1. www. Start.co.nzi Quarter Two 200634
S
kellerup Industries Limited has cho-
sen Oracle’s JD Edwards business
applications as part of a global initia-
tive to improve efficiency and pro-
ductivity. Together with its holding
company, Skellmax Industries Limited, it antici-
pates further benefits such as the ability to manage
organic growth and integrate future acquisitions.
In order to meet its growth projection,
Skellerup needed to upgrade its technology and
move off a legacy ERP system that it has used for
the past 15 years. The company had modified
its previous solution extensively to fit its manu-
facturing requirements, but found it difficult to
integrate Skellmax’s recent business acquisitions.
Furthermore, it needed to meet higher demands
for business information to allow more informed
critical business decisions.
Skellerup Chief Financial Officer, Guy Keogh
explained that the company conducted an exten-
sive evaluation process and found that some
vendors could not meet its specific requirements.
This was largely due to business complexity across
a wide range of business operations.
“Our criteria included functionality to satisfy
all our business processes, while providing easy
access to information for sound decision making,
scalability to cover a wide range of business opera-
tions and finally, the solution needed to be the
right fit for our business so that no modifications
were required during the implementation process,”
said Keogh. “We were quickly able to whittle the
list down to three potential vendors - Oracle’s JD
Edwards, SAP and Intentia.
“After a thorough testing and evaluation
process with all three vendors, we chose Oracle’s
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne as the solution that
best met our criteria. It offers rich functionality
New Zealand mid-market manufacturing icon, Skellerup is
implementing Oracle’s JD Edwards as it looks to boost productivity,
increase efficiency and support its worldwide expansion...
ERP

2. www. Start.co.nziQuarter Two 2006 35
in an easy-to-use package, and support for the
solution is strong. There are also a number of
similar sites in Christchurch running JD Edwards
EnterpriseOne, so we were confident in the local
knowledge of the product.”
All Skellerup business operations were
involved in the decision-making process from
management through to workers on the factory
floor.
“The changeover will be carefully managed
so that disruption is minimised. It is vital that
we keep all operations running smoothly,” said
Keogh.
“We believe we’ve made the best decision
for Skellerup and the other subsidiaries in the
Skellmax Group going forward. We expect this
solution to help us meet specific financial tar-
gets by improving efficiency and productivity
across the business. A major goal is to link the
manufacturing and procurement activities more
precisely to our customer demand through MRP
and Advanced Planning technology so that we
maximise the efficiencies available in our manu-
facturing processes. We also need to ensure that
we satisfy customers who rely on us to provide
quality products, delivered on time”.
“Planning and forecasting are key require-
ments to ensure we can gain efficiencies through-
out the whole supply chain process. We also see
the benefits of having improved information
to make more informed decisions in managing
our working capital across our various business
operations”.
Once the implementation of Oracle’s JD
Edwards EnterpriseOne is completed in New
Zealand, Skellerup intends to roll the solution out
to its subsidiaries in Australia. The company also
has plans to install JD Edwards in its Chinese,
United States and United Kingdom divisions over
the next three to five years.
“Skellerup exhibits the typical buying criteria
of a mid sized enterprise that only JD Edwards
EnterpriseOne can meet,” said Callum Ross,
applications manager, Oracle New Zealand.
“Demand for Oracle’s JD Edwards solutions in
New Zealand has increased enormously and
Skellerup is the latest organisation taking advan-
tage of our business applications to streamline
and introduce new efficiencies into its business.”
Skellerup Industries Limited is a New Zealand
based marketer, manufacturer, distributor and exporter
of dairy rubberware, rubber and foam products, foot-
wear and vacuum pumps to agricultural and industrial
customers.The company operates two core business
streams: an Agricultural products business centered
on Skellerup Industries, the world’s third largest dairy
rubberware manufacturer; and an Industrial business
supplying technical rubber products for specific busi-
ness applications. Skellerup is a subsidiary of Skellmax
Industries Limited.
ABOUT
SKELLERUP
Oracle is expanding its offering of the JD
Edwards brand worldwide with what it describes as a
renewed commitment to ongoing support and devel-
opment.
According to business development manager
Lloyd Perrin, the focus will be on the mid-market, and
manufacturing, distribution, engineering, construction
and real estate industries.“Those are our areas of core
competency, but we’re flexible to the requirements of
our customers now that we can lead a proposal with
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Oracle E-Business Suite and
PeopleSoft Enterprise,”says Perrin.
Perrin explains that Oracle has released new ver-
sions of JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and JD Edwards
World which form the cornerstone of Oracle’s Fusion
mid-market planning.
From 2008, Oracle will provide a direct migration
path to Fusion which will enable customers to take
advantage of the best features and usability traits of
the JD Edwards, Oracle and PeopleSoft and applications
products. Perrin is quick to point out that there will
be no pressure on customers to take the Fusion path.
“We have announced a roadmap and extended support
for JD Edwards products until at least 2013, so the key
message is that customers can make the migration
as and when it makes business sense to do so,“ said
Perrin.“The JD Edwards roadmap allows customers to
plan their technology use eight years out, so we are
in a great position to provide more certainty than any
other ERP vendor.”
JDEDWARDS
ROADMAP
> SKELLERUP
Skellerup started to deploy JD Edwards
EnterpriseOne modules including Supply
Chain, Manufacturing, Advanced Planning and
Financials on an Oracle Database as part of a
phased implementation in November last year.
The company aims to go live in September 2006.
During this 11-month implementation period,
the company is working with Deloitte Consulting
and Oracle Consulting on the design, configura-
tion, training and implementation. i
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
> www.skellerup.co.nz, ww.oracle.co.nz
Callum Ross, 09 977 2163
callum.ross@oracle.com
i