• Download as PDF

• Compliance, corporate identity, customer fulfilment

• 

• Online SAP connectivity

• GS1 barcode labels

• ZPL / PDF output

• Accommodate customer requirements

• Flexibility

• Globalization

• Traceability & Auditing

• Optimizing the supply chain

One2Label helps improve FMC BioPolymer's Supply Chain

The Company

FMC BioPolymer is a division of the Specialty Chemicals Group of FMC Corporation, and is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. Its products, complex blends of carrageenan, alginate, Avicel microcrystalline cellulose, and konjac, improve the stability, efficacy, and sensory characteristics of foods, pharmaceuticals, personal care, household and other products.

In the numerous manufacturing and distribution facilities operated by and for FMC BioPolymer, thousands of customers in food, pharmaceutical and industry are supplied with even more different products every day.

The Challenge

With the implementation of SAP R/3 in the late 90ies, all FMC BioPolymer manufacturing locations were re-aligned to the same ERP system and had to migrate away from their legacy systems, including the location-specific labeling software.

The re-alignment was regarded as a good opportunity to move away from the location-specific stand-alone labeling applications, and towards a more centralized, corporate identity-aware solution that would enable FMC BioPolymer to ensure their compliance with local and international legislation, and to meet their customers' specific requirements in terms of labeling.

Later, the implementation of GS1 would help improve FMC BioPolymer's supply chain even more.

The Solution

FMC BioPolymer found the solution in One2Label, Type 2 Solutions' labeling software featuring online connectivity with FMC's SAP R/3 system and dynamic label delivery over the web.

There are 10 manufacturing and distribution facilities world-wide operated by and for FMC BioPolymer at which One2Label is used in direct connectivity to SAP R/3.

One2Label can access all labeling-related data via this online connection. The data is used to generate product labels or GS1 barcode labels that are immediately adjusted to customer requirements. One2Label offers FMC BioPolymer the possibility to print directly to its industrial Zebra printers using ZPL or to generate labels as Portable Document Format files (PDF).

The philosophy behind One2Label is to maintain all labeling-related data in the One2Label repository instead of trying to modify the underlying ERP system every time a new or changed requirement emerges.

Easy-to-maintain business rules can accommodate virtually any conceivable customer requirement, ranging from specific text, codes or formats to barcodes and symbols. Groups allow for custom groupings of business entities for the most diverse purposes.

The centralized, web-based management of that data and its immediate effect on the labeling operations allow FMC BioPolymer to adjust to market, process and customer requirement changes almost immediately.

The Asian market is a major focus for FMC BioPolymer. The road to Asia is open with the implementation of Unicode in One2Label, allowing the system to support most languages, such as Chinese.

Through the completely web-based character of the system, One2Label provides FMC BioPolymer with a global reach and great portability to new locations. Legal compliance is ensured through fully auditable and traceable operations, GS1 support, and centralized composition maintenance.

The Result

Using One2Label has helped optimizing FMC BioPolymer's supply chain by

• fulfilling customer requirements through its flexible and versatile business rules and groups
• implementing GS1, the global standard designed to improve the efficiency and visibility of supply and demand chains, and
• enforcing corporate identity and compliance with regional regulatory requirements through centralized management.

"When you consider the diverse product lines we offer, the complexities of regulatory compliance and customer requirements of the markets we serve, and the global nature of our supply chain footprint, the One2Label solution is an ideal package that enables us to meet all of these needs with a system that can be quickly deployed with basic training requirements."

David E. Stone, Director Operations Planning, FMC