THE Australian arm of DYWIDAG Systems International, DSI Australia, has increased its flexibility and cut IT costs by two thirds after implementing an ERP system used worldwide by its European parent.
The company successfully carried out an ambitious $500,000 program to implement a string of Navision modules and install new hardware and networking infrastructure to replace its ageing and inflexible legacy financial and manufacturing software.
DSI Australia’s information systems manager David Caldwell said the company needed the planning functionality of an ERP system.
“The new system provides much more functionality across our operation,” Caldwell said. “People can access, sort and filter data and export it to other applications which they couldn’t do with the former system. There’s a good drill-down facility and much greater visibility of information.
Calwell reported IT running costs had been slashed by two thirds while DSI now had a stable solution in place that could be modified cheaply and quickly.
“It went live on the scheduled day with no hiccups - we were taking orders and printing invoices and there were no show stoppers,” Caldwell said.
The four-month project required two new Compaq servers. The first runs the Navision software while the second functions as a host for the Citrix software that links DSI’s distribution centres in the remote mining towns of Kalgoorlie, Mt Isa and Emerald and its Perth factory with the head office. New frame relay-based wide and local area networks were also installed.
Rather than shop for a partner, DSI chose the Navision Solution Centre, Data #3, as best able to handle DSI’s modification requirements and its tight implementation timeline.
Since April, DSI has been running Navision Attain 2.6, manufacturing, financial, inventory management, planning and contact management modules.
It recently went live with the payroll facility and has plans to roll out the fixed assets, project management and material requirements planning modules.
According to Caldwell, management felt a staggered rollout of the system would work best for the company’s 150 employees.
“There’s a big cultural change that comes with using an MRP type system for all the staff in the manufacturing and logistics areas. We need to educate them in those concepts first.”
Customisation of the software was an important part of Data #3’s role.
Major modifications required by DSI included changes to the way contract prices and freight costs were recorded in order to gauge its gross margin on sales and freight recovery.
DSI also wanted the system to provide an accurate picture of stock in transit.
“We do a lot of moving of product from manufacturing to distribution centres,” Caldwell said. “At any time, the value of finished goods on the backs of trucks can be quite considerable. The Navision system allows us to track goods from the factory/warehouse through to another warehouse or consignment stock location.”
National Navision solutions manager at Data #3, Peter Maggs, said such customisation of the Navision software is an integral part of most deployments.
“We do development and modification work on all projects because companies all have their own unique way of doing business and the systems they use should reflect this,” Maggs said.
Maggs said the fact that some of the modifications carried out by Data #3 had subsequently been incorporated into DSI’s global Navision infrastructure was proof of the success of their collaboration.
http://www.ferret.com.au/articles/z1/view.asp?id=85996
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