IFS Customer Richco Reduces Inventory by 25% and
Increases Efficiency
Company migrates 10th location to ERP that
streamlines intracompany orders
IFS North America customer Richco, Inc., a global
manufacturer of plastic components, has good reason to
be excited. This month, Richco will go-live with IFS
Applications, the enterprise resource planning (ERP)
solution of record, at its Italian subsidiary.
Richco is headquartered in Morton Grove, Ill. Richco
supplies quality cable management, board management, and
fiber management products. Richco also offers custom
product design development, 3D tool design and
development, and rapid production.
“The centralized visibility of inventory levels at
each of our locations around the globe lets us make much
more informed decisions about how much inventory we need
to keep relative to sales,” Richco Director of Global
Information Technology David Bryan said. “We are able to
identify regional centers for handling resupplying.
Purchasing and manufacturing decisions are simplified.”
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With the implementation of IFS applications, Richco has
achieved a number of efficiencies. This includes a 25
percent reduction in inventory levels and reduced
administrative time to handle intra-company orders. This is
a major part of this business, which operates through
multiple subsidiaries in North America, Europe, and Asia.
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Richco’s ERP solution must not only deal effectively
with managing inventory and transactions between
multiple global locations, but it must also support
multiple languages, currencies and other
country-specific requirements for countries such as the
United States, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom,
Malaysia and Finland.
“We are a middle market company with challenges more
typical of big companies,” Bryan said. “We have a global
presence, so we have a lot of big company issues even
though our total number of employees globally is about
500. We need ERP that will support us doing business in
all of these countries. We also have a very strong
emphasis on lean here and we need software that supports
our lean initiatives. Very large ERP vendors like SAP
and Oracle will have all of the international standards
and support for lean, but even if a middle market
company could afford them, they would still need to
consider the commitment involved with implementing these
solutions. IFS has a fully functional ERP package that
is affordable, flexible, and has a good reputation for
implementing in a reasonable amount of time.”
Complex industry
Across its various locations, Richco manufactures
plastic components in a complex, mixed-mode environment,
and yet can run IFS Applications “vanilla,” that is,
without modifications.
“We run in engineer-to-order as well as repetitive
manufacturing for the catalog line,” Bryan said. “But we
also perform secondary operations on some of our parts
to turn one stock-keeping unit (SKU) into a completely
different SKU. When someone wants SKU 2, we grab SKU 1
off the shelf and perform a secondary process to it to
turn it into SKU 2. IFS Applications handles all of
these needs out of the box, including re-identification
of the SKU.”
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Register for PennEnergy's Selecting ERP for Power
Generation Webcast
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When:
October 27, 2011
at 3 p.m. EDT, 12 p.m. PDT, 7 p.m. GMT |
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What industry and macroeconomic trends will affect the type of
enterprise software your power generation needs in the year to come?
What are the specific characteristics and capabilities you will need to
look for in selecting enterprise software like enterprise resource
planning (ERP) and enterprise asset management (EAM)?
Two experts share insights that will be invaluable to anyone
contemplating an investment in enterprise software in the energy sector.
Jill Feblowitz, Vice President for Utilities and Oil and Gas for IDC
shares remarks driven by IDC research. Patrick Zirnhelt, Director of
Sales for Asset Intensive Industry for IFS North America, shares
observations gathered through intimate involvement in enterprise
software projects.
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Patrick Zirnhelt, Director of Energy & Asset Management, IFS NA
Jill Feblowitz, Vice President, Utilities and Oil & Gas,
IDC Energy Insights
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Free White Paper: ERP for Green Supply Chain
Management
Manufacturers are under increasing pressure to
document their impact on the environment. This
pressure is coming, for North American
manufacturers, primarily from the private sector.
Major manufacturers are asking their upstream supply
chain partners to document their environmental
impact as part of green supply chain initiatives.
Green supply chain programs may be initiated in
order to help manufacturers position themselves to
their own customers or investors, or to facilitate
environmental compliance.
This focus on green extends well beyond the simple
carbon footprint, which in and of itself can be a
challenge to track given that almost any business
activity, from turning on the lights to running a
metal press, results in consumption of at least some
fossil fuels. In coming to grips with an
environmental footprint, a number of other impacts
including discharges to waterways, landfills and
other gas emissions must be monitored. The lifecycle
impact of a product—ranging from shipability, energy
consumption, off gassing, service requirements and
end-of-life disposal or recycling, must be taken
into consideration.
Government regulation is also a factor in the
increased attention to green supply chains, in part
because of European initiatives including the
Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and similar
rules promulgated to varying degrees in individual
states including California. These regulations place
new demands on manufacturers to track the impact
their operations and products have on the
environment, specifically at the end of the
product’s lifecycle.
In this whitepaper, IFS addresses the various
drivers for the green supply chain trend, shares
important considerations for satisfying a green
supply chain initiative of a customer or initiating
your own green supply chain initiative, and
discusses the role of enterprise software like
enterprise resources planning (ERP) in keeping pace
with this industry trend.
Read this white paper to learn more today!
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Direct Link to
Free White Paper |
Podcast: What Manufacturing Can Teach Power Generation
About ERP
 ERP
for Power Generation, and the business processes run by power generation
plants in general, are a lot different from what is typical in the
manufacturing space. But there are similarities, and the more developed
ERP processes that manufacturing relies on today can be leveraged to
good advantage by power generation executives and executives in other
asset-intensive companies.
Power Generation
companies can learn a lot about how to use ERP from manufacturing
industries, which have been using the technology longer and developed a
more advanced and nuanced approach. In this episode of the IFS Radio
Network, IFS Senior Advisory Bill Leedale, an APICS-certified expert and
contributor to the APICS body of knowledge, shares thoughts on ERP
practices that have applicability far beyond the manufacturing floor.
"At the heart of the
power generation industry is planning and maintenance. So
early on, we need to be careful about how we select our
suppliers. What the energy and utilities space can learn
from manufacturing is that you start developing the
partnership with your suppliers well in advance of even
putting brick and mortar into place… We are getting our
partners onboard longer term because they know more about
their products than we do and they can help us do things in
a better way. Although most utilities are still doing
bidding and going through the supplier selection process.
There typically is not a lot of consideration given to the
long term viability of the suppliers or how that supplier
will be able to meet your needs going forward."
~
Bill Leedale, IFS Senior Advisory, IFS North America |
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Watch New IFS Customer Video
- ERP for Complex Industry
Allan Lackas from Cleaver Brooks, a company
that develops and services boilers and boiler room products, talks about
IFS's Mobile ERP, Business Intelligence dashboards and IFS Enterprise
Explorer. Watch this new 2-minute video today!
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Watch Video Now!
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Spacesaver® Corp Live on IFS Applications in First of
Four Divisions
Fort
Atkinson, Wis. based storage solutions provider
Spacesaver® Corp., a division on KI, Green Bay, WI., has
gone live on IFS Applications in the first of four
divisions to implement the enterprise resource planning
(ERP) suite.
Spacesaver’s High Bay
archival storage division is now live on IFS
Applications components for Financials, Distribution,
Maintenance, Project Management, Document Management and
Human Resources. High Bay archival storage was chosen as
the first go-live as the up to 45-foothigh shelving
product line was acquired relatively recently in 2007
and could be implemented quickly as management prepares
the rest of the organization for the move from a green
screen legacy system to a modern application suite with
the usability-enhanced IFS Enterprise Explorer user
interface.
Spacesaver operates in
multiple manufacturing modes, including mixed-mode,
engineer-to-order (ETO) and configure-to-order (CTO).
This ability to work in multiple manufacturing modes
allows Spacesaver to have a broad array of product
solutions such as high density storage, evidence
lockers, document storage systems, locking storage
cabinets, and library shelving units. Spacesaver’s
storage solutions are used by customers across a variety
of settings from the Chicago Field Museum of Natural
History and Sotheby’s Auction House to Lockheed Martin
Missiles and Fire Control and Toyota Automotive
Manufacturing.
“Spacesaver is on a
growth trajectory, but we knew we could not handle the
type of growth we are seeing with our legacy system,”
Spacesaver Director of Information Technology Eric
Schmidt said. “IFS Applications will allow us to serve
our customers even better than we historically have by
reducing customer order lead times and optimizing
inventory levels, forecasting, planning and shop floor
routing.”
"As we go live on IFS
Applications, we are finding that our selection of IFS was a
good one. IFS Applications is a great fit for mid-sized
companies that need a tier 1 ERP solution because it offers
a balance between robust functionality and simplicity."
~ Spacesaver Project Manager Anil Rodrigues |
“As a company that runs
in a true multi-mode manufacturing environment,
Spacesaver really does need the agility and flexibility
that IFS Applications delivers,” IFS Vice President of
Sales Mike Lorbiecki said. “No other package delivers
the broad spectrum of ETO, CTO and make-to-order
functionality as effectively as IFS Applications.”
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Events: Attend These
Upcoming Events
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Upcoming Events |
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APICS
October 23-25, 2011 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Visit IFS at Booth #406
The APICS International Conference &
Expo is one of the world's largest gatherings of
operations management professionals, and it provides
an annual interactive learning environment to share
ideas and learn from peers. Don't miss IFS's talk on
sustainability.
Monday,
October 24, 2011 at 2:30 p.m.
Attend
the Brewing Up Profitable Sustainability
Management
session by IFS Senior Advisor
William Leedale (CFPIM, CIRM, CSCP).
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POWER-GEN International 2011
December 13-15, 2011 in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Visit IFS at Booth #5635
 Recently
celebrating 20 years of serving the power industry, POWER-GEN
International is the industry leader in providing comprehensive coverage
of trends, technologies and issues facing the generation sector. As the
need to operate more efficiently and cost-effectively becomes
increasingly important, no other event bridges challenges with solutions
like POWER-GEN International. Each year, more than 1,200 companies from
all sectors of the industry exhibit, with more than 18,000 attendees.
Register today! |
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Utilize Express RFI & Review IFS Applications TEC
Certified Product Reports
IFS Express RFI Templates
IFS Exp ress
RFI, certified by Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC),
is the industry's easiest and quickest way to create an
RFI for enterprise applications. It provides a template
of more than 3,000 functional specifications, organized
by department. IFS Applications 7.5 functionality has
already been identified within the RFI, and each
response has been reviewed and certified by a TEC
industry analyst. For more information about IFS
Applications call 1-888-437-4968 or download a free
copy now!
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ERP
Express RFI |
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EAM/CMMS
Express RFI |
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ETO
Express RFI |
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IFS Applications is TEC Certified
Also review TEC's Enterprise Software
Certification Report on IFS Applications for EAM/CMMS, Discrete
Manufacturing, Mixed-Mode Manufacturing and Engineer-to-Order
Manufacturing. IFS Applications is a TEC Certified product and has many
its software components located in TEC's 'dominant' zone, as well as
achieved a maximal functional focus score for its Quality Management
module.
Download these free reports today!
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Download Reports |
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Meet the IFS Team
Each month the IFS customer newsletter
will feature an IFS employee.
This month's spotlight is on:
Melody
Lathrop
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Administrative Support
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"I
have been working for IFS for five years, and I work as an
administrative assistant in the Raleigh, North Carolina office.
The thing I like most about working at IFS is the people here.
They are the best group of people I have ever worked with. IFS
is a fun and interesting place to spend my day and if I ever
need anything someone is always ready to help.
On a personal note, I have
two children and three cats. I moved from New York to North
Carolina five years ago to be near family and to get away from
the snow and cold weather. I love the warmer weather and
sunshine and realize I should have moved a long time ago.
I enjoy
reading, spending time with family and friends, gardening, and
working on jigsaw and crossword puzzles." |
Top
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The ARC Advisory Group has ranked IFS as:
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IFS DOWNLOAD CENTER
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NEW IFS VIDEO
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IFS
SOLUTIONS
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Contact IFS at
1-888-437-4968 |
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Seven IFS Key Vertical Industries
      
If you're considering new
ERP/EAM options, take a closer look at IFS - the
choice of successful companies such as GE, BMW,
Ericsson, and Lockheed Martin. IFS' component-based
software makes it easier for companies to achieve rapid
bottom-line results. |
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