What made the challenge even more daunting, Onsrud decided to replace its entire enterprise information system in that same time. They wanted a system that would be quick to install, yet have the

scalability and flexibility to support company growth. The problem was that with most enterprise software, high flexibility and quick installation are mutually exclusive.

Assessment and Evaluation Process

Produce timely, customized reports to facilitate more-informed business decisions, Supply real-time information, particularly for customer service representatives

Offer enhanced e-business capabilities

Onsrud selected Adonix X3 Enterprise software system. “Adonix X3 is a powerful, flexible system that we won’t outgrow,” said Robert Ostroga, president of Onsrud Cutter.

Onsrud Cutter has been a leader in router bit manufacturing since Oscar Onsrud invented the router in 1920. It supplies standard and custom designed high- speed steel, carbide tip, solid carbide and diamond router tooling to manufacturers of aircraft, boats, furniture, cabinetry, and other plastic, wood and composite products worldwide.

The Implementation Process

“Onsrud uses much more functionality in every area of its operations − from shop floor to warehouse to sales − than most midsize companies,” said Rich

Onsrud conducted a thorough needs assessment, evaluated software packages, tested demos, and made onsite visits. They wanted software that would:

Burns, Adonix’ vice president, North American Development. “Most companies its size focus their IT efforts on one specific area, such as sales or manufacturing.”

For example, the company uses complex pricing formulas, differentiating prices for its nearly 1,800 standard products by customer, territory, and tool type. Adonix X3 gives midsize companies advanced pricing customization capabilities. With Adonix X3, a company can automatically discount an order involving multiple variables. Most enterprise management systems make users manually reprice each item or enter multiple orders.

The Adonix system’s extensive parameterization gives Onsrud the flexibility to give a customer a price break based on the number of items purchased from a broad category, e.g., solid carbide cutters, or based on the total value of an order for different items within a category. Traditional systems can process discounts only for a specific item.

“Adonix X3 successfully balances flexibility and ease of implementation,” said Burns. “Its level of parameterization gives a midsize company like Onsrud an ability to fine-tune the business processes that give it competitive advantage equal to or greater than that of packages designed for large corporations − but without the complexity that can make implementations drag on forever.”

Reporting capabilities were also an important factor in Onsrud’s choice. “We didn’t want standard reports and inquiries,” said Ostroga. “We wanted to be able to generate any kind of report we need and to drill down into the data from any point.” Because Adonix has tightly integrated Crystal Reports with its software, each of Onsrud’s key reports and inquiries were ready to go at system cutover.

An important part of Onsrud’s decision to select Adonix X3 was the ability to perform finite capacity planning to help resolve critical bottleneck work areas.

System Evaluation
Aceto had been operating on a legacy system that was antiquated and lacked integration. Already subject to a myriad of U.S. government regulations,
including MSDS requirements for the handling of hazardous materials and intense scrutiny by the FDA, the company faced new demands stemming from the bioterrorism Act and the Customs Trade-Partnership Against Terrorism (CT-PAT) program as well as the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Many of the compliance activities were handled by manual processes with various spreadsheets, leading to insufficient controls with limited real time reporting. The company recognized the need to implement a new back office system, but the increasing demands placed on publicly-traded
companies absorbed available corporate resources.

As a result, Aceto enlisted the help of Innovative IT Consulting to define their needs and assess ERP vendor options. Innovative IT reviewed Aceto’s business processes and requirements and helped the management team secure approval for the large project.

Aceto preferred that their new solution provider be experienced in implementing ERP software systems in the chemicals industry. After reviewing presentations from six companies, Aceto narrowed the list to Sage and competitor JD Edwards. In July 2004, the company selected the Sage ERP X3 Process ERP suite believing it was the best fit for the size, scope and complexity of the project.

“Our goal was to implement a system that would provide broader, deeper and more efficient processing capabilities without sacrificing business-critical functionality,” said Terry Steinberg, Vice President & CIO of Aceto. “Sage ERP X3 offered the best combination of functionality, technology, value and implementation methodology of the systems we evaluated. And, it had the flexibility and the scalability we needed to support our expansion and evolving business model.”

Aceto also recognized that the functionality offered by Sage ERP X3 was the best value for the price. Sage ERP Process provides a complete array of industryspecific functionality required by chemical companies including the management of formulas, certificates of analysis, potency, by-products, multiple packaging units per product, shelf-life, lot control and traceability, specific gravity and weight calculations.

The Implementation
With the help of Innovative IT, Aceto assembled a team of key personnel who would be instrumental in executing the implementation. While each of the three business units shared similar business processes, each one also had certain unique processes. While this created many challenges in the implementation, Aceto viewed it as an opportunity to standardize and improve processes across all business lines.

Sage ERP X3 offered the flexibility required to support Aceto’s unique processes and was able to adapt to meet the company’s specific needs. For example, when importing hazardous chemicals from overseas, companies are subject to countryspecific regulations in addition to international business practices. The Sage ERP X3 services team customized Sage ERP X3’s existing quality module to ensure that products go through a series of internal controls for the necessary documentation required to meet country-specific regulatory demands.

Additionally, Aceto was interested in a software add-on that provides an effective way to track its product in transit, which can be on a vessel for up to six weeks. This module, developed by the Sage ERP X3 services team for the U.S. market, in effect, takes financial ownership of the product upon shipment and manages detailed tracking of the landed cost, including broker fees, terminal handling fees, ocean freight, inland freight, duty, etc. It collects additional detailed product information, such as a Certificate of Analysis, which is entered while the goods are in transit, instead of when they arrive at the warehouse.

Inventory can be pre-allocated to sales orders from purchase orders, again before the goods arrive at the warehouse.

Once the enhancements were complete, extensive pilot exercises enabled users to become comfortable with the system and eliminate potential slowdowns in ongoing workloads.

Results
With Sage ERP X3, Aceto’s business processes are streamlined and automated. The company is finding it easier to comply with the financial reporting responsibilities placed on publicly-traded companies. According to Steinberg, “We’re completing our financial statements and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance more quickly, and it’s a smoother process.”

Other customizations are enabling Aceto to better manage its inventory, track foreign exchange costs and control credit and order approvals, and Aceto is managing its complicated compliance processes with confidence.

“We are very happy with Sage ERP X3,” said Steinberg. “We made the right choice.”

Headquarters
Lake Success, NY

International Locations
Shanghai, Hamburg,Amsterdam,Singapore, HongKong, Mumbai (India)and Paris

Industry
Chemical importer and distributor; sources 67% of its products from Asia

Revenue
$297 million

Employees
210

Sage ERP X3 Licenses
90

System Evaluation
As Blount’s business evolved from supplying soup manufacturers with chopped clam meat to being a full process manufacturer of an extensive line
of gourmet soups, its legacy system could no longer support the company’s growing operations. It had limited process manufacturing capabilities with formulas, recipes and work orders managed in Microsoft Access, which was administered by only a few people with knowledge of the software.
To maintain its leadership position in the seafood industry and to increase its penetration into the retail and foodservice marketplaces with its expanding soup and sauce lines, Blount needed a modern, integrated enterprise system designed specifically for process manufacturers.

“We wanted a system that was designed for a food processing company,” said Phil Pitzer, Blount IS Director. “Since our product line had changed and we became a true food processor, we now had to better manage things like formulas, recipes and packing sizes.” He added, “We also wanted a
system designed for mid-sized companies. We’d heard horror stories about the costs and complications of implementing a tier one system. We wanted a system that could manage our business, yet be easily installed without spending a lot of money.”

The evaluation team consisted of people representing various company disciplines and each was asked to define what requirements they had for the new system. Not only did the team have to find a solution that could best satisfy each department’s requirements, they also needed to find a system
that would enable an easy transition for employees, many of whom had “grown up” with the legacy system over more than 10 years.

The team selected three vendors to evaluate and when reviewing software demos from each vendor, they invited as many people from the various levels of the company to participate. The goal was to get the insight from the actual users of the software and to facilitate better acceptance of the change.

In the end, Blount selected Sage ERP X3 for a number of reasons including its process manufacturing functionality, modern technology, integrated development environment, ease of use and price point. Additionally, the company felt that Sage was a true partner in the process. “The Sage ERP X3 team worked with us to understand our business and help us improve it,” said Louise Goodman, Blount Controller. “We knew we would be able to play a role in defining and designing our new system instead of the vendor telling us how they think it should be set up. We would be responsible for our destiny.” Pitzer added, “We felt like we’d developed a good relationship with the Sage team. We thought that would be important during the implementation when open communications and brainstorming to solve problems would be necessary.”

The Implementation
With 2,500 SKUs and 250 customers, the Sage ERP X3 implementation was fairly simple and required only a few modifications to accommodate Blount’s business model. Utilizing the process manufacturing functionality, along with the integrated distribution and accounting modules, the system supports Blount’s lean manufacturing processes, production and capacity scheduling capabilities.

Blount also installed Sage ERP X3 Automated RF Data Collection, an optional add-on module that enables the seamless and secure processing of a broad array of shop floor and warehouse business transaction. The module takes data entered on the shop floor and warehouse from automated input devices, verifies its accuracy, and passes the data to Sage ERP X3 for immediate update. It also takes care of all the prompts on the collection devices, manages the entire network of devices, even ensuring that data is saved during system downtime.

Additionally, a third-party vendor helped Blount set up EDI enabling them to share sales documents with their trading partners and also to handle such projects like the migration of data from a website managed by its payroll service directly to the Sage ERP X3 general ledger through the use of system-provided import/export templates.

“Sage ERP X3 had the advanced technology, ease-ofuse and right-sized implementation methodology we needed to help position us for continued growth,” said Goodman.

Results
“One of our primary goals,” said Goodman, “was to be in control of our IT destiny. We didn’t want to be at the mercy of an outside programmer, or hire one, to make changes to the software as our business evolves.” With the Sage ERP X3 integrated development environment, Blount can tailor system behavior and content without making programming changes.

“Sage ERP X3 is providing the process manufacturing functionality we needed,” said Pitzer. “And with sales, inventory and financials integrated, we have access to real time information. We used to wait till the end of the month, make entries to the general ledger and hope everything was okay. Now, we know the status of our business at any given time.”

Pitzer added, “We’ve become much more efficient. Now, anyone with access to the system can run reports to get the information they need, instead of being at the mercy of a few people who know how to pull information from the Access database. They don’t have to be database savvy at all.”

Finally, training new employees is much easier. In just a day or so, they’re able to complete their dayto- day tasks, including generating reports. “It’s a very intuitive system,” said Pitzer. “It’s easy to figure out and there’s a lot of logic behind the screens. Our new employees don’t have
to learn a whole lot about the system in order to use it.”

Headquarters
Fall River, MA

Industry
A custom food company producing a variety of gourmet soups as well as custom clam meat products and breaded seafood

Employees
170

Sage ERP X3 Licenses
30

System Evaluation
Aceto had been operating on a legacy system that was antiquated and lacked integration. Already subject to a myriad of U.S. government regulations, including MSDS requirements for the handling of hazardous materials and intense scrutiny by the FDA, the company faced new demands stemming from the bioterrorism Act and the Customs Trade-Partnership Against Terrorism (CT-PAT) program as well as the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Many of the compliance activities were handled by manual processes with various spreadsheets, leading to insufficient controls with limited real time reporting. The company recognized the need to implement a new back office system, but the increasing demands placed on publicly-traded companies absorbed available corporate resources.

As a result, Aceto enlisted the help of Innovative IT Consulting to define their needs and assess ERP vendor options. Innovative IT reviewed Aceto’s business processes and
requirements and helped the management team secure approval for the large project.

Aceto preferred that their new solution provider be experienced in implementing ERP software systems in the chemicals industry. After reviewing presentations from six companies, Aceto narrowed the list to Sage and competitor JD Edwards. In July 2004, the company selected the Sage ERP X3 Process ERP suite believing it was the best fit for the size, scope and complexity of the project.

“Our goal was to implement a system that would provide broader, deeper and more efficient processing capabilities without sacrificing business-critical functionality,” said Terry
Steinberg, Vice President & CIO of Aceto. “Sage ERP X3 offered the best combination of functionality, technology, value and implementation methodology of the systems we evaluated. And, it had the flexibility and the scalability we needed to support our expansion and evolving business model.”

Aceto also recognized that the functionality offered by Sage ERP X3 was the best value for the price. Sage ERP Process provides a complete array of industryspecific
functionality required by chemical companies including the management of formulas, certificates of analysis, potency, by-products, multiple packaging units per product, shelf-life, lot control and traceability, specific gravity and weight calculations.

The Implementation
With the help of Innovative IT, Aceto assembled a team of key personnel who would be instrumental in executing the implementation. While each of the three business units shared similar business processes, each one also had certain unique processes. While this created many challenges in the implementation, Aceto viewed it as an opportunity to standardize and improve processes across all business lines.

Sage ERP X3 offered the flexibility required to support Aceto’s unique processes and was able to adapt to meet the company’s specific needs. For example, when importing hazardous chemicals from overseas, companies are subject to countryspecific regulations in addition to international business practices. The Sage ERP X3 services team customized Sage ERP X3’s existing quality module to ensure that products go through a series of internal controls for the necessary documentation required to meet country-specific regulatory demands.

Additionally, Aceto was interested in a software add-on that provides an effective way to track its product in transit, which can be on a vessel for up to six weeks. This module, developed by the Sage ERP X3 services team for the U.S. market, in effect, takes financial ownership of the product upon shipment and manages detailed tracking of the landed cost, including broker fees, terminal handling fees, ocean freight, inland freight, duty, etc. It collects additional detailed product information, such as a Certificate of Analysis, which is entered while the goods are in transit, instead of when they arrive at the warehouse.

Inventory can be pre-allocated to sales orders from purchase orders, again before the goods arrive at the warehouse.

Once the enhancements were complete, extensive pilot exercises enabled users to become comfortable with the system and eliminate potential slowdowns in ongoing workloads.

Results
With Sage ERP X3, Aceto’s business processes are streamlined and automated. The company is finding it easier to comply with the financial reporting responsibilities placed on publicly-traded companies. According to Steinberg, “We’re completing our financial statements and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance more quickly, and it’s a smoother process.”

Other customizations are enabling Aceto to better manage its inventory, track foreign exchange costs and control credit and order approvals, and Aceto is managing its complicated
compliance processes with confidence.

“We are very happy with Sage ERP X3,” said Steinberg. “We made the right choice.”

Headquarters
Lake Success, NY

International Locations
Shanghai, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mumbai (India) and Paris

Industry
Chemical importer and distributor; sources 67% of its products from Asia

Revenue
$297 million

Employees
210

Sage ERP X3Licenses
90