Complexity under control: ERP for high volumes and product variety

Menicon is one of the largest contact lens manufacturers worldwide. The enormous variety of products and variants – by model, strength, and design – presents any ERP system with a real challenge. The solution must be able to handle this complexity.

Michael Bachmann, Managing Director at Menicon GmbH, was directly involved in choosing Yaveon as ERP partner and accompanied the entire project.

Implementation itself went smoothly – but then came the go-live.

Menicon GmbH, headquartered in Offenbach near Frankfurt am Main, is a subsidiary of the Japanese Menicon Group, a global producer of contact lenses and lens care products.

The Hessian subsidiary handles logistics: it serves as a European distribution hub, where products from production sites around the world are received and distributed. With offerings ranging from standard lenses to toric and multifocal solutions, the company deals with countless variants daily.

Menicon’s previous ERP solution dated back to the 1980s. It frequently caused problems, such as errors when creating reports. It was clear: a new ERP system with industry functionality was urgently needed. The only condition – it had to be based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

The search for the right partner began. A recommendation from another company in the industry drew Menicon’s attention to Yaveon. This reference, together with Yaveon’s presentation, convinced the company. Another decisive factor: the functionality of Yaveon’s industry solution, covering all critical requirements for the medical technology sector, such as lot tracking and EDI integration.

“Another priority for us was that our ERP partner had to have sufficient size. With many consultants in the background, resources are simply larger, and vacations or illnesses can be covered,” explains Michael Bachmann.

The project was moving forward, and just before go-live, both Menicon and Yaveon felt they were on the home stretch.

“Then go-live came, and we realized the cloud setup couldn’t handle our data volume,” recalls Bachmann.

A shock moment for both sides: Menicon, who needed the system live, and Yaveon, responsible not only as a service provider but also as a partner.

“It wasn’t easy – there was a lot of discussion on different levels. But in the end, Yaveon did everything in a very short time to help us. Everyone pulled together. The month after go-live was challenging, but everything worked out well,” says Bachmann with relief.

“When we realized go-live wasn’t running smoothly, speed was key. We coordinated closely and quickly found a way to process the data volume,” adds Stefan Hippeli, consultant at Yaveon.

Menicon GmbH relies on Yaveon’s industry-specific ERP solution:

• Industry-specific ERP solution tailored to medical technology
• Fully integrated into Microsoft Dynamics NAV / 365 Business Central
• Intuitive Microsoft-style user interface
• Core functionalities: lot tracking, EDI, mobile dialogues/scanner solutions, email/e-post integration
• Includes a variant configurator

One of the standout features Menicon uses is the integrated variant configurator.

For example, a contact lens is created in the system, available in numerous diopter versions. To cover this range, product attributes are set up so that all possible variants can be mapped. Up to twelve attributes can be defined, enabling precise selection of the required variant directly in the ERP.

Menicon also works with variable scan codes, as products are sometimes received externally. With Yaveon’s solution, third-party codes can be processed directly. All that’s needed is the item number and lot. If the EAN is maintained in the system, it can be translated: via defined rules, the barcode is converted into the ERP industry standard and processed seamlessly.

The ERP has now been in use for some time – with clear benefits. The system provides significantly more information than its predecessor and delivers it faster. After only a short learning curve, it became obvious that users were working much more efficiently.

Looking back, was Menicon satisfied with Yaveon’s consulting? “Of course – the first month after go-live was critical, but the problems were solved. We had excellent consultants who supported us,” says Bachmann. So, would Menicon choose Yaveon again? “Yes, definitely. Absolutely.”