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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Eliminate Shortages And Minimize Inventory With Supply Chain Management

The main purpose of a supply chain is to get goods – whether raw materials, parts or end products – to where they are needed, when they are needed. The challenge is to do that in the most efficient (cost effective) way.

This is the primary challenge of supply chain management – eliminating or minimizing shortages while at the same time carrying as little inventory as possible. This is easier said than done, of course, because fluctuations can be hard to predict – and carrying extra inventory is counter to the efficiency that the supply chain is trying to achieve.

There are a couple of factors that can be manipulated to improve supply chain efficiency. One is reducing variability. Variability of demand is difficult to address – customers buy what they want, when they want it – but collaboration can help reduce the uncertainty and sometimes provide some advanced warning that things are about to change. Having access to point-of-sale information also helps up-stream suppliers, including warehouses and distribution centers, and see demand more clearly and earlier.

To rear more, visit the monthly news blog at Advanced Supply Chain Software.


The 2013 Brown Smith Wallace Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. The 2014 edition will be available in February, 2014. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information.

You can also request these guides, as well as all other materials, via our website: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/resources_index.aspx


 
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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Acumatica Helps Precision Manufacturing Become ISO-Certified

Acumatica, a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for small and medium-sized companies, recently announced that Precision Manufacturing Solutions, a New Zealand-based electronics manufacturer,  saw a 20% increase in sales after the implementation.

Started in 2007, Precision Manufacturing Solutions crafts soldering machines, reflow ovens, and paste printers. As the company grew over the years, its internal system of using spreadsheets to organize data and convey information became unsustainable.

After searching for a web-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, the company chose Acumatica, which does not charge for individual user licenses - a key consideration for small businesses. In addition,  Acumatica provides highly customizable, cloud-based ERP applications offering financial management, distribution, CRM, and project accounting suites.

Since the switch to Acumatica’s browser-based system last year, Precision has seen its staff grow by 15% and sales grow by 20%. The company also received its ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System certification in early 2013. A designation that Precision credits to the efficiency and accuracy the Acumatica suite brought to the company's manufacturing processes.

To learn more about the Precision Manufacturing Solutions case study, visit the Acumatica News Blog.

The 2013 Brown Smith Wallace Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. The 2014 edition will be available in February. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information.

You can also request these guides, as well as all other materials, via our website: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/resources_index.aspx


 
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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Optimera Implements Blue Ridge Supply Chain to Identify Efficiency Opportunities

Blue Ridge, a leading Cloud demand forecasting and replenishment provider, recently announced that Optimera has implemented the company’s supply chain analytics solution to capitalize on big data across stores and suppliers and further elevate supply chain performance. Optimera is part of the international group Saint - Gobain that has 190,000 employees in 64 countries and is Europe's largest distributor of building materials. Blue Ridge Cloud supply chain planning and analytics solutions optimize product availability, inventory, and logistics costs, and help to increase cash flow by 50% or more and improve sales by double-digits, while stabilizing or even reducing inventory up to 30%.

Optimera was motivated to leverage unique capabilities that come as a result of Blue Ridge’s Cloud-based platform which provides worldwide access to benchmarking reports, user flexibility, and custom configurations for forecasting and replenishment analytics to executive dashboards with strategic, financial insights. After implementing, the system provided a wealth of opportunities for new analysis including more informed decisions and improved category management processes.  As a result, Blue Ridge Analytics has increased profitability, improved cash flow and strengthened the company's competitive position.

To learn more about the Blue Ridge implementation at Optimera, as well as other projects and system updates, visit the Blue Ridge News blog.

The Brown Smith Wallace Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download.

You can download each one directly, or visit our main website to request a copy. Please follow the links below.

You can also request these guides, as well as all other materials, via our website: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/resources_index.aspx


 
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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Outdoor Gear Canada Improves Efficiency with Infor Distribution

Infor, a provider of business application software serving more than 70,000 customers, recently announced that Outdoor Gear Canada (OGC) has successfully implemented Infor Distribution SX.e and Infor Storefront.

As a prominent distributor of cycling, snow sports and outdoor recreation gear, OGC sought to improve order taking and fulfillment by upgrading from its previous legacy system. The twenty-year-old system lacked sophistication and was proving to be ineffective as a B2B interface, offering minimal business intelligence and integration capability. The implementation of Infor solutions has facilitated increased efficiency in the warranty department, and the online search capabilities enable customers to easily find and purchase desired products.

Key enhancements following the implementation included:
  • Infor Storefront providing online search capabilities that improved sales by making it easier for customers to locate products using keywords such as size, color, etc.
  • Infor Storefront now enables OGC to use both multicurrency and multilingual functionality, an area previously lacking. As approximately 2% of OGC customers speak French, the bilingual upgrade was an important factor.
  • OGC gained in-depth costing and margin analysis capabilities, an area that helps track growth and provides forward-thinking evaluations.
To read more about the implementation, and other case studies, visit the Infor News Blog.

The Brown Smith Wallace Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download.

You can download each one directly, or visit our main website to request a copy. Please follow the links below.

You can also request these guides, as well as all other materials, via our website: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/resources_index.aspx


 
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