SYNERGY RESOURCES NEWSLETTER - JULY, 2011
New this month:
- View From the Top - VISUAL Users gather in record numbers to learn and network
- Customer Spotlight - American Products Implements VISUAL to Support Lean Initiative and Tighten Costs.
- Customer Spotlight - Royal Products uses VISUAL to focus on the needs of its customers.
- Infor News - Infor names Synergy Resources as VISUAL Partner of the Year
- Resource Update - Changes in the Mid-Atlantic region for Synergy Resources
- Product Review - Field Services strategies for reducing costs and improving performance
- Product Review - Improve Customer Service and Contain Costs - Through EDI Process Automation
- Product Review - Reducing costs and improving customer service improved order accuracy
- New Releases - Introducing a Document Management Solution for VISUAL
- Product Extension Modules - Products that enhance your VISUAL system
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| View from the Top: VISUAL Users gather in record numbers to learn and network |
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Over 300 customers and partners from across the U.S. and Canada were in attendance at this year's Synergy Resources VISUAL User Conference in Atlantic City, NJ from May 15th - 18th, 2011.
The conference featured 85 educational sessions aimed at addressing the conference theme of Price, Delivery, Quality, which represent the essential metrics and elements for improving business performance.
Throughout the conference, Synergy staff, VISUAL customers, and third party partners demonstrated how organizations can better master these critical elements using specific VISUAL capabilities.
A key benefit to the conference was the ability to schedule one-on-one business review meetings and technical consulting sessions with Synergy professional services and management staff throughout the event.
Throughout the conference, customers were encouraged to look for one or two new ideas to bring back to their organization that would make a significant impact on productivity, profitability, and overall business performance of their company.
Thanks to all that attended and participated in the conference. We look forward to seeing you at the next conference. In the meantime, we will be following up on action items that came out of the conference, and encourage you to let us know if we can be of assistance in any way.
Read more, view User Conference videos
Stay tuned for news regarding our next conference!
Regards,
Mark Lilly and Gene Caiola
Co-Owners
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| Customer Spotlight: American Products Implements VISUAL to Support Lean Initiative and Tighten Costs |
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American Products, Inc., was founded in 1983, and has earned respected standing among customers for providing turnkey services as an electronic design firm and contract manufacturer. The company specializes in printed circuit board design and manufacturing; cable and harness assembly; and panel and chassis assembly. It also designs and builds equipment control systems.
It is increasingly important in being competitive to provide customers high quality services and cost-effective products. American Products, Inc. (API) has long made that a hallmark of its Central Pennsylvania operations, providing contract manufacturing and design/development services to more than a dozen major OEM industry sectors. It specializes in printed circuit board (PCB) assembly, but also designs and builds equipment control systems.
The company embraced Lean production methods to help bring down costs. Originally, the company created a "visual" scheduling system – converting an entire room to replicate its production process and workflow on a wall board where work was launched and tracked through work centers completely by manual process.
"It took a lot of manpower to do that, though," says Jack Eltringham, API president and founder. Though the existing ERP system at the time wasn't flexible enough to provide any support for the initiative, the company was still able to improve on-time performance by 10 percent using its manual scheduling system. That was sufficient to glean that there was a lot more room for improvement if they could automate the process. The company applied for and was granted $75,000 through a federal Trade Adjustment and Assistance (TAA) grant for purchasing software and training employees.
"We knew we needed to do a better job tracking work and improving cost accounting in order to get more business. We wanted to be able to cost every individual job on the floor," says Eltringham. "These were things our existing system just couldn't handle."
June 2010, the company began an extensive evaluation of software packages to find a replacement for its manual "visual" scheduling system. The team originally looked at more than a score of packages, then narrowed the list, and finally selected three vendors to do on-site demos.
"Infor VISUAL covered everything we were looking for. What we really liked about VISUAL was the shop interface," Eltringham says. "It was easy to understand – and easy to use. Ease of use was a big issue for us. We wanted to make sure we weren't going to put something on the floor that people couldn't understand. If they didn't understand it, they weren't going to use it.
Read More
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| Customer Spotlight: Royal Products uses VISUAL to focus on the needs of its customers |
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Royal Products has been a mainstay in the precision metalworking accessories market for over 60 years. ISO 9001 certified, the Long Island, NY-based company serves machine tool OEMs and distributors, offering a wide variety of tool fixtures, workholding products, deburring tools, CNC bar pullers, and other critical elements for ensuring manufacturers achieve peak performance from their machine tools.
Infor VISUAL provided the best mix in a single package. Royal Products also gained critical software support in the deal from Infor and from Synergy Resources, its value-added, channel partner reseller, greatly bolstering its own internal support capabilities. "We have a very good relationship with the people at Synergy," Jakubowsky says.
"They are knowledgeable, accommodating, and very resourceful."
A key requirement in the selection was being able to integrate VISUAL with the Latitude Warehouse Management System from Pathguide that Royal Products already had in place. And also having a system that would support the company's lean process initiatives. "We've been pursuing Lean for some time, so we wanted to make sure the software would accommodate the Lean practices we already had implemented.
We look to use VISUAL to make further Lean improvements down the road," he said.
Royal Products is also looking to use VISUAL to help it move more toward a paperless environment. "With the new system, we can scan a customer's purchase order or drawings and have them linked directly to the order being entered. This enables us to manage our orders much more easily. There's no time spent filing them, and no time lost searching for them when they've been misfiled.
Read More
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| Infor News: Infor names Synergy Resources as VISUAL Partner of the Year |
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Infor recently held its annual Business Partner conference in Orlando, Florida, where it named Synergy Resources the 2011 VISUAL Partner of the Year. Co-owners Gene Caiola and Mark Lilly were on hand to accept the award. With Infor's fiscal year ending May 31st, Synergy generated sales more than twice that of any other Infor ERP product during the last fiscal year.
"It is with great pride," commented Gene Caiola, "that we thank everyone for the hard work performed each and every day. Synergy is regarded very highly within Infor and we expect that our continued success will open more opportunities for Synergy and its customers in the future."
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| Resource Update: Changes in the Mid-Atlantic region for Synergy Resources |
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Based on customer demand, Synergy Resources has recently added more representatives focused on supporting the Mid-Atlantic region. We've added a new Mid-Atlantic Services Manager, Matt Morgan; and a new Financial Consultant, Cathy Mizell. Both come to Synergy Resources with years as VISUAL users and consulting experience. Cathy comes to us with a wealth of knowledge in topics such as Global Financials, consolidations, and multi-currency situations. Matt brings with him a wealth of experience in multiple manufacturing environments, and many aspects of the VISUAL software including manufacturing, systems, and financials. Both began in May 2011, and are ready to assist with your implementation, service, and consulting needs. They can be reached via email at cathy.mizell@synergyresources.net or matt.morgan@synergyresources.net.
Matthew Morgan - Mid-Atlantic Services Manager Synergy Resources, LLC
330.419.3075
skype: matt.morgan.sri.ma
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| Product Review: Field Services strategies for reducing costs and improving performance |
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 Check out the newest Industry Insights whitepaper from Single Source Systems discussing the impact gas prices have on the service industry and what you can do about it. The four-page paper provides best practices, benchmark statistics and action-items of ways you can optimize the use of your fleet and reduce the amount of fuel consumed.
Download the White Paper Now
Single Source Systems' CEO, Tony Petrucciani, has just published a new book on Service Performance Management. The 76-page E-book, Metric Maneuvers: A Strategic Approach to Tracking and Analyzing Key Performance Indicators for Service–Centric Organizations, provides insights on the best practices in performance management.
Highlights of Metrics Maneuvers:
- Several case studies of Single Source Systems' customers who have deployed successful performance management systems highlight proven tactics
- 10 steps to getting started summarize the overall process and provide a checklist of Action Items
- In-Action-Examples provide real-life scenarios and helpful how-to advice
- Predictions for what the future holds offer an advanced look at tomorrow's performance management solutions
- A recommended reading list links to other whitepapers and recommended books
Download a complimentary copy of the E-book now!
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For more information, contact a Synergy Resources Representative:
Donna LaMontagne at: 631-665-2050; Donna.LaMontagne@SynergyResources.net
Paul Tedford at: 603-560-7650; Paul.Tedford@SynergyResources.net
Robert Anand in Canada at: 416-451-2427; Robert.Anand@SynergyResources.net
Jason Bowen in Canada at: 416-830-4203 ; Jason.Bowen@SynergyResources.net |
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| Product Review: Improve Customer Service and Contain Costs - Through EDI Process Automation |
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Improve Customer Service and Contain Costs - Through EDI Process Automation
As the U.S. economy evolves and profits return, the welcome pressures due to growth return. These pressures include offering more service and a wider variety of product. While good, they do stress your staff and procedures. As a manager tasked with planning, now is the time to look at possible improvements.
Criteria - Improvements
Improvements start at the customer service level and should be built upon your time tested practices and procedures. They should use existing technology and enable your staff to boost their skills. Additionally, improvements must be reliable, economical and not be disruptive.
Purpose – Automation by Elimination of Customer Order Entry
The prime reason Customer Service automation occurs is to get more time to closely scrutinize orders so that surprise prices and quantity changes can be processed. Second, elimination of data entry delays gives more time for order fulfillment. These actions have direct profit consequences. If inflation returns, you must be ready.
Automation should occur for all customers and distributors: especially those not using traditional EDI. Technically, the concept is the gateway. It is the point where their differences are resolved. For example, a P.O. arriving by EDI or by spreadsheet contains the same data. The key is to map or link the information to the correct VISUAL location. Because all orders are delivered to the Sales Order management module, your time tested procedures will apply. And, customer service will enjoy freedom from data entry.
How It Occurs – Definite Process
In order to enhance order fulfillment and increase profitability, here are a few key areas to consider: -
All orders from customers and distributors should automatically load into the Sales Order management module without data entry delay.
- Second, when a price, part number, ship-to, etc., does not match VISUAL; a clear error report to customer service must appear. (Resolution of errors does not change.)
Next Step
Data Communications Solutions has an extensive library of B2B maps and experience for most industries to ensure your automation is reliable and economical. Now is the time to save. Our current Synergy Resources deal: Your third customer is free if work begins before August 1st, 2011.
The next step is easy; email us to start your free assessment.
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| Product Review: Reducing costs and improving customer service improved order accuracy |
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Graphical, Web-based Product Configurator improves quote and order accuracy
Do you have products with Options and Features or Accessories? Need to remove human errors from any area of your business? Need to make it easier for your customers to buy? Need to protect margins? Need a more consistent, faster and more accurate way to quote? A Product Configurator is there to solve your problems.
Guided Selling: The Configurator, called the Configur8or system, provides a clear, graphical and
user friendly web-based interface to produce priced
quotes and estimates and sales orders linked to quote masters, workorders, and associated costs along with production
routings and materials or sub-assemblies.
Workflow Wizard: Configur8or presents simple product specific questions
and shows clear graphical images of your products
demonstrating the selected options giving a visual check,
confirming that the selections are producing the required
results. Together with powerful validation parameters and
calculation models this serves to streamline the process
and reduce errors, increasing mobility of labor and
providing customer driven quoting and ordering systems.
The Benefits:
- Improves Profitability.
- Saves Time & Reduces Costs.
- Eliminates Costly Errors.
- Increases Sales Volume.
- Reduces Specialist Dependency
- Improves Consistency.
- Low Investment - High Return.
- Flexible Pricing & Costing.
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Save The Date for an upcoming Graphical/Web based Configurator live seminar:
Date: Tuesday, September 27th
Time: 8:30am - 11:30am
Location:
Hilton Garden Inn Islip/MacArthur Airport
3485 Veterans Memorial Highway
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779
631-738-7800
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| New Releases: Introducing a Document Management Solution for VISUAL |
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Having difficulty accessing your documents when and where you need them?
The docSTAR document management system is a total solution that securely scans and stores your paper documents along with critical electronic files, allowing for quick and easy document retrieval. With docSTAR you have the versatility and flexibility to tailor the solution to precisely meet the objectives of your business.
Integrated Document Management with VISUAL:
- Web-based access to documents within docSTAR.
- Document Approval cycles.
- Google™-like searching for documents.
- Document retention capabilities.
- Easy to use and fast to implement.
- Allows multiple users to access the same document at the same time.
- Secures sensitive documents from unauthorized access.
- Maintains an audit trail of all document access.
- Deploys rapidly and integrates seamlessly with your existing VISUAL application.
Join one of our webinars to learn more about our introductory product promotion.
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Join a webinar to learn more
Thursday, Aug. 4th at 2:00pm EST - Register
Thursday, Aug. 25th at 10:00am EST - Register
Featuring the docSTAR Document Management product extension
Learn about our Introductory Product Promotion
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| Product Extension Modules: Products That Enhance your VISUAL System |
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Synergy Resources is pleased to offer an extensive range of technical
and application oriented product solutions that can extend your Infor ERP VISUAL investment. These product extensions provide the added
capabilities to handle industry or site specific requirements, whether your business is focused on automotive, consumer goods, metal fabrication, industrial equipment, aerospace, biotechnology, electronics, or a variety of other industries. We understand your industry's requirements and can suggest a solution that will help your business succeed.
Add-on Product Extension Modules:
Check with your account representative for pricing on all services and add-on modules, including:
- Infor Product Extensions
- Synergy Product Extensions
- Third Party Product Extensions
Click Here to View a PDF Summary of all Product Extensions
Click Here to View Recorded Presentations of Product Extensions
Contact:
Donna LaMontagne at: 631-665-2050
Donna.LaMontagne@SynergyResources.net
Paul Tedford at: 603-560-7650
Paul.Tedford@SynergyResources.net
Robert Anand in Canada at: 416-451-2427
Robert.Anand@SynergyResources.net |
Synoptix Business Intelligence
Credit Card Integration 
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Synergy Resources Regional North American Offices
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New York/New Jersey
3500 Sunrise Highway
Building 100, Suite 201
Great River, NY 11739
631-665-2050 | Telephone
866-896-6347 | Toll Free
631-665-2084 | Fax
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Mid Atlantic
12513 Chadsworth Place
Glen Allen, VA 23059
866-896-6347 | Toll Free
631-665-2084 | Fax |
New England
6 Old Rochester Road
Suite 302
Dover, NH 03820
603-742-0005 | Telephone
888-544-0357 | Toll Free
603-742-0023 | Fax |
Eastern Canada
2896 S. Sheridan Way, Suite 300
Oakville, ON L6J 7G9
289-291-1333 | Telephone
905 469-9082 | Fax
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