Miller-St Nazianz Achieves Maximum Profit With IFS

Founded in 1899 in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin, Miller has been providing a wide range of agricultural machinery to farmers for 5 generations. Its product line includes the Nitro high clearance front mount boom sprayers, the Condor mechanical drive sprayers, the Atlas floater chassis, and Ag-Bag hay and forage baggers.

Miller-St. Nazianz operates in a highly complex, multi-mode manufacturing environment, and IFS Applications is the enterprise software environment they have consistently chosen to meet their needs. Miller-St. Nazianz has more than 132,000 inventory parts, a single manufacturing facility and multiple sites set up in IFS to manage repair parts, including a warehouse in Canada. Warranties are handled in a best-of-breed system from TDS Software, integrated with application programming interfaces (APIs) in IFS Applications. Managing, manufacturing and supporting a broad portfolio of agricultural equipment products for maximum profit can be a challenge, but Miller-St. Nazianz is running its product development, manufacturing, parts and aftermarket service in a single instance of IFS Applications, delivering total product lifecycle management (PLM) benefits.

An IFS customer since 2001, Miller-St. Nazianz upgraded its instance of IFS Applications several times. Using IFS Applications, Miller-St. Nazianz is managing more than the product lifecycle. Through the IFS CRM module, it is taking advantage of the deep integration with back-office ERP functionality to master customer interactions.

Benefits experienced to-date include:

• Complete product lifecycle management
• Fully integrated CRM functionality Ease of integration with CAD software
• Closed-loop system that reduces non-value-added work
• All critical business data in one location
• Easier warranty management

To learn more about IFS, their customers, solutions, and the Miller-St Nazianz case study, visit the Our Customers page.

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Predator Group Increases Savings With Blue Link

Predator Group is a distributor of high-end pool cues located in Jacksonville, FL whose products are used by top-ranked billiard professionals across the United States. Due to changes in their business structure over the years, Predator Group was finding their current software unable to handle their distribution needs. After searching for a new system, Predator Group transitioned to Blue Link.

Challenges:

The company’s customers, which are wholesalers who sell Predator Group cues to retailers nationwide, place orders via the company’s sales department. Staff must then identify which components are required and create the appropriate purchase orders for them. These purchase orders are sent to the various suppliers Predator Group works with, who ship the requested items back to Predator Group to be stored. Staff pull the necessary items for each customer purchase order and ship them to China, where they’re manufactured into the cues themselves. The finished cues are then shipped back to Predator Group to be sent to the customers who ordered them.

Predator Group’s previous system lacked the automation capabilities needed to execute these processes efficiently. Instead, staff had to track all customer orders, purchase orders, inventory and shipping information manually, via spreadsheet. Since nothing was updated automatically, staff had to spend hours each week painstakingly entering new information into these spreadsheets in order to stay on top of everything. Predator Group’s previous system was also on-premises, which made it very difficult for their employees in China and US-based sales staff to log in and work on the system.

The Blue Link Solution:

Before Predator Group transitioned to the new system, Blue Link created a trial version for employees to test out in order to see which features they would be using the most so the system could be modified according to their needs. When the time came to implement the system, members of Blue Link staff arrived at Predator Group facility and spent two weeks training employees and transferring all of Predator Group’s data into the system.

Blue Link’s Inventory Back Order Fill Screen is a key asset to Predator Group. The screen alerts staff to which customer orders should be filled first based on when the orders were placed, which saves the staff and logistics team a minimum of 10 hours per week and allows them to focus on more essential activities.

Blue Link’s sales order review screen is also extremely beneficial, as it allows staff to view the completion percentage of all orders so incomplete orders aren’t pulled before they’re ready.

The new system has helped Predator Group improve their relationship with customers. Customers are automatically emailed their invoice, packing slip and tracking number. This keeps them up to date on the status of their order and alerts them to what it will include when it arrives. It also saves Predator Group staff the hassle of having to manually send out invoices each month.

Blue Link’s strong reporting capabilities have also proven incredibly useful. Predator Group’s CFO uses the system to automatically calculate financials at the end of the month. Additionally, since Blue Link is cloud-based, Predator Group employees can log into the system anywhere they have Internet access, ensuring that they never skip a beat if they’re traveling or out of the office.

Predator Group estimates that Blue Link will save them a minimum of $12,000 per year simply in terms of how much less it costs to run the system as compared to the old software they were using. As the company continues to save countless hours as a result of Blue Link’s automation capabilities and the future modifications to the system that are planned, Predator Group expects to see additional cost savings in the tens of thousands of dollars.

To learn more about Blue Link, visit their Case Studies page.

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Ozsale Increases Online Sales With Phocas

Ozsale is an Australian member-based online shopping club with dedicated buyers in Australia, Europe, Asia and USA who search the world for products and negotiate deals direct with suppliers. Ozsale has over 8.75 million members and has expanded into a number of locations in Asia Pacific.

Business Expansion Causes Challenges

As Ozsale grew and expanded, its ability to track sales by product line and obtain reports about the performance of the business became a significant challenge. Ozsale's main warehouses in Sydney, Los Angeles and the UK receive 20,000 garments per day, and then distribute those garments to various locations across Australia and Asia Pacific. Ozsale's previous system was developed in-house and involved excel and other programs. The problem with this system was the number of reports required was never ending and the ability to get data needed was too slow.

Ozsale needed a tool that would allow them to:

1.Obtain Sales History easily and quickly about particular sales, brands and product line.

2.Monitor warehouse operations and provide reports back to suppliers about the performance of their brands and products

3.Budgeting and forecasting so managers could quickly assess where things are at with the business and what sort of decisions need to be taken about its future.

Saving Time and Reducing Complexity

To address their reporting and data analysis needs, Ozsale turned to Phocas BI for a solution. Since implementing Phocas, OzSale has had the ability to analyze large amounts of data in a few simple clicks. Managers can now start every morning checking previous day sales numbers allowing them to quickly build out budgets and forecasts.

To Lear more about Phocas BI, and read additional customer case studies, visit the Phocas Newsroom.

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Coming in August 2016:

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, our 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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Advanced Assembly Increases Efficiency With SAP Business One And Vision33

Advanced Assembly, an Aurora, Colorado based manufacturer with 100+ employees, provides Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Assemblies for the Transportation, Automotive, Public, Communications, Medical, and Technology Services sectors. Their customers are engineers and buyers involved in the development and production of innovative electronic products.

Advanced Assembly was experiencing the following business challenges:
• Outgrown the capabilities of their current, proprietary system due to sustained year-over-year growth
• Needed consistent and repeatable processes
• Experiencing limited visibility into process bottlenecks
• Had to manually integrate applications using spreadsheets

The ERP solution Advanced Assembly chose was SAP Business One® and Vision33 because of their detailed understanding of manufacturing and accounting processes.

As a result of the SAP Business One® and Vision33 implementation, the benefits provided to Advanced Assembly include the following:
• Creation of a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for streamlined operations
• Real-time reporting for a snapshot of company performance
• Visibility into work order status for quicker manufacturing turn times and customer satisfaction
• Common business platform to support continued growth
• Tracking of manufacturing throughput to support growth planning

To read the full Advanced Assembly case study, and learn more about the services provided by Vision33, visit the Vision33 Newsroom.

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Coming in August 2016:

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, our 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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Western Water Works Boosts Revenue With Infor Distribution SX.e

Western Water Works Supply Company distributes pipe valves and fittings to the waterworks industry, selling primarily to water utilities and underground contractors. In business since 1945, Western Water Works was founded by three partners who saw the need for a local distributor of waterworks products and materials in Southern California.

Challenges that Western Water Works needed addressed by Infor:

• Guarantee on-time delivery, accurate billing, and accurate orders.
• Increase efficiency on the sales, operations, and financial sides.
• Manage cash flow, specifically as it relates to the company’s two largest assets: inventory and accounts receivable.
• Provide customers with an overall better experience.

Benefits the Infor's SX.e provided to Western Water Works:

• Efficiencies allowed the company to increase revenue by $32 million.
• Improved inventory turns from 2-1/2 up to 7 turns per year.
• Ensured accurate, timely delivery and billing.
• Provided customers with service-level agreements, which previously not feasible.
• Became more efficient on the sales, operations, and financial sides.
• Streamlined the collections process.
• Centralized sales and accounting so all salespeople can sell from multiple locations.

To read about Infor Distribution SX.e, and read additional customer case studies, visit the Infor Distribution Newsroom.

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Coming in August 2016:

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, our 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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Royal Agio Gains Global Insight With QAD ERP

Royal Agio Cigars (Agio Cigars) is a leading European cigar manufacturer. The company produces more than 750 million cigars per year distributed in more than 100 countries under brands that include Mehari’s, Panter, Balmoral and De Huifkar. With headquarters in Duizel, Netherlands, the company employs more than 2,000 people and posts annual turnover of approximately 100 million euros.

For several decades, Agio has relied on custom-made software and had to make use of one-off spreadsheets to analyze their data. Recently hired CFO Tom Mens wanted to implement an integrated business solution, and the search for a manufacturing-focused solution began.

After narrowing down the field, Agio chose QAD. According to Mens, “We chose QAD because QAD was able to do the complete implementation. QAD is focused on manufacturing, which makes its applications truly lean. This makes management easier.” By implementing QAD ERP, Agio saw improved efficiencies in many areas, including elimination of extra work and fewer information silos. They were also able to get more insight and visibility into their business processes through QAD Enterprise Applications.

To read more, and learn about the benefits of QAD ERP for manufacturers, visit the QAD news blog.

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Coming in August 2016:

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, our 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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Global Toy Supplier to Gain Visibility with NetSuite Cloud ERP

HobbyLink Japan Inc., distributor of Japanese toys and hobby products to consumers and retail businesses across the globe, has recently selected NetSuite OneWorld to support its global expansion plans. HobbyLink will run its mission-critical business processes on NetSuite, including accounting, financials, inventory management and order management.

Established in 1995, HobbyLink supplies some of the world’s finest hobby kits, figures and toys. It has a catalogue of 125,000 SKUs and actual inventory of 60,000 items that can be ordered online and shipped to customers and collectors around the world. Currently, 30 percent of sales go through hobby shops and the other 70 percent through ecommerce.

While the company enjoyed significant business growth over the last ten years, it had challenges with its existing on-premise accounting system and numerous Excel sheets that created extensive manual work and were error prone. Employees had to hand code most of the customer queries and responses. This ultimately hampered the company’s ability to manage growth.

After a rigorous evaluation of software solutions, HobbyLink chose NetSuite OneWorld for the following reasons:

◾Inventory management that can provide visibility into stock levels and when to replenish.
◾Order management that can centralize all orders and process them efficiently, helping to eliminate manual processes.
◾Real-time visibility with one single unified financial system of record and financial reporting across the entire organization.
◾360-degree view of its customers, allowing the company to better segment its customer base and tailor promotions.
◾A modern, intuitive user interface that will require minimal training.

NetSuite OneWorld will also manage HobbyLink’s “Private Warehouse” System, which will allow customers to pay for an order but hold them in the company’s warehouse until they are ready to receive them.

To read more, visit the NetSuite 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.

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For 2016 Manufacturing Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Manufacturing_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016MFG

Coming in August 2016:

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, our 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.