Hi Spec Doorsets Benefits from Acumatica's 24/7 ERP

Acumatica, a provider of cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for small and medium-sized companies, recently announced the publication of their latest case study featuring the benefits experienced by Hi Spec Doorsets after switching their ERP system to Acumatica.

Based in the United Kingdom, Hi Spec manufactures tailored doorsets for the construction industry providing customized solutions for hotels, offices, and residential developments, and for the health and education sectors. Hi Spec's old system required the sales staff to update leads, contacts, and sales orders from the office, because the remote login software was faulty.

Hi Spec found Acumatica's solution appealing for its reduced maintenance costs and no user licensing requirements. By utilizing Acumatica’s browser-based system, Hi Spec’s problems with remote login disappeared.

In addition, Acumatica offers financial management, distribution, CRM, and project accounting suites. Acumatica Studio, the company’s technology development platform, gives ISVs and OEMs a rapid, cost-effective means of developing and integrating cloud-based apps, using industry-standard tools.

To read more about the Hi Spec Doorsets implementation, 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 early-April, 2014. Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information.

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Encompass Group Gains Accuracy With Demand Solutions

Encompass Group, a manufacturer of reusable textiles, professional apparel, therapeutic support surfaces and disposable medical products, needed a planning tool.

Demand Solutions offered a cost-effective system for collaborating with vendors and customers, allowing Encompass to optimize costs within the IT budget. Encompass Group selected Demand Solutions so that it could gain better control of their inventory and planning processes which had been limited due to unsophisticated computer systems. The results were increased sales and significant margin gains with a strong ability to forecast accuracy and profits.

The Demand Solutions team conducted the full implementation of its forecast management software in less than 30 days, and Encompass Group experienced a ROI in just five months.

Some of the immediate benefits experienced included:

• Inventory reduction by 10%
• Increase in inventory turns by 20%
• Boost in global fill rates by 5%

To read more and download the full case study, visit Demand Solutions Case Studies on the company's website.

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.

2013 Distribution Software

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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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Bhagwan Marine Sets Sail with Pronto Software

Pronto Software, a developer of next generation Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software that integrates with advanced Business Intelligence (BI) solutions, has been selected to provide business management software to Bhagwan Marine, a rapidly expanding specialized oil and gas industry services company. Bhagwan Marine will be implementing the new Pronto Xi 710 software, featuring integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business intelligence (BI) to support its on- and off-shore operations.

Bhagwan provides critical logistics support to the resources and offshore oil and gas industry in Northern Australia through marine and port services. The company operates a fleet of 100 vessels, ranging from high-speed crew and cargo transfer vessels, to landing crafts and dive support workboats and employs approximately 700 staff spread across four locations.

Bhagwan’s reporting operations had become difficult, time-consuming and a mostly completely manual process. In addition, reliable and accurate vessel, customer and project data, and profitability analysis, was extremely problematic to develop as it was being managed in disparate Excel databases. Pronto Xi 710’s integrated ERP and BI reporting capabilities proved the best fit thanks to innovative automated functionalities as well as Pronto’s Project Costing capability.

Pronto Software will provide the Bhagwan senior executive team with faster access to key business information such as data on individual vessels, repair costs and labour hours needed for repairs. Information relating to specific sites and vessels will also be made available to various operational teams and managers, arming them with more detailed data to use in decision-making.

To learn more about the Bhagwan implementation, visit Pronto News.

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.

2013 Distribution Software

2013 Manufacturing Software

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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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.

2013 Distribution Software

2013 Manufacturing Software

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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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.

2013 Distribution Software

2013 Manufacturing Software

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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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.

2013 Distribution Software

2013 Manufacturing Software

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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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.

2013 Distribution Software

2013 Manufacturing Software

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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