Empire Candle Co.
Empire Candle Gives NexTec a Glowing Endorsement
Empire Candle engaged NexTec Group to help optimize their Sage X3 solution, effectively reimplementing the software, introducing improved workflows and maximizing the company’s potential.
About Empire Candle
The United States’ candle industry is worth almost $4 billion annually – and it is still growing. Empire Candle Co., a 67-year veteran of the industry, understands what customers want, and continues to grow both its revenues and market share. The key to the company’s ongoing success is its lean and efficient manufacturing processes, which enables it to minimize waste, quickly respond to trends and anticipate customer demand.
Industry
Process Manufacturing
Location
Kansas City, KS
System Selected
Sage X3
Key Results
$400,000 annual savings by eliminating overflow warehouse
Substantial labor savings by reducing the need for multiple shifts and temporary employees
Production costs down 30%
Improved real-time performance feedback to functional teams
Main Functionalities
Here’s how NexTec Group and Sage X3 helped solve Empire Candle Company’s challenges.
The improvements introduced as a result of NexTec’s optimization of Sage X3 have been nothing short of extraordinary. “We’ve significantly reduced our inventory of raw materials and have decreased our production lead times,” says Mathis. “We also have much greater accuracy throughout the supply chain. Before we would often have big discrepancies during physical counts, and now we are spot on.”
The company’s on-time and complete shipment rates have seen dramatic improvement. “Previously we might still be in production when the truck pulled up,” says Mathis. “We’d pay detention fees and incur chargebacks as well as disappoint some customers. Our ability to deliver complete and on-time to our core customer base has improved tremendously.”
Through process improvements including flattening the Bills of Material, work order material picking and staging efficiencies, Empire Candle’s production costs are down by 30 percent, and orders are complete and ready for delivery well ahead of time.
Labor costs are down as well. “Previously we’d run two, sometimes even three shifts during our peak production season, utilizing a heavy temporary staffing population during those fluctuations,” explains Mathis. “Now we have a more stable full-time workforce and operate with a single shift more consistently each year.”
Without reliable planning forecast capabilities, Empire Candle found itself over-buying and over producing, which proved costly. “We’d end up with too much product or too much of the wrong product so we’d end up selling the excess to close out customers,” says Mathis. “Now we have aligned our buying and our production with anticipated demand and can better manage inventory, both raw material and finished goods, at appropriate levels within each of our local facilities.”
Under NexTec’s advice, Empire Candle began exploring the Quality Control features in Sage X3, and it’s paying off. “As we pursue new business opportunities, we need to demonstrate our GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) to potential customers,” Mathis says. “We recently went through a GMP audit and scored an amazing 94 out of 100.”
The company has plans to implement the advanced lot control, traceability and recall management capabilities in Sage X3. While not required, Empire Candle predicts that it will only add to its cadre of best practices and improve its overall efficiency and productivity.
With NexTec’s expertise and guidance, Empire Candle is leveraging Sage Enterprise Intelligence to gain deep business insight and make strategic, informed decisions regarding its SKU count, to improve real-time performance feedback to functional teams, and to provide sales and marketing teams with self-serve data and analytics.