28 Jun Panova (formerly AME Corporation)
“
Ehren Dimitry, President & CEO,Acumatica is the backbone of our cloud environment. It has already changed the way we do things, improving efficiency. It will clearly strengthen our company in the long run.”“
AME Corporation – Success story of Acumatica Cloud ERP Implementation
Table Of Contents
Executive summary
AME Corporation specializes in rubber and plastic components and sealing solutions. The mid-sized company wanted a user-friendly ERP to enable it to bring all its business information and processes online in a secure environment, and it found its answer in Acumatica 4.0.
What needed to be done
AME Corporation is an ISO 9001: 2008-certified supplier that specializes in custom rubber and plastic components and sealing solutions. Its operations are currently spread across New Jersey, US, and Shanghai, China.
Like many companies with a global presence, it wanted to move all its business processes to the cloud, so that any of its 20 staff from around the world could easily access information and collaborate.
With Acumatica, the company had found its ideal ERP solution. It first implemented Acumatica’s Distribution and Financial Management suites on version 2.2 in 2011. Because Acumatica does not charge per user, AME was empowered to grow its business and add regular, infrequent, and external users to its system, realizing productivity gains without eroding cash flow.
But there was one more gap to fill. AME stored a large amount of its business documents on Box, an online content sharing platform. AME staff had to access Box and Acumatica separately. That is, until Acumatica 4.0 was rolled out and the two were linked in a powerful integration. Today, this has vastly improved the way AME staff work.
The solution
Ehren Dimitry, President and CEO of AME, says: “We were incredibly excited about Acumatica 4.0, chiefly because it would enable the Acumatica-Box integration. We are talking about a single sign-on and being able to access and manage all the files we have in Box. We wanted our users to spend most of their time in Acumatica, while still getting the benefits of Box in a seamless, integrated experience.”
What enables that integration is Acumatica’s improved API, which means that it is much easier to customize applications. Gabriel Michaud, co-founder of Montreal-based Acumatica partner Les Services SiPD, worked with AME to develop the Acumatica-Box integration. Michaud notes: “In Acumatica 4.0, we can create customizations which were not possible in the past. It is a very powerful tool.”
Results for AME
Acumatica-Box Integration
The Acumatica-Box integration means that staff can access Box files within Acumatica, and vice versa. Any changes made on one platform are reflected on the other.
Staff can view product photos and schematic drawings parked in Box, on each product page in Acumatica. Likewise, if an image is uploaded on Box, it would be seen in Acumatica.
With one click, and without leaving the Acumatica user interface, staff can access procedural documents and training videos stored in Box. “Since AME Corp is a certified ISO 9001:2008 company, maintaining standards through accessible, rigorous training is very important to us,” says Dimitry.
Automatic Inventory Replenishment
AME also has plans to leverage the new inventory replenishment suggestions feature. Built into the Distribution Management Suite of Acumatica 4.0, the smart forecast tool automatically makes inventory recommendations based on historical sales data analysis. With this new feature, AME can avoid over- and understocking, improve cash flow and automate replenishment and purchasing processes for greater efficiency.
400% Productivity Gains
Previously, product test results were tracked manually using documents and spreadsheets. Now, the improvements in this area alone allow AME staff to do their work four times faster than before, says Dimitry. Since product testing results are now automatically reflected in Acumatica, staff can confirm the quality of goods received much more rapidly.
Ease and Speed of Use
As a whole, Acumatica 4.0 is also noticeably faster and easier to use. Screens open three times faster and the time taken to navigate between records is halved. “Previously, time was spent navigating to specific screens,” says Dimitry. “In Acumatica 4.0, the user interface is much more intuitive, better designed, and just much faster.
The ‘Favorites’ function, which we use a lot, has been improved and it is now very easy to get to the screens we need.”
Infinite Possibilities
Another plus is that a lot less needs to be printed onto paper. Dimitry says: “We are working towards a fully green environment and the fact that documents are at our fingertips, online and easily accessible, brings us closer to a paperless scenario.”
Dimitry, who is delighted at the greatly improved file access and process efficiency, says: “Acumatica is the backbone of our cloud environment. It has already changed the way we do things, improving efficiency, and there are endless opportunities for even more process improvements and productivity gains. As we do so, it will clearly strengthen our company in the long run.”