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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Stevens Company Selects Tofino's Resource Management Suite

The Stevens Company, a national distributor of medical and surgical supplies throughout Canada, has selected Tofino Software's Resource Management Suite for their Delta British Columbia facility.   Stevens found themselves confronted with managing a variety of customer inventories inclusive of managed care facilities, clinics, surgical clinics and doctor’s offices, and was limited by their current software and paper-based systems.

Deploying Tofino's Resource Management Suite has allowed Stevens to increase customer loyalty and market share. Additional implementation benefits have included:
  • Increased processing accuracy
  • 24/7 access to information throughout the enterprise
  • Simplified process systems
  • enhanced software support and vendor reliability
  • The ability to view which customers are using the application
Ray Jourdain, Steven's Director of Sales, said, "With Tofino Software’s Web-Based Inventory Management Applications we are able to login to one location and view real-time information on all of our customers where the application is deployed."

About Tofino Software: With over 35 years of experience in the industrial and e-commerce sectors, Tofino Software’s Resource Management Suite, provides supply chain management solutions to their customers.

To learn more about Tofino Software and read additional case studies and white papers, visit the Tofino Newsroom.

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

 
2014-15 Manufacturing Software Guide: 
 
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Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Absolute Value Delivers Double Value to The Corix Group

The Corix Group is a $300 million company made up of three entities: Corix Water Products is a large water and wastewater products distributor; Corix Water Systems fabricates water and wastewater treatment plants; and Corix Utilities develops customized water, wastewater and sustainable energy systems and provides field metering services for gas, water and electrical utilities. This privately held company has over 1,200 employees in 60 locations across North America. Implementing Absolute Value has given more than 40 users company-wide greater access to business intelligence and forecasting for planning, purchasing, and managing their inventory of 1.7 million SKUs across 33 branch locations, for thousands of customers.

1.7 million SKUs are a lot to keep up with, and Absolute Value manages each one separately. The system utilizes 18 forecasting formulas, and uses the Best-Fit forecasting method of “reforecasting” the past for each item, and using the most appropriate forecast formula going forward. As trends for a SKU change, the formula used automatically changes to provide the most accurate forecast. “The more you use the tool, the better it gets. We received value from the day we started using it.“ commented Carol Wozney, Director of Infrastructure Services.

As critical as forecasting is, it is only half of the process of managing inventory. The Absolute Value replenishment process compares the forecast to time phased expected inventory to identify an inventory need with laser-like accuracy. This information is then used along with safety stock and economic calculations to determine the quantity to purchase. The result is a suggested order for each vendor.

“We can track how a recommendation was derived in a visual way, and apply human logic to ensure that it makes sense. Few if any other forecasting and replenishment solutions allow you to do this,” said Bill Palmer, Corix Manager of Special Projects.

To learn more about Absolute Value and read additional case studies and white papers, visit the Absolute Value Newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2014-15 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.


 
2014-15 Manufacturing Software Guide: 
 
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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Sogepoc Selects IFS To Support International Expansion

Sogepoc, one of Portugal’s largest agricultural producers, recently selected IFS Applications to unify management of the group's agriculture and livestock divisions. IFS Applications will provide the technological backbone for finances, human resources, manufacturing, planning, projects, maintenance, document management, and warehousing. The company is based in Portugal, Spain, and Chile and its revenue in 2014 was 330 million euros.

By implementing the IFS solution, Sogepoc will be able to integrate all of its business-critical processes, thereby enabling the group to lower IT expenditures, gain agility, and focus on its core business.

Among the ERP vendors considered, IFS Applications proved to be the optimal solution for Sogepoc, offering extensive and flexible functionality localized for rapid deployment in a large number of countries. During the initial phase of implementation, IFS Applications will be installed at three subsidiaries and then deployed in additional parts of the group.

“IFS Applications is a much more powerful and agile tool than our previous ERP solutions. It provides international coverage and has the flexibility we need to support our future growth,” said Luis Ortigão Costa, Board Director of Sogepoc.

About IFS: Founded in 1983, IFS supports more than 2,400 customers worldwide from local offices and through partners in more than 60 countries. IFS develops and delivers business software for enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM) and enterprise service management (ESM).

To learn more about the Sogepoc implementation of IFS Applications, visit the IFS Newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2014-15 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

 
2014-15 Manufacturing Software Guide: 
 
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Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Phocas Increases Productivity For Mid-Island Electrical

Mid-Island Electrical Supply is an industrial electrical distributor for New York City, the Hudson Valley and Long Island with thousands of active accounts. However, their data tools were not providing a holistic view of their business landscape, and data mining was a cumbersome process.

At Mid-Island, Phocas is used primarily by Senior Management, Sales Managers, Branch Managers, the Automotive Manager and the Operations Manager, and all users have the ability to generate reports that are meaningful, visually appealing, and require less effort.

This has been most noticeable in the variance reports for inside or outside sales - the sales management benefits were immediate. Additionally, Mid-Island's Automotive Manager is using Phocas for projections, analysis of automation product lines and Gap Analysis. Phocas immediately highlights the gaps in the buying patterns allowing the business to determine if competitor activity is impacting that account - essential for creating efficiencies and capitalizing on every business opportunity. Finally, Mid-Island is also integrating Phocas with Microsoft Map Point to help on delivery patterns, creating a targeted and cost efficient plan of attack. These same features are also used for planning and maximizing sales visits and delivery routes.

The use of Phocas has improved the visibility and analysis of customers and products and stopped the allocation of resources from going to areas where the rewards would be low. Efforts can now be focused on high-yielding customers and enhancing productivity across the whole organization.

To read more about the Mid-Island Electrical implementation, as well as additional case studies, visit the Phocas newsroom.

The Brown Smith Wallace 2014-15 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides are currently available for download. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

 
2014-15 Manufacturing Software Guide: 
 
Additional materials: 
 
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