Snyder's of Hanover: New Systems for an Old Family Company
Assignment 8
|Snyder’s of Hanover: New Systems for an Old Family Company |
Harry V. Warehime began tempting the taste buds of southern Pennsylvanians with his Hanover Olde Tyme Pretzels 1909. Since then, Snyder’s of Hanover, as the company came to be known, has expanded its business beyond any scope that its founder might have dared to imagine. Snyder’s of Hanover remains a family-owned and family-run company, but it has become the world’s second largest pretzel maker, with 12.1 percent of the pretzel market. Snyder’s pretzel and chip varieties include Old Tyme Pretzels, Jalapeno Pieces, Butter Snaps, and EatSmart All Natural Veggie Crisps, as well as other popular snacks. In 2002, Snyder’s posted revenues of $164 million, trailing only Rold Gold, the reigning champion of the pretzel industry.
In addition to manufacturing its complete line of snack foods, Snyder’s distributes its own products, as well as those of other snack food companies such as Tasty Baking Company’s Tastykakes. With 40 distribution facilities all over the United States and Europe, over 4,500 products, and over 150 product lines, the home office in Hanover, Pennsylvania, has a considerable amount of data to manage.
If there was one last vestige of old-fashioned business left at Snyder’s, it was the company’s method of managing and analyzing data. Although Snyder’s sells more than 78 million bags of pretzels, chips, and organic snack items each year, some of its core systems were still heavily manual and paper-based.
Snyder’s financial department was using electronic spreadsheets for much of its data-gathering and reporting. Lois Stambaugh, Hanover’s financial analyst, would spend the entire final week of each month collecting Excel spreadsheets from the heads of more than 50 departments worldwide. Then she would consolidate and reenter all the data into another
|Snyder’s of Hanover: New Systems for an Old Family Company |
Harry V. Warehime began tempting the taste buds of southern Pennsylvanians with his Hanover Olde Tyme Pretzels 1909. Since then, Snyder’s of Hanover, as the company came to be known, has expanded its business beyond any scope that its founder might have dared to imagine. Snyder’s of Hanover remains a family-owned and family-run company, but it has become the world’s second largest pretzel maker, with 12.1 percent of the pretzel market. Snyder’s pretzel and chip varieties include Old Tyme Pretzels, Jalapeno Pieces, Butter Snaps, and EatSmart All Natural Veggie Crisps, as well as other popular snacks. In 2002, Snyder’s posted revenues of $164 million, trailing only Rold Gold, the reigning champion of the pretzel industry.
In addition to manufacturing its complete line of snack foods, Snyder’s distributes its own products, as well as those of other snack food companies such as Tasty Baking Company’s Tastykakes. With 40 distribution facilities all over the United States and Europe, over 4,500 products, and over 150 product lines, the home office in Hanover, Pennsylvania, has a considerable amount of data to manage.
If there was one last vestige of old-fashioned business left at Snyder’s, it was the company’s method of managing and analyzing data. Although Snyder’s sells more than 78 million bags of pretzels, chips, and organic snack items each year, some of its core systems were still heavily manual and paper-based.
Snyder’s financial department was using electronic spreadsheets for much of its data-gathering and reporting. Lois Stambaugh, Hanover’s financial analyst, would spend the entire final week of each month collecting Excel spreadsheets from the heads of more than 50 departments worldwide. Then she would consolidate and reenter all the data into another