With production optimized, Pan Pepín, Bayamón, PR, added a new angle to its investment strategy: information technology. The company put in an Oracle enterprise resource planning system four years ago to integrate its office functions, replacing separate software packages for accounting, payroll, human resources and similar activities. It also upgraded its Norand handheld distribution accounting system.

“This year, we’re moving into integrating inventory and manufacturing,” said Mario Somoza, the company’s CEO, “and we’re getting great results. This change certainly shifts the mentality about capital investment to information, where previously it mostly concerned equipment.”