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Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Twin City Hardware Improves Efficiency With ContractERP, Access IT

Twin City Hardware Company, a commercial, architectural, and residential construction provider based in Oakdale, MN was facing growth challenges. The company's expanding national presence required one ERP system and one data source. The patchwork of disparate applications was difficult to manage and required costly and time-consuming maintenance, integrations and troubleshooting. Additionally, many process required data to be re-keyed causing mistakes and taking excessive time resulting in company-wide inconsistencies between projects and project managers.

To remedy these challenges, Twin City chose to implement contractERP® at all five of its locations to better support unified inventory, growth, and business expansion. Founded in 1993, contractERP®, Access IT, provides Enterprise Business Software Solutions for mid-range companies in the distribution, manufacturing and service industries. The full integration at Twin City Hardware provides financials, inventory, order management, third-party warehouse partnerships and other core business processes and most importantly, supports rapid changes in work orders and materials - reducing inconsistencies, saving money, and improving the customer experience.

As a result of the implementation, Twin City Hardware experienced the following benefits:
•60% decrease in time and resources consumed manually typing part numbers and creating sales orders.
•Nearly a 50% decrease in data-entry errors measured by credits issued while improving data integrity and reliability.
•Fully integrated solution increased efficiencies of large projects and provides full visibility into all activity enhancing results for high-value and special-needs clientele.
•Real-time tracking and reporting across entire company enables quick decisions and actions.

To learn more about contractERP®, Access IT, visit their Customer News portal.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2015-16 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

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Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Improved Business Flow For Simoldes Plasticos With IBS Enterprise

Simoldes Plasticos is one of the world’s leading developers and suppliers of injected plastic moldings for the automotive industry. It’s one of two divisions of the Simoldes Group – the other division, Simoldes Tools, makes the molds. With three factories in Portugal, two in Brazil as well as one in France and Poland, Simoldes Plasticos offers a service to the world’s global motor manufacturers.

But this, says Pedro Pinho, IT Director at the company’s headquarters in Oliveira de Azemeis in northern Portugal, was part of the problem. “We had a lot of information, all based on different systems, and the linking all of this information was very time consuming. It was hard to control efficiency and the total process.”

After looking at a number of software suppliers to find the right solution, they chose IBS Enterprise Financials. An important point for Simoldes was that the software was easy to use and install. IBS also designed special sub-projects and interfaced the system with Simoldes’ production and logistics software. Simoldes has also implemented IBS Corporate Data Maintenance (CDM) software. This solution integrates and coordinates the flow of business information between Simoldes’ different units and legal entities helping the company achieve substantial savings and benefits. Company-wide collaboration and sharing of data helps improve the use of resources through aggregating and automating company processes. With IBS CDM, Simoldes has taken steps to achieve online control of its total enterprise finances – a must in today’s economy. But the important thing is that Simoldes has got what it wanted: prompt figures from all of its facilities in a simple, compatible format which allows for accurate decision making.

To read more about the Simoldes Plasticos implementation, as well as other case studies, white papers, and events, visit the IBS Newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2015-16 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

Click to download the: 2015 Distribution Software Guide
Click to download the:  2015 Manufacturing Software Guide
 
To copy and paste into a browser, use the following:
 
2015 Distribution Software Guide: 
 
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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Akustica Improves Global Supply Chain Performance With NetSuite

NetSuite Inc., a provider of cloud-based financials, ERP, and omnichannel commerce software suites, recently announced that Akustica Inc., a manufacturer of silicon microphones that improve voice-input quality in smartphones, tablets, and other mobile consumer devices, has notably improved the performance of its geographically-diverse supply chain since implementing NetSuite cloud ERP. In recognition of its innovations and improved supply chain efficiency, Akustica has been named to the 2015 list of 100 Great Supply Chain Projects by Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine, a top publication for supply chain management.

Akustica is a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff acquired by the Bosch Group in 2009. Akustica maintains its corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA with regional offices in Asia and a worldwide team of distributors. It leverages NetSuite to manage end-to-end sourcing, production, distribution and fulfillment processes for its micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) microphones across in-house and third-party factories in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Since going live on NetSuite, Akustica has markedly improved the speed and precision of supply chain processes while gaining real-time transparency into inventory, production and distribution. For Akustica, NetSuite's cloud-based business management suite, functions as the manufacturer's data warehouse, a single unified store of information gleaned from its entire supply chain including information regarding goods in transit on air shipments.

Approximately 24,000 companies depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as a leading provider of enterprise-class cloud ERP suites for divisions of large enterprises and mid-sized organizations seeking to upgrade their antiquated client/server ERP systems. To learn more about the Akustica implementation as well as additional NetSuite news, visit the NetSuite Newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2015-16 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

Click to download the: 2015 Distribution Software Guide
Click to download the:  2015 Manufacturing Software Guide
 
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2015 Distribution Software Guide: 
 
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Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Blue Link's Guide To Food Distribution Software

With numerous standards and regulations set by governing bodies, as well as an overall level of quality that must be upheld to customers, the food distribution industry is very unique. When evaluating food distribution software systems, it is essential that the system be designed specifically for food wholesalers and distributors. Many software packages have similar standard inventory and accounting functionality, but it is the additional food industry specific features such as lot tracking, landed cost tracking, multiple units of measure, and flexible pricing that make a system optimized for the food industry.

Key Features to Look For In Food Distribution Software:

o Lot Tracking: This facilitates robust product traceability functionality in order to keep records of which customers received specific groups of items or shipments. This functionality is especially important to food distributors as it is a key competency in achieving FDA/ISO/CFIA compliance.

o Landed Cost Tracking: This allows a company to arrive at its ‘true inventory costs’, which may include duty, brokerage, freight, insurance, and storage, in addition to the cost of the inventory itself. Landed cost tracking provides important information to business owners and decision makers when making purchasing and pricing decisions.

o Multiple Units of Measurement: Due to the nature of the products, food items are often purchased and sold using different units of measure - an effective software optimized for food distribution should be able to account for the variance.

o Flexible Pricing: Your software should automatically allow for different prices for different customers. It is also important to be able to quickly adjust prices in the system based on changes to market prices – a common occurrence in the food industry.

These are just a few of the features that most food distribution companies find useful in a software system. It is important for companies to carefully evaluate potential software vendors to ensure that their solution encompasses the features outlined above, as well as any additional features that are identified throughout a detailed sales and implementation process. To learn more about Food Distribution Software, download the special "Lot Tracking Whitepaper" on Blue Link's Industry News blog.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2015-16 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

Click to download the: 2015 Distribution Software Guide
Click to download the:  2015 Manufacturing Software Guide
 
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2015 Distribution Software Guide: 
 
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Wednesday, July 1, 2015

James M. Pleasants Company Gains Key Insights With I.B.I.S. Advanced Supply Chain Software™

James M. Pleasants Company (JMP) has recently announced that it is now leveraging Advanced Supply Chain Software™ to augment and round out Microsoft Dynamics® AX technology.

With more than fifty years’ experience and the representation of more than twenty lines, JMP has the distribution expertise and products to provide integrated hydronic, steam and condensate systems. However, system speed and Customer Service response time based on access to information was slowing the JMP team down. All the while, visibility into key information like past quotes and product status was lacking. When the longstanding distribution sales company saw challenges in keeping pace, they knew immediate action was required.

Advanced Supply Chain Software™ powered by I.B.I.S., Inc., was selected in part because the JMP Customer Service department saw immediately how the system could help them to serve clients better by providing faster response time to needed information. Additionally, I.B.I.S., Inc. is a provider of Microsoft Dynamics® next-generation supply chain software and services with 26 years of helping midmarket companies optimize their supply chains.

Since the implementation, JMP has experienced the following benefits:
◾Visibility. JMP needed a visual way to see which of their products were on back order, and what was in stock. The color coding feature in Advanced Supply Chain Software™ provides JMP a quick visual into both areas. Additionally, the software brings enhanced visibility into customer payment status, improving credit management.
◾Speed. Previously, a 30 second delay in retrieving information for customer service staff was standard. Advanced Supply Chain Software™ now provides immediate access.
◾Access to Key Information. With Advanced Supply Chain Software™, JMP employees can quickly see past quote information. This functionality was not a part of the prior system.

To read more about the JMP implementation and learn more about Advanced Supply Chain Software™ powered by I.B.I.S., Inc., visit the I.B.I.S. Newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2015-16 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

Click to download the: 2015 Distribution Software Guide
Click to download the:  2015 Manufacturing Software Guide
 
To copy and paste into a browser, use the following:
 
2015 Distribution Software Guide: 
 
2015 Manufacturing Software Guide: 
 
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