WCA November 2014

Industry news

ICS opts for Advaris system

Prysmian pays €6.2m for shares Prysmian Group has finalised the acquisition of the remaining 34 per cent interest in AS Draka Keila Cables, thereby becoming the sole shareholder of the Estonian cable company. The price of this acquisition amounts to €6.2 million and takes into consi- deration a positive net financial position (cash) of approximately €4.9 million at the end of 2013. Draka Keila Cables reported sales of approximately €53.8 million in 2013 and is expected to deliver growing results in 2014. With six plants in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia, Prysmian can rely on a prominent presence in the Nordic region. The company is able to offer a wide range of products from submarine and underground high and medium voltage cable systems, to special cable solutions for oil and gas, the marine industry, the renewable energy sector, telecommunication and cablings for the construction sector.

WHEN ICS Industrial Cables Slovakia sro (ICS) was founded in 2005 and moved into its premises in the city of Nitra, Slovakia, it initially made use of Office software like MS-Excel. Part of the Austrian SKG Group, the company specialises in high quality, flexible industrial cables. The company processes an average of 250 to 300 different orders per month, a large proportion of them being customer-specific one-off orders. Inevitably, the self-developed, Excel-based software solution no longer sufficed, and ICS was on the lookout for a ‘software solution for clever cable-makers’. ICS’s sister company SKW (Schwechater Kabelwerke) was also looking for a software system to succeed its inventory control system for cable trading, which had been individually developed over many years. Further development of its own software, or a renewed realisation of individualised software, were rejected for reasons of cost and time. Right from the start, both companies were looking for a standard software system with an industry-specific orien- tation. They found it at Advaris Informationssysteme GmbH in Bruchsal, Germany. Advaris has been present in the market since 1997, supporting major international enterprises as well as small and medium manufacturers. SKW decided on the Advaris merchandise management system. Ever since 2010, the software which has been in the background helping to plan, monitor and document the complex processes at ICS in Nitra is the Advaris Cable complete integrated system. “The production of industrial cables is a world of its own,” said ICS managing director

❍ Cable manufacturing is a very special sector. Only a few software developers have a thorough grasp of its requirements

inventory management in the cable and wire industry. WMS supports order processing with functions that are specifically sector optimised, from initial customer contact to delivery and invoicing. Even at the quotation stage the individual lengths, packaging, cutting costs, drum terms and metal agreements are taken into account. Materials planning is also length-based throughout, and inventory management has a complete record of the all the individual spools with their exact cable lengths and, if applicable, the existing length reservations. One special highlight is the budget planning tool. Website : www.ics-cables.sk Advaris Informationssysteme GmbH – Germany Website : www.advaris.de ICS Industrial Cables Slovakia sro – Slovakia

Stefan Knasko, commenting on the high demands of his sector. This applies particularly to the software environment. “Not all firms offering software solutions for length-based manufacturers are really specialists,” said Advaris CEO Dr Manfred Moser. “If a programmer associates the word ‘twist’ more with a type of dance than with cable manufacturing, it cannot be assumed that he will offer a high performance, sector specific solution.” However, it was just such a solution that was urgently needed in Nitra. “SKW had already decided on the merchandise management system WMS of Advaris Cable, and recommended Advaris to us because of their positive experiences,” said Stefan Knasko. Advaris WMS is a specialised warehouse management sys- tem covering the areas of sales, purchasing and

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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2014