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Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Frozen food distributor Ardo Increases Customer Satisfaction With Iptor

Ardo, a family-owned producer, packager and distributor of frozen vegetables, fruit, pasta and rice based in Ardooie, Belgium, merged with Dujardin Foods Group in 2014. With 20 production, packing and distribution units in eight European countries, Ardo employs more than 3,800 people. The company handles 805,000 tons of food worldwide, with an estimated consolidated turnover of €815 million.

As a result of the expansion, Ardo needed an integrated solution for their cold store refrigeration system. Logistical flows were not fully automated and material flows between product, semi-finished inventory and packaging stages were often long and complex, involving error- prone manual labor. In addition, a solution would need to hold up under high volume traffic. Tight schedules would need to be maintained throughout, especially during peak seasons, when service levels were at their most tenuous.

Iptor was selected based on its proven track record, acceptable functional fit and reasonable price. Iptor’s solution would be integrated with Ardo’s ERP system, aka “IDAS,” as well as the Savoye warehouse control system, Datapolis SCADA system, Transwide transportation planning and communication software, and Easyform document management system to ensure a cohesive, efficient operation.

As the project unfolded, specialized functional requirements were exposed, including specific schedulers for box picking and label requirements, among others. The Iptor team customized solutions to accommodate these special cases and support seamless, end-to-end performance.

Peter Schotte, Ardo’s lead IT analyst on the project, said “Iptor’s solution increased our efficiency, decreased our errors and reduced our rate of damaged goods significantly. They made the entire implementation process easy on us, leading to a marked improvement in overall operational costs and improved customer service levels.”

To read more about Iptor and the Ardo case study, visit Iptor's Customer News page on their website.

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Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

E. Sam Jones Distributor Improves Supply Chain With Infor

With more than 60 years of experience creating customized lighting solutions, E. Sam Jones is a family-owned and operated business in Atlanta, GA with branches in Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Jersey, and Florida.

Since the business began in 1948, E. Sam Jones has developed partnerships with major lighting manufacturers across the United States, including General Electric and Phillips, but also sells to residential customers.

E. Sam Jones sought to optimize its supply chain and improve process efficiencies to deliver a more integrated platform to its customers via an upgrade.

Business goals for the Infor implementation included:
■ Reduce software customizations with Infor Distribution SX.e’s built-in upgrades.
■ Optimize inventory management of 30,000 items.
■ Streamline the supply chain to maintain delivery time expectations

By utilizing Infor Distribution SX.e, E. Sam Jones is now able to manage orders from invoice through production and delivery. With the ability to control pricing of its 30,000 inventory items for recurring and first-time customers, the company can process orders at the closest distribution center to its customers. This ensures that specific orders can be efficiently ordered, processed, and shipped to anywhere in the US within the same day from E. Sam Jones’s seven distribution centers.

E. Sam Jones Distributor eliminated all of it software customizations, improved supply chain management, and improved asset visibility to deliver superior online service to customers and increase venue with Infor Distribution SX.e and Infor Distribution Storefront.

To learn more about Infor and the E. Sam Jones Distributor case study, visit the Infor Distribution Newsroom.

New Software Research Guides Available
Finding that you cannot keep up with all the changes in the latest software?
Want to know how the software's features and functions can assist you?
Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.
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Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Rowmark Poised for Growth with VAI

In 1987, Fred Kremer, the CEO of a drainage pipe manufacturer located in Findlay, Ohio, saw a growing need for extruded sheet materials in the engraving market. Today, that business, now known as Rowmark, is located in a 75,000 square feet facility which houses multiple extrusion lines, press, lamination and hot stamp capabilities, 4 storage silos and a warehouse dedicated to raw materials, a finished goods warehouse, and administrative offices.

In the case of Rowmark, business opportunities began to present themselves across the globe. The success and growth of the company found them outgrowing their ERP software and in need of a solution that would not hinder growth and success. The search for a new supply chain management solution and partner was predicated on scalability, features and functions and value or return on investment (ROI).

After months of research, Rowmark partnered with VAI to deploy its ERP Solution with S2K Smart Center, a browser-based, easy to use application with anytime and anywhere access, and S2K Analytics.

VAI’s unlimited user licensing has been a cost-effective solution for Rowmark during their recent acquisition of Johnson Plastics. “Adopting a new ERP platform is a substantial commitment,” said Gary Justen, director of information technology at Rowmark. “VAI’s unlimited user licensing, though, is a unique feature that we knew would directly impact our ability to scale effectively as our company continues to expand.” Rowmark has been able to confidently manage product and inventory across the globe with faith in the stability and ease of the platform; they plan to bring along VAI’s ERP solutions as they grow their business now and in the future.

To learn more about VAI and the Rowmark case study, visit the VAI Newsroom.

New Software Research Guides Available
Finding that you cannot keep up with all the changes in the latest software?
Want to know how the software's features and functions can assist you?
Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.
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Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Mid-West Metal Products Experiences Savings With Epicor ERP

For nearly 100 years, Mid-West Metal Products has produced wire-formed, sheet metal fabricated, and tubular metal products for customers ranging from global corporations to small emerging enterprises. With four locations in Muncie, Indiana, including three manufacturing facilities, as well as production operations in Dalian, China, the company specializes in the custom design and manufacturing of enclosures, bag stands, pet crates, shelving, and displays from concept to finished product.

Over the past five years, the company has grown steadily, with sales increasingly rising among general and big box retailers as well as distributors worldwide and employee count has risen to 150. Due to this growth Mid-West Metal was experiencing business challenges due to the difficulty of retrieving historical sales information as well as automating shipping, processing, packing, and picking activities across five locations

By selecting to implement Epicor® ERP, the company realized the following benefits:

• Identified production inefficiencies, which enabled Mid-West to reduce labor costs by 20 percent and increase sales by 30 percent during the first year of use

• Provided a clearer picture of both profitable and non-profitable product lines

• Streamlined order processing and eliminated the need for sales representatives to fax all requests

• Created a web store to integrate with the existing portal for their distributors and customers.

To learn more about the business benefits Epicor can provide, and read additional case studies and customer testimonials, visit the Epicor Customer Stories page.

New Software Research Guides Available
Finding that you cannot keep up with all the changes in the latest software?
Want to know how the software's features and functions can assist you?
Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.
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