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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

ERP and WMS Work Together to Create Warehouse Flow

Every company has some kind of inventory management system (whether automated or manual) that keeps track of what’s on hand and where it is stored. Usually, this function is an integral part of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that also addresses production, procurement and sales – the activities that bring inventory into and out of the warehouse.

How to manage what’s in the warehouse and the warehouse resources themselves are quite another matter. Warehouse space and staff can be a significant expense and companies want to make the most of what they have. Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) address these concerns and should be integrated with ERP and distribution management systems to avoid redundancy and eliminate extra work and errors that result from duplication across systems.

The most obvious functions of WMS are put-away and picking – informing the material handlers where to put things and where to pick from. Equally important, however, is to locate items where picking can be most efficient – fast-moving items closer to the packing and loading area, items often ordered together close to each other to minimize travel for the pickers, and similar logic.

WMS also hosts reporting systems that both update its own records and pass the inventory transactions to ERP and other systems that need to know about inventory status. The masses of detailed information within the WMS support extensive reporting and analysis and form the basis for the optimization logic that drives the put-away and picking recommendations. Built-in Business Intelligence can provide management with valuable insight into warehouse operations, use of resources, and ways to make the best use of the warehouse and its personnel.

To read more about what WMS and ERP can do for your distribution or manufacturing business, visit the Advanced Supply Chain blog.

The 2013 Brown Smith Wallace Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. The 2014 edition will be available in early-March, 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, February 19, 2014

Taco, Inc. Selects Epicor to Propel Technology Advancement

Epicor Software Corporation, a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organizations, recently announced that Taco, Inc., a leading manufacturer of commercial and residential HVAC equipment, has selected the next- generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Epicor ERP, to support growing operations and technology innovations worldwide.

Established in 1920, Taco, Inc. develops and manufactures hydronic-based components for use in heating and cooling applications across the building spectrum--residential, commercial, industrial and institutional buildings worldwide. Recently, Taco, Inc. acquired a group of companies adding six US and three international offices, for a total of nine locations. Prior to selecting Epicor ERP, Taco, Inc. used a legacy system for the last 17 years that could no longer support increased operations due to a combination of in-house applications and multiple code modifications.

Headquartered in Cranston, Rhode Island, a 50-person project team evaluated seven vendors for the ERP selection process. For operations, the Epicor manufacturing production management component and configurator made Epicor ERP the closest system built that matches the company’s in - house systems for production. The company is looking forward to e-commerce integrations with tablets and portals to enable efficient shipping transactions in the warehouse.

Taco has been running on the Epicor human capital management (HCM) solution for several years and the integration with Epicor ERP will truly save time with an all-in-one system for employees. To learn more about the Epicor ERP integration at Taco, RI, visit the Epicor News Center.

The 2013 Brown Smith Wallace Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. The 2014 edition will be available in early-March, 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, February 12, 2014

Zef Scientific Selects IFS Enterprise Service Management

IFS, a global enterprise applications company, recently announced that Zef Scientific, Inc., a multi-vendor service provider for high-performance chromatography and mass spectrometry systems used in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical and environmental industries, has chosen IFS Enterprise Service Management software to manage productivity for its growing business. Zef Scientific is headquarters in San Diego, California, with offices in Medford, Massachusetts, Quebec, Canada and Morocco.

Zef Scientific offers various service plans to its customer base, including preventive maintenance, onetime repairs, and equipment qualification services. Due to the company's rapid growth, implementing IFS Enterprise Service Management and IFS Mobile Workforce Management were seen as ways to improve efficiencies in its scheduling and dispatching process for both prearranged and emergency calls to its technicians without increasing administrative staff. Incorporating IFS Field Service Management with an interactive customer web portal component now allows customers to manage labor, customer information, parts usage, returns disposition, product installed base information, service delivery, and contract entitlements.

To read more about the IFS implementation with Zef Scientific, visit the IFS 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, 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, February 5, 2014

NetSuite Distribution Supports BioPak's 176% Growth

NetSuite's OneWorld was selected by wholesale distribution packaging company, BioPak, to help the company achieve 176% growth without adding additional staff.

Challenges BioPak was experiencing included:
• Rapid growth had strained existing business systems,
• Manual processes such as calculating carbon emissions and lowest freight costs was costly
• Difficulty tracking customer orders and resolving dispatch problems
• Current IT systems couldn't support eCommerce plans or regional and international growth

After much consideration of various solutions, BioPak selected NetSuite's OneWorld, a complete cloud-based business management solution with support for financials, inventory, order management, CRM, eCommerce, third-party warehouse partnerships and other core business processes. BioPak was also able to customise NetSuite to meet unique business needs, building a carbon tax calculator to compute greenhouse gas emissions and a least-cost freight calculator for sourcing courier quotes.

After implementation, the results showed that BioPak experienced 172% growth and a doubling in daily orders, without having to add new staff. The company estimates it saved over $200,000 per year in staff time by eliminating manual processes with automated tools and achieved a 100% faster response time to resolve distribution problems.

To read more about the BioPak implementation of NetSuite's OneWorld, visit NetSuite's Wholesale Distribution website.



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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