The Organization
Modern Optical International is one of America’s leading providers of eyeglass frames, distributing its high-quality optical products across the United States. Key components of Modern’s success are its field sales force and a focus on outstanding customer service.
Modern has been using Microsoft Dynamics NAV since 1996 and has continued to invest in NAV through upgrades, fine tuning and ongoing training to ensure that its business systems stay competitive in this servicedriven industry. After their upgrade to Dynamics NAV 2009 they wanted to empower the sales force by providing real time access to sales data.
The Challenge
Modern Optical customer service reps were spending a lot of time providing support to the sales force. Most of the support revolved around a need for up-to-date information on sales and order status to reps in the field.
Management had three objectives:
• Keep sales and customer service focused on customers and spend less time talking to each other.
• Give sales people the tools to answer customer inquiries more rapidly.
• Grow the business without expanding customer service staff.
Additionally, in order to access the required information without redesigning all the reports for Role Tailored Client, the company wanted this all to run under the Classic Client – a capability which is not available from NAV out of the box. This called for a custom Web access application.
The Solution
Liberty Grove Software proposed a portal where the sales force could run their own reports, and check their orders from their customer’s office, their car, or the airportwherever they were. A mobile application was designed that utilized Web Services in a Classic Client environment. Liberty Grove Software’s development team then built the complete solution including a PHP coded web site which integrates with NAV’s Classic Client to generate PDF reports. Now, remote users can sign into the web site, select their report and enter the filter criteria as they would in NAV. They can then view or print a PDF report on their laptop, tablet or smart phone.
The Result
Modern Optical has been able to significantly reduce the time that customer service spends on sales force requests, so both sales people and customer service reps can focus on customers, and turn around customer inquiries and orders faster, fulfilling Modern Optical’s quest to provide the best service in the industry.
Scheduled next for Modern Optical is an LGS created ‘Web Services to Classic Client’ application for customer self-service order entry.
Contact Liberty Grove Software to find out how we can help you achieve the results your company is looking for.
The Organization
Italy’s ITALVIBRAS G. SILINGARDI is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of specialized industrial vibrators. These are used in a variety of industrial applications that demand unparalleled reliability backed by a company that is flexible and experienced enough to deliver worldclass customer care.
Italvibras USA Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITALVIBRAS. This is ITALVIBRAS’ first subsidiary and the company wanted to be able to directly manage supply chain and distribution requirements efficiently and effectively in the US.
The Challenge
Italvibras USA faced a number of challenges getting their operation up and running. These ranged from hiring staff and developing their US business, to getting NAV up and running to help manage the business. With no US IT staff in place, Italvibras USA needed a partner that could provide a full range of services including recommendations for the best way to setup and utilize NAV in their new subsidiary. After the company settled on its US location, Italvibras USA selected Liberty Grove Software as their North American Microsoft Dynamics NAV Partner.
The Solution
Liberty Grove Software’s team took a very active role in the implementation of NAV. LGS provided services all the way from requirements gathering, specification creation, project management, development and training through go-live. LGS’s partnership has continued to grow since go-live and they are now closely involved with the ongoing system support and expansion.
Liberty Grove Software was able to leverage Italvibras USA’s investment in NAV to help integrate their US and Italian operations. Italvibras utilizes the base NAV functionality plus customizations to support the unique challenges of running an international distribution operation and minimizing working capital.
The Result
Italvibras USA successfully completed construction and set up of their new facility while integrating NAV into their operations. They are now focused on building their business. Their customized NAV system allows Italvibras USA to manage inventory effectively, and place and track orders with the Italian factory in order to meet customers’ required turnarounds (measured in days, not weeks). LGS has assisted Italvibras USA at each step along the way, and has been a key partner in providing the business IT support required to establish US operations.
Contact Liberty Grove Software to find out how we can help you achieve the results your company is looking for.
The Organization
New hires are able to quickly get up to speed with Dynamics NAV Manufacturing and can refer back to training on any steps needed. Factory floor workers and production planners can get the training they need when they need it. Production floor data collection and order fulfillment is more accurate and timely, so managers can plan and monitor production remoteChuck Levin’s Washington Music Center (WMC) is a family-owned and operated business that has been serving both professional, student and amateur musicians in the Washington, DC area for more than 50 years. Customers come to WMC because they know they will get exactly what they want — an extensive, well-selected inventory backed up by great service.
WMC uses NAV to support local and international sales to individuals and government agencies, and to manage all sorts of specialized applications including rental of thousands of instrument and a wide variety of repair services. WMC first installed NAV in 1999, upgraded in 2004, and is now planning to upgrade to NAV 2009 and SQL Server. LGS has worked with WMC’s management over the past six years to support and enhance NAV to meet their unique business requirements.ly.Contact Liberty Grove Software to find out how we can help you achieve the results your company is looking for.
The Challenge
WMC needed a more efficient process to track incoming shipments to fulfill out-going orders and maintain accurate inventory for stock. Two full-time employees were handling receiving, separating stock inventory from special order material, and entering receiving data into Excel. The Excel forms were then printed and passed on to other departments for further processing. This meant that the receiving data had to be subsequently entered into NAV, leading to inefficiency and inaccuracy. WMC’s profits come from moving lots of instruments, quickly. They needed to make their receiving process easier and more accurate.
The Solution
Liberty Grove Software used NAV’s Warehouse Receipt functionality to create a barcode-enabled process to speed up finding Purchase Orders. By scanning the UPC Barcode of each received item, the NAV system finds all the possible Purchase Orders tied to this item. Once the right order is identified by the Receiver, the Item is automatically added to the Warehouse Receipt form, eliminating any manual entry. Now received shipment info goes directly to Invoicing for special orders and to Inventory for stock orders.
In addition, Special Orders items are routed directly to Shipping without having to move them into the warehouse, where there is a danger of getting delayed or mislaid.
The Result
Receiving head count has been cut in half, while the faster shipping and receiving turnaround has resulted in happier customers and better cash flow.
According to WMC’s CFO, David Fox, this customized NAV functionality “has been a huge improvement — it has increased our productivity and accuracy for receiving by at least 80%.”
Contact Liberty Grove Software to find out how we can help you achieve the results your company is looking for.
The Organization
Cathedral Art Metal (CAMCO) is a family-run manufacturing company that produces sentiment driven gifts to celebrate family, friends and life’s special occasions. Headquartered in Rhode Island, the company also has plants in El Salvador and Mexico. CAMCO’s NAV system users include both English and Spanish speaking employees.
Cathedral Art Metal has continued to leverage their investment in Microsoft Dynamics NAV as they adapt to changing business requirements. NAV follows each order along all the steps on the production floor– casting, polishing, finishing and packaging.
The Challenge
Cathedral Art Metal produces a large number of products, with many of them being produced on demand to customer orders. The company has significant factory floor employee turnover and also hires seasonal workers. Plant supervisors need to be able to get new hires up to speed on their production system quickly, as well as provide specialized and on-demand refresher training.
The Solution
Liberty Grove Software developed a customized manufacturing course that was based on the Cathedral Art Metals business process. The course was delivered remotely using their data and recorded for on-demand work floor training and refreshers. Within the NAV Manufacturing system, screens were customized to the language preference of each user, whichever location they work at.
The Result
New hires are able quickly get up to speed with Dynamics NAV Manufacturing and can refer back to training on any steps needed. Factory floor workers and production planners can get the training they need when they need it. Production floor data collection and order fulfillment are more accurate and timely, so managers can plan and monitor production remotely.
Contact Liberty Grove Software to find out how we can help you achieve the results your company is looking for.
The Organization
Deep River Technologies is a leading Microsoft Dynamics ERP NAV Partner located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Deep River Technologies has more than a decade of experience in providing ERP solutions, with a focus on NAV. To ensure their clients’ NAV upgrades go without a hitch, Deep River partners with Liberty Grove Software for the core back-office technical work to ensure the success of their upgrade projects.
Case in point: The NAV upgrade of Deep River’s client, Nomacorc LLC. Nomacorc is the world’s largest producer of alternative wine closures, using extruded foam-based products to solve the pervasive problem of cork taint in wine. Established in 1999 in Zebulon, NC, Nomacorc has enlarged its U.S. headquarters to meet growing demand and expanded into the European market with operations in Belgium and China. Today Nomacorc has more than 500 employees worldwide, with a vast network of distributors and sales agents on six continents.
The Challenge
In 2010, Nomacorc LLC decided to upgrade their US NAV V4.02 ERP system to NAV 2009. Phase 1 required the conversion of over 100 modified tables, more than 500 custom or customized objects, and 11 companies in Nomacorc’s 30GB NAV database.
Phase 2 was to upgrade the Belgian NAV system installed at the Belgian facility of Nomacorc S.A., One of the challenges of this upgrade was the fact that Nomacorc S.A. wanted the final data conversion to happen onsite in Belgium, with their local NAV Partner close at hand. Obviously, the plan had to address the issues of distance and time zone differences, as well as providing clear communications between all involved parties.
The Solution
For Phase 1, Deep River Technologies came directly to LGS for an upgrade diagnostic and fixed-price quote for Nomacorc LLC’s upgrade. LGS analyzed the work required to migrate forward all objects, customizations, and reports, to develop a testing phase, and lastly, to convert Nomacorc’s production data once testing was complete. The project moved forward and Nomacorc LLC was smoothly upgraded to NAV 2009.
Because the Phase 1 upgrade went so smoothly in the US, Nomacorc S.A. decided to utilize the proven combination of Deep River and Liberty Grove rather than having their local NAV Partner completely handle the upgrade project.
Deep River coordinated the project, working closely with the Belgian NAV Partner to ensure smooth testing and go-live experience. LGS scheduled work within the timeline required by the Belgian production facility. Nomacorc’s IT management requested a “test conversion” in order to provide extra confidence that all problems were identified and solved ahead of time.
The Result
On the Friday of the weekend designated for the final conversion, LGS upgrade staff was able to complete the final conversion on the server in Belgium in record time – just a matter of a few hours. The Belgian team was able to begin their work on the upgraded system a day ahead of plan. With almost the entire weekend to do testing and set up, an extra cushion existed to allow normal operations to proceed without hesitation on Monday morning. It was an extremely smooth upgrade, validating the Nomacorc S.A. decision to use the North American team of Deep River and Liberty Grove to handle the upgrade of their system in Belgium.
Deep River Technologies was able to deliver the upgrade at a fair profit within the client’s budget. With the new version in place, Deep River was well-positioned to perform additional consulting work by implementing new features enabled in NAV 2009, such as web services and Role Tailored Client. Liberty Grove was proud to deliver another successful collaborative project that was a win for both client and partner alike.
