West Fraser Timber Co Ltd — Canada and US |

West Fraser Timber Case Study

Company Overview:

West Fraser is an integrated forest products company producing lumber, wood chips, MDF, plywood, pulp, linerboard, kraft paper, and newsprint. It holds extensive timber rights in British Columbia and Alberta that provide raw material for its manufacturing operations. West Fraser also has operations in the Southeast United States.

Challenge:

The old system at West Fraser was a legacy HP database and query/entry system. While it provided basic functionality, new business developments introduced by acquisitions, changing business procedures and government regulations were becoming major issues for West Fraser. Connections to several remote locations were also causing problems in terms of communication speed and processing time.

Solution:

The new system had to meet all the BC reporting requirements and upload all required weigh scale load data to the new HBS Internet site.

With its ability to handle a virtually unlimited number of users and vendors (limited only by the power of the server running the Oracle database), LIMS provides a comprehensive solution for the management of West Fraser’s numerous holdings.

The version of WeighScale implemented for West Fraser is specifically tailored to the needs of BC’s reporting requirements. This WeighScale will collect all required information for delivered loads, so that even while operating in stand alone mode, a given weigh scale site will be able to upload all required weigh scale load data to the new HBS internet site. Because data summarization requirements are configurable from the load delivery detail, the WeighScale software minimizes the need to rollout new versions due to changes in HBS requirements. With WeighScale, BC clients can use LIMS to submit load deliveries, sample, piece/volume and receive electronic invoices/reconciliation information and automated MOF payment advice transactions.

Project

3LOG’s LIMS system replaces the company’s existing Woods System that was developed by West Fraser technical staff. The new financial system is based on Oracle financials and LIMS is based on the Oracle client server system making them a good match for the long term.

Results

The LIMS system was configured specifically for West Fraser following a thorough examination of West Fraser’s business practices and discussions regarding increased flexibility and enhancements.

3LOG has built this system with American weights and measures, taking into account the West Fraser’s specific business practices. This has been accomplished by making use of the core functionality of the LIMS program and the expertise of 3LOG Implementation Consultants.

Dean Bergen (Woodlands Controller – Canada) commented, “I can’t imagine a better client/supplier relationship. 3LOG provides the absolute best product in the market and they’re continually adding new functionality based on the latest technology.”

Benefits

LIMS’ client/server architecture greatly increases the scalability, compared to mainframe systems, with its ability to share resources between the central computer and remote stations. To decrease network traffic, the LIMS server application contains most of the logic and business rules. Also, the client application has been developed to reduce traffic volume on the network to further increase efficiency, even for slow remote connections.

Testimonials

We implemented LIMS in less than 2 months and I couldn't have been happier with the way it went. It was quick and easy to learn the new system. 3LOG resources were fantastic to work with and they were extremely helpful to ensure our contractors were paid on time during the first close when we had an issue with our Internet connection/connectivity. Our Internet connection is not 3LOG's responsibility but they stepped in and helped us out.

I would highly recommend 3LOG based on my experience with the product and resources.
Emily Acord

Log Accounting

- LandVest, Inc.
• By adopting LIMS, we have gained efficiencies throughout the organization, saving time and money
• Implementation was professional, smooth and most importantly on time and on budget
• 3LOG Consultants took the time to really understand our processes, and designed our implementation to fit our business needs
• By adopting the LIMS mobile capabilities, we will save time and money, and expect to be able to work closer with our suppliers throughout the U.S. and Canada and our employees worldwide

Donald Cox

Controller at PLS International

- Pacific Lumber & Shipping, LLC
We love the power that the LIMS system provides us. We setup reports to be distributed and they go out as scheduled automatically. By extracting the data to a pivot table, we now have real-time tracking of deliveries with visibility to customers and sales along with amounts delivered over a period of time.
Brian D. Glodowski

President/CEO

- Keweenaw Land Association, Limited
We are thrilled to be working with 3LOG and are looking forward to utilizing the LIMS software to manage our operations more efficiently.
Kerry Rouck

Woodlands Manager

- The Gorman Group of Companies
June of 2015 we implemented LIMS and WeighWiz at our NY operations. We replaced 3 legacy systems and the new solution from 3LOG works flawlessly all the way through the process - from contract to settlement. We barcode every log and LIMS allows us to manage the inventory so we know exactly how much money we are making at all times. The reports generated from the LIMS system we have never been able to obtain before. This really has been a great partnership with 3LOG and the customer service gets a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
John Zemanick

Natural Resource Manager

- Gutchess Lumber Co.
Utilizing 3LOG’s truck weight analyzer (TWA) at the weighscale we are able to identify unusual loads immediately and in situations such as when a truck axle is not on the scale we can proactively correct the problem.
Jenny Pezewski

Lake States Wood Supply Accounting Manager

- Verso Corp.