Plaut Consulting Completes Madison Paper Industries' R/3 Implementation in Just Six Months

Business Wire, Feb 8, 1999

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 8, 1999--Plaut Consulting Inc., the U.S. branch of the German-based management and technology consulting firm the Plaut Group, today announced that it has successfully completed a six-month AcceleratedSAP(tm) implementation of SAP(tm) R/3(tm) for Madison Paper Industries. Maine-based Madison Paper Industries, a partnership of The New York Times Company and Finland's Myllykoski Oy, is the leader in productivity among paper manufacturers in Maine, producing approximately 200,000 tons per year.

"Plaut Consulting has developed a reputation for carrying out successful implementations within short time frames," stated Mark Devoe, vice president of the northeast region for Plaut. "Strong teamwork and dedication enabled us to meet our goal of completing the implementation on time and under budget, despite the challenge of creating extensive interfaces to existing systems."

"We are very happy with the results of our collaboration with Plaut Consulting," stated Paul Michaud and Dan Whittemore, project managers, Madison Paper Industries. "The Plaut team was excellent. They have a reputation for having close ties with SAP, which helped Plaut speed the project to a timely, on-budget completion."

Details of the Implementation

Plaut led Madison Paper Industries in the implementation of the following R/3 modules: -0-

     --Financial Accounting and Controlling (FI and CO), including
       accounts payable, accounts receivable, asset accounting, and
       general ledger
     --Materials Management (MM), including purchasing, and inventory
     --Plant Maintenance (PM)
     --Sales and Distribution (SD), including order entry, invoicing,
       pricing, and variant-configurator functionality

-0-

The system runs on the IBM AS/400 computing platform with the DB2 database. The system supports approximately 100 users.

Plaut used standard tools and methodologies to facilitate the implementation, including AcceleratedSAP, the SAP road map for rapid implementations. Utilizing the TeamSAP(tm) approach, Plaut worked closely with specialists from SAP to ensure the success of the project.

In addition to implementing several core R/3 modules, Plaut created interfaces to existing systems using ABAPs, IDOCs and EDI. These included: sales order outbound to scheduling system (IDOC), order update inbound (order status update, scheduled production date), delivery inbound to Sales and Distribution, customer master outbound to sales system and scheduling system, frermany that helps companies combine intelligent benjoys strong working ties with SAP based on a 17-year relationship. Headquartered just outside Boston in Waltham, Massachusetts, Plaut Consulting also maintains officesr in Madison, Maine, Madison Paper Industries was the first United States mill dedicated totally to the manufacture of supercalendared paper. Throughout its history, Madison Paper Industries has led the way with its vision and concern for the future of the environment. As the company nears a new landmark with the production of its three-millionth ton of Symmetry(R) paper, it remains committed to the quality of its environment.

SAP, R/3, TeamSAP, and AcceleratedSAP are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners, and Plaut disavows any interest in them.