Pan-O-Gold improves efficiency by replacing on-premises ERP system with M Cloud ERP from MiT Systems

Pan-O-Gold Baking Company (Pan-O-Gold) worked alongside AWS Partner MiT Systems Inc. to migrate from its on-premises enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to M Cloud ERP on AWS, achieving operational simplicity. The baking company wanted to replace its legacy system so that it could become more efficient and improve visibility. Pan-O-Gold engaged MiT Systems to implement M Cloud ERP, automating complex sales and distribution processes. By migrating to M Cloud ERP, Pan-O-Gold reduced its time to access and process sales and production data, helping it plan the next day’s operations faster and use its resources more efficiently.

For Pan-O-Gold, time is crucial. The company, which produces packaged bread products, sells 100 percent of its production each day. It requires efficient resource planning to gain the highest sales from its perishable goods. However, its on-premises ERP system was complex and did not provide visibility into its sales and manufacturing processes, hindering efficiency. 

Pan-O-Gold wanted an advanced solution that could meet the specific needs of the consumer-packaged goods industry and sought the help of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner MiT Systems Inc. By configuring its M Cloud ERP solution to meet Pan-O-Gold’s business needs, MiT Systems helped Pan-O-Gold engage in an effective digital transformation.

Founded in 1911, Pan-O-Gold bakes and delivers bread products to grocery stores, stadiums, and other vendors each day. Its facilities can produce 150–165 bread loaves and 800–1,200 buns per minute. Pan-O-Gold used a legacy on-premises system to manage its operations. “Our system wasn’t broken,” says Robin Alton, CEO of Pan-O-Gold. “We wanted to improve it so that we could automate and gain better visibility.” 

MiT Systems had implemented its MiTEzSales Mobile handheld route system for Pan-O-Gold sales representatives in 2017, improving customer service in the field. In 2018, MiT Systems was pursuing the AWS ISV Partner Path (now the AWS Software Path)—a curated path for businesses that provide software solutions that run on AWS—and finalizing its AWS-powered M Cloud ERP for placement on AWS Marketplace, a sales channel where customers can find software solutions. At this time, Pan-O-Gold reengaged MiT Systems. “M Cloud ERP is targeted toward the consumer-packaged goods industry to replace on-premises ERP systems,” says Mark Maraj, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at MiT Systems. “We built M Cloud ERP as a cloud-native alternative to inflexible legacy systems, helping companies like Pan-O-Gold become more agile, innovate faster, and reduce time to market.” M Cloud ERP manages multiple sales and distribution processes, including order and customer management, pricing, accounts receivable, electronic data interchange transactions, and dashboards. 

Pan-O-Gold realized that it could automate manual processes and improve visibility using M Cloud ERP. Pan-O-Gold and MiT Systems began to implement M Cloud ERP in late 2018, and the solution went live in September 2019. “We implemented M Cloud ERP for Pan-O-Gold remotely without the need of any onsite personnel, which is unheard of in this industry, especially for a project of this scope,” says Maraj.

Pan-O-Gold and MiT Systems conducted the migration in phases to avoid business interruptions. “We began with the ERP system’s simpler parts,” says Larry Utsch, Director of Information Technology at Pan-O-Gold. “We gave them to MiT Systems to duplicate or create on M Cloud ERP.” MiT Systems implemented the solution without any downtime for Pan-O-Gold employees. Because M Cloud ERP operates at virtually 100 percent uptime, Pan-O-Gold has not experienced an outage while using it. To facilitate remote access to M Cloud ERP, MiT Systems uses Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), a web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud. 

MiT Systems built industry-specific functions on M Cloud ERP to meet Pan-O-Gold’s business needs, such as commission tracking and scan-based trading. “We assured Pan-O-Gold that we would consolidate all its vendors into one solution,” says Maraj. “Pan-O-Gold does not need to add any third-party integrations or maintain multiple systems. It’s very efficient for Pan-O-Gold to have all its services in one place. We achieved single-vendor simplicity.” For example, Pan-O-Gold previously relied on a third-party reporting system to analyze sales routes and production needs. MiT Systems used Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), a service that lets developers launch AWS resources in a logically isolated virtual network, to create a feature that Pan-O-Gold uses to share data. MiT Systems also uses Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3)—an object storage service that offers industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance—to store over 7 years’ worth of financial data, such as invoices and sales records. Using this solution, Pan-O-Gold can quickly access data and create custom reports. 

Pan-O-Gold automated manual processes using M Cloud ERP, which unlocked time savings and improved productivity. For example, its previous system would capture sales representatives’ data during the workday, which can be 12 hours or longer. Pan-O-Gold would need to wait until the end of the workday before it could update the system database. As a result, it created reports based on data that was at least 1 day old. Using M Cloud ERP, Pan-O-Gold can capture this data automatically and update its ERP system in near real time. Employees can start writing reports as soon as data is available, usually within 2 hours. When sales representatives input data in the system, Pan-O-Gold can see it in real time. With better data access, Pan-O-Gold can effectively plan its production and sales routes for the next day, facilitating more efficient resource usage. MiT Systems also configured M Cloud ERP to automatically calculate sales commissions. Using this solution, Pan-O-Gold reduced its time to complete payroll by 25 percent. 

By improving its efficiency, Pan-O-Gold has improved its customer service. The company reduced the number of customer calls and no longer needs to operate a 24/7 call center. “When you move all your information off your computers and away from your office, it’s a little bit scary,” says Alton. “But with M Cloud ERP, we’re doing everything today that we were doing yesterday. We just do it faster, better, and more efficiently.” This efficiency has resulted in cost savings for Pan-O-Gold. Because the solution is cloud native, it no longer needs to pay licensing fees or expensive server maintenance. When the implementation is complete, Pan-O-Gold expects to reduce its ERP system costs by 15 percent.

MiT Systems helped Pan-O-Gold unlock greater visibility, efficiency, and operational simplicity. In the future, Pan-O-Gold and MiT Systems will migrate Pan-O-Gold’s remaining processes onto M Cloud ERP. “Given the success of the project’s sales and distribution phase, Pan-O-Gold has chosen to migrate its on-premises financial modules next,” says Bal Maraj, Founder and CEO of MiT Systems. “This will include processes such as purchase orders, accounts payable, costing, fixed assets, bills of materials, and general ledger activities, including budgeting. Additionally, we are in the development phase of the manufacturing and material requirements planning modules while working with the AWS team to integrate artificial intelligence and blockchain for optimal sales forecasting and improved product traceability.” 

The companies also plan to implement advanced capabilities, like artificial intelligence, to further advance Pan-O-Gold’s efficiencies. “At Pan-O-Gold, we make, deliver, and invoice bread,” says Alton. “It sounds simple, but we’ve made it complex. Because of that, it took a great partner like MiT Systems to make our migration to the cloud seamless.”

• Reduced time to receive and process data significantly
• Removed the need to operate a 24/7 call center
• Reduced ERP operating costs by 15%
• Automates manual, time-consuming processes
• Reduces time to complete payroll by 25%
• Provides access to real-time data inputted by sales representatives
• Operates at virtually 100% system uptime
• Updates ERP system database in near real time