The Lewis Chemical Company (TLC) is an employee-owned surfactants manufacturer based out of Rome, Georgia. It has been a Datacor ERP customer since 2010.

It was while attending Datacor’s annual Interaxions conference a few years ago, that Zack Raiford, TLC’s Senior Vice President of Operations, first heard about the company’s plans for a new Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and Warehouse Management System (WMS).

“They were discussing these new systems they were building and it really piqued my interest,” he says. “We quickly decided to join Datacor’s limited availability program and have been working with them for the past three years on the development side and providing feedback about the software.”

TLC adopted Datacor’s WMS in 2022, with the MES being rolled out in early 2023 – each integrating seamlessly into its existing ERP.

Both products, says Raiford, have helped transform the operating efficiencies and performance of the business.

“We’re operating out of three facilities on one campus, for the most part dealing with packaged goods in totes and drums. One of the biggest challenges for TLC is inventory management throughout our facility,” says Raiford. “Our main distribution warehouse is around 250,000 square feet, so there are a significant number of packages to track. Being able to implement a barcode system and then utilizing WMS for live transfers of material through our warehouses, Purchase Order receiving, and inventory corrections was a real game-changer for us.”

By digitizing its processes and going paperless, TLC quickly found it was not only simple to manage and monitor production, but fewer manual errors were creeping into the system. It no longer had to rely on paper transfer sheets and batch tickets, and with real-time inventory updates it was also far easier to monitor and manage the movement of product from its warehouse through to production.

“One of the biggest benefits to us has been inventory accuracy,” he says. “While we’d previously been running at around 89% inventory accuracy, since implementation of Datacor’s software we're now running above 98% on our spot checks. This brings real value to us as a manufacturing company; it gives us the confidence in our inventory to allow us to significantly decrease the amount of raw materials or finished goods we keep in stock – which frees up cash flow and improves our efficiency and performance.”

To prepare for the new software and ensure the onboarding process went smoothly, some housekeeping was needed, he says. TLC transitioned its ERP to the new .NET version, reviewed its current working practices, and worked closely with Datacor to set goals and track progress heading into implementation.

“We have over 1,000 different variations of formulas, so we also had to update some of our batch processes, and review our batch tickets before moving to this new system,” he says. “But we always felt well supported – and if we had any questions or concerns, we would talk to their team and they were very knowledgeable and responsive. They really understood the needs of a manufacturing business and kept in mind that we were also running a business at the same time, so whenever we had to slow down because we had other high priority items to deal with, that was fine.”

It was not too long before TLC saw a marked improvement to its workflow and operations, says Raiford.

“We started seeing the changes pretty quickly. We noticed improvements in our inventory in real time tracking almost instantaneously,” he says.

“We haven’t yet been able to quantify the cost savings, but from an operational efficiency viewpoint, not having to spend time searching for a product in the warehouse and being able to easily find the finished good or raw material to take to the production line, we've definitely seen a lot of improvement.”

Of course, there are also safety benefits, he adds. With the new software in place, every ingredient can be scanned, checked, and verified before being added to production – thereby minimizing the risk of human error and decreasing quality non-conforming batches.

“Depending on the type of business rolling out this new digital solution, of course there will be some growing pains and training needed – but we found it an easy platform to use and everyone was able to get up to speed in no time,” notes Raiford.

“I’d highly recommend Datacor software,” he says. “It really is the future; it's just going to bring so much more efficiency to our operation.”

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