Southstar - Stock and Manufacturing Management System
Replacing 20 hours of weekly planning with a live plan generated automatically on page load.
The Problem
Southstar develop and manufacture precision fertiliser coatings in New Zealand, supplying partners in international fertiliser markets. Large-scale production must balance different products, manufacturing rates, raw-material requirements and customer delivery dates across the available capacity.
Their orders and stock were already managed in Cin7 Core (their ERP), but turning that data into a workable production schedule was a manual process. Each week, an experienced member of the team spent up to 20 hours rebuilding the plan and checking it against the latest information. This created a number of challenges:
- The schedule became out of date as soon as orders, stock levels or priorities changed.
- Planning relied on specialist knowledge held by a small number of people.
- Material shortages and delivery risks were difficult to identify far enough in advance.
- Time spent maintaining spreadsheets could not be spent managing production or improving the business.
Southstar needed a planning tool that reflected how their factory actually worked, without replacing the inventory system their team already used every day.
Delivering Value Quickly
We began by connecting directly to Cin7 Core and building a reliable view of Southstar's current orders, products and stock. This avoided duplicate data entry and meant the new system could fit alongside their established processes from day one.
Together with the Southstar team, we then captured the practical rules that had previously lived in spreadsheets and people's heads. For each product, the team can configure:
- The production line responsible for the work.
- The number of units that line can produce each day.
- Whether an item should be built early for stock or close to its delivery date.
- The delivery buffer required for build-to-order products.
This gave Southstar a useful automated schedule early in the project. We could then refine the planning rules against real orders and real production scenarios, delivering value while reducing the risk of a large, all-at-once system change.
Automated Production Planning
The finished application automatically creates a rolling production plan across every line. It prioritises orders by their delivery requirements, calculates how long each build will take and finds the appropriate space in the schedule.
The planner accounts for quantities already picked, finished stock that has not yet been allocated, planned shutdowns and other non-productive days. Where the real world requires an exception, staff can override an order's production date without losing the benefits of automation elsewhere.
A clear visual schedule makes the result easy to understand. Orders are highlighted when they are at risk of being late or when the required bill-of-materials stock is unavailable, allowing the team to act before the problem reaches the factory floor.
Results
A planning process that previously consumed up to 20 hours each week is now automatic. The schedule is generated from current operational data as the page loads, so the team gets an up-to-date production plan simply by opening the tool. Planning is no longer a once-a-week administrative exercise.
- Production staff have one clear view of what each line should build and when.
- Changes to orders, stock and completed quantities are reflected without rekeying data.
- Potential late orders and component shortages are visible before they disrupt production.
- Planners retain control through date overrides and configurable production rules.
- The plan scales across products and production lines without adding weekly admin time.
Conclusion
The Southstar project is a strong example of how focused custom software can fill the gap between a general-purpose business system and the specific decisions a manufacturer needs to make every day. Cin7 Core remains the source of truth, while the new application turns its data into a practical, factory-ready production plan.
The system has continued to evolve with the business. Stock allocation, quantity picked, manual production overrides and bill-of-materials planning have all been added as the team identified new opportunities to reduce administration and spot production risks earlier.
