Chemical Processing - March 2008 - (Page 39)

MAKING IT WORK << Epoxy maker finds the right glue for its business single system integrates disparate data and avoids need for IT staff By Jay Deakins, Deacom, Inc. How does a small company Handle large customers like wal-mart for 15 years or longer? nimbly, says epoxy maker copps Industries, mequon, wis. The 30-employee firm takes care of all epoxy formulation, manufacturing and service needs under one roof, using its size to its advantage by reacting quickly to ever-changing customer requirements. Its speed allows the company to regularly maintain its ISO certification, first-time batch and packaging approvals, and on-time shipments — making copps Industries a leading custom epoxy formulator today. rapid response didn’t come without effort, however. Before 2006, the company struggled against an internal competitor — its own software setup. The addition of major new clients and vendors brought a host of issues that couldn’t easily be met with the four systems in place for the regulatory documentation, laboratory, production and accounting, according to matt copps, accountant at the firm. “There was simply no easy way to handle electronic data Interchange (edI) and electronic purchase orders (pos), as required by our vendors. The best we could do was scan dot-matrix printouts and e-mail them,” he notes. The production system, which was no longer supported, wasn’t integrated with the accounting software, either. It was necessary for data to be manually re-keyed into each system and automated tasks were mostly nonexistent. “There wasn’t an internal flag to indicate if something was off,” says Copps. “And our DOS-based system actually used to lock up if two or more people were in it at the same time.” The quest for “easy” software To reduce these inefficiencies and improve responsiveness to existing and future customers, copps Industries initiated an integrated enterprise resource planning (erp) software project to centralize business processes. The company’s lack of an internal IT department, however, mandated the need for a simple software system. “We did not have the staff to handle a complex system,” says Copps. “So ‘easy’ was the theme of our search: easy drill www.chemicalprocessing.com down, easy maintenance, easy interface, and easy implementation,” he adds. The firm’s epoxy resin systems include A and B parts, which are sometimes sold individually; this made finding “easy” software harder than expected. “A lot of software vendors didn’t comprehend our need for an a and B bill of materials,” says copps. after a seven-month-long search, the company selected the deacom Integrated accounting and erp system, a configurable software package focused on the specialty chemical industry. The decision was based on deacom’s integration of chemical-specific business processes into one easy-to-use system. “We definitely wanted a single system to house all of our processes, not just a software system that has links to other systems under the guise of one brand name. deacom didn’t require any add-ons and its interface was the most straightforward,” explains Copps. “Also, we felt more comfortable with deacom’s fixed implementation structure. we knew our implementation fee upfront, without any additional surprises.” IT-free implementation after licensing the deacom system in april of last year, matt copps assumed the onus of implementation manager for the project in addition to his accounting responsibilities for the four-month implementation period. He worked with deacon’s data conversion team to move the data from the company’s existing systems, including chart of account and item master files and transactional data. Business processes were then planned, reviewed and re-designed with a deacom implementation specialist. despite the lack of any staff IT support, the implementation process was manageable for him. “Deacom support was February 2008 • 39 http://www.chemicalprocessing.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chemical Processing - March 2008

Chemical Processing - March 2008 Contents From the Editor ChemicalProcessing.com Field Notes In Process Energy Saver Compliance Advisor Distillation is Bubbling Feel Secure About Vulnerability Assessments The Door Opens For Membranes Achieve Effective Heat Exchanger Control Epoxy Maker Finds the Right Glue for Its Business Process Puzzler Plant InSites Equipment & Services Product Spotlight/Classifieds Ad Index End Point

Chemical Processing - March 2008

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