SMALL BUSINESS : Cacique Goes the Whey of the Future : Survey: The Southland firms are found to be optimistic about the future but lagging in providing benefits and in Web technology.

Cacique Inc. will soon take its place at the cutting edge of e-commerce. The Industry manufacturer of Hispanic-style cheeses, creams and yogurt has paired up with Ironside Technologies Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif., to introduce an Internet-based business-to-business system that could ultimately benefit other manufacturers.

The systems are becoming more common in industries such as medical supplies and metals but are unusual in the traditionally tech-averse world of food processing, said Ironside spokesman Jake Sorofman.

Ironside is developing a system that will allow Cacique vendors, brokers, sales representatives and customers to place orders and check up on pricing and distribution in real time by dialing into Cacique’s Web site.

The system will be developed based on Cacique’s existing enterprise resource planning, or ERP, system. Such computer systems allow companies to automate their accounting, personnel, inventory and manufacturing operations.

Ironside has developed similar Internet-based systems for half a dozen companies. The work with Cacique will ultimately be available to other manufacturers using a similar ERP system.

Started in 1973 behind a tiny drive-through dairy by Cuban-born Gilbert de Cardenas Sr., Cacique has more than $90 million a year in sales, making it the leading Latino-cheese manufacturer in the region. The company’s computerized plant is hailed by the Milk Advisory Board as “one of the most modern cheese manufacturing facilities in the world.”