP processes proposed by Deloitte Consulting and from the flexibility that the Abaco solution offers. The mixed batch and online solution has been significantly more efficient than the previous DOS batch system.

"We are very satisfied with the solution Abaco provided," said Gijsbers. "We are already planning to add more transactions to make our processes even more efficient."

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