Dominion Liquid Technologies

About Dominion Liquid Technologies (DLT)

Back in 2009 Dominion Liquid Technologies (DLT) began life by acquiring Flavor Syrups International, a specialist manufacturer of coffee syrup. Almost immediately, President and CEO of DLT, Charlie Cain, knew that a program of significant change would have to be undertaken to create a successful business.

“We knew we were buying a business with lots of challenges, not least its limited revenues, limited manufacturing capabilities and not enough people to get the job done in the way we required,” explained Cain. “Our main challenge in the beginning was limited capital; I knew right away that the software we were using to manage the business was sub optimal. It was very clear that a new ERP solution would help us to build a more efficient business, reduce waste, and grow rapidly while delivering quality products through every production run.”

Searching for a More Fluid Way to Work

Why cloud ERP? Because as a busy contract manufacturer juggling customers’ hugely diverse needs, testing ingredients and recipes, managing production schedules and third-parties, ensuring that products are shipped correctly so as not to erode finely tuned margins, and adhering to stringent quality targets – a nimble ERP is essential. Balancing growth with quality means everyone on the DLT team must be focused on our customers’ needs and product excellence rather than managing on-premise ERP with all the ensuing IT infrastructure.

Cain again: “Historically, different teams within the manufacturing process worked in silos, making information sharing slow, clumsy and error prone. It was extremely difficult for us to get accurate and reliable data on things such as inventory levels and expiration dates. What we really required was a system that could give us real-time information so that we could make better informed decisions. We knew this was vital to our bottom line growth.”

Plex, Revolution Group, & DLT: Partnering for Successful Deployment

The Plex Manufacturing Cloud was always on Cain’s radar. However, given that DLT was embarking on such a crucial business decision, he engaged Revolution Group. Their role was to evaluate a number of ERP solutions and then to deploy the technology so that the management team gained much greater confidence in their decision-making across all aspects of the business.

“Revolution Group put a number of ERP solutions through their paces, but what I found particularly helpful was that they didn’t just look at the process functionality we required, they understood the kind of light-on-our-feet business we wanted to be, that managing IT was not for us, and that we wanted to avoid huge capital outlay,” commented Cain.

The DLT team was enthusiastic about the real-time, integrated nature of the Plex solution, particularly favoring its traceability, quality and inventory control capabilities. But a visit to PowerPlex, Plex’s annual customer conference, and the opportunity to talk to other contract and food and beverage manufacturers, ensured Plex was selected.

Enjoying the Right Formula for Success

Revolution Group finalized the Plex Manufacturing Cloud deployment in just six months, streamlining operations right across the board. For example, technicians can share data from pre-operational checks, the new quality control process means the quality assurance team can always ensure specifications are met. And from a business perspective, the management team can evaluate downtime, line productivity, and identify different kinds of scrap, in order to see significant margin improvement.