A Food Engineering Exclusive

Dynamite Marketing (Meridian, ID) has more than 70 years of experience in animal and human health research, which the company combines with new technology to provide high quality, natural ingredients for animal feed and supplement products and human vitamin/mineral supplements. Dynamite uses no chemical additives and produces supplements formulated to maintain mineral and amino acid balance to maximize bioavailability and efficacy, says Callie Novak, Dynamite VP.

Dynamite offers seven product lines that are manufactured at five manufacturing centers in Idaho and Iowa. The company also operates three feed mills and manufactures private label products. The majority of its distribution is accomplished through a national network of independent distributors, or multi-level marketers (MLMs). In total, Dynamite distributes around 100 products to about 4,000 customers, filling nearly 1,700 orders per month.

Dynamite had been using accounting software and was conducting a search for an additional software solution that could manage its MLM business. But MLM was only one aspect of the business. The company lacked a strong back end to control its manufacturing operations. As a processor in its second decade of steady growth, Dynamite needed a solution that could help tighten up operations.

Novak says she wanted to better track inventory in real-time. In addition, with more than 100 unique products subject to ingredient changes, inventory control was mandatory. After reviewing several ERP solutions, Dynamite narrowed the choices to SYSPRO and another company. “SYSPRO was the best fit for us, and it made the most sense,” says Novak. Dynamite now runs the ERP system on Windows 2003 with a 16-user license.

Since installing the software in 2004, Novak says Dynamite realized many benefits from its decision. “Previously we didn’t have a way to track what we had. Each center had a different way of tracking ingredients and waste,” explains Novak. “We literally know at any given moment what inventory traces back to where. One of our main goals was to really know where the business stood. SYSPRO has definitely provided that.”

Regarding the company’s return on investment, Novak claims the software helped to increase turns and control the inventory, down to every ingredient. “We used to track our inventory on a macro level; we knew what we had in terms of finished products. We weren’t tracking losses or other things. Now we know exactly where we stand at all times,” she says. The same finite tracking applies to Dynamite’s financial data.

 “This business is run by people who are really concerned about [making nutrients for] animals, not software. Yet, our mill manager of 30 years has been able to pick it up and really use it,” says Novak.

In addition to lot tracking, accounting and inventory control, Dynamite uses the software’s forecasting functionality to enhance production planning. For example, if production of a certain product is outsourced to another factory, Dynamite can send the orders in intervals based on its forecasting data. This helps ensure that products are not overstocked and reinforces the mission that the customers are always receiving the freshest, highest quality products.

For more information, contact Morgan Gilman, morgan.gilman@syspro.com, 714-437-1000.