About the company
Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC) specializes in the design and manufacture of converting machinery for the tissue, flexographic printing, and nonwovens industries that produce consumer products. PCMC's tissue converting product line includes equipment to perforate, emboss, print, and laminate layers of paper such as bathroom tissue and household towels. Headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, PCMC is the largest operating division of Barry-Wehmiller, a global supplier of engineering consulting and manufacturing technology solutions. PCMC's customers fall into four market segments, and its manufacturing locations number four in the US and two in Europe. To learn more about PCMC, visit www.pcmc.com.

Setting the strategy
With the acquisition of PCMC by Barry-Wehmiller, management began re-evaluating its strategies and overall processes and systems to reduce time to market and operating costs. Growing demands of customers prompted PCMC to investigate ways to increase agility, speed, and yields regarding order changes. The company realized that its poorly defined, inefficient business processes needed rework, and its SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) system needed to be replaced to match Barry-Wehmiller's standard approach. Given SAP's complexities, PCMC also knew it lacked the IT support and infrastructure needed to maintain existing investments. Matt Gidley, director of IT at PCMC, concludes, "With SAP, we would've had to make significant additional investments in hardware, software, and intellectual skills."