Mainpac rolls out asset management for CSR

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 01 February 2006 09:27

IT Industry - Deals

Asset management software developer, Mainpac, is completing the roll-out of an asset management system for the sugar milling business unit of CSR to streamline the business processes and information systems required to support its seven Queensland sugar mills.

Investigations into integrating Mainpac's Mainet product with a proposed new ERP system, which will potentially replace aging DEC VAX based commercial systems within the next 12 months, have commenced and are intended to give the business unit an enterprise-wide ability to manage its mills.

CSR's sugar milling business unit was a beta test partner for Mainet, participating with another super user in helping specify the functions of the new software.

The implementation of Mainet reflects the sugar giant's desire to embrace an enterprise-wide, regionalised approach to management of its assets and to refine and streamline how maintenance is undertaken.

CSR's Queensland sugar mills have an annual maintenance budget of around $50 million and employ an average of 800 maintenance personnel.  

In recent years Australia's sugar industry has been under enormous pressure from low cost producers in international markets and the drive to improve CSR's business processes stems partially from that pressure.

Planning superintendent in the Burdekin region and project manager for the roll out of Mainet is Charles Derlagen who said there are many parallels between Mainet and what CSR's sugar milling business unit wants to achieve.

'The enterprise functionality of Mainet will allow management of our asset base from a site, region or business unit perspective, something that was difficult previously,' he said.