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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Seacore Seafood Relies on VAI S2K Software to Drive Unmatched Growth and Improved Economies of Scale

Leading Seafood Supplier and Distributor Hastens Route Management, Order Entry and Delivery while Improving Account Receivables Management and Inventory Accuracy
 
Seacore Seafood, Canada’s leading importer, distributor and custom processor of fresh and frozen fish, seafood and live lobsters, has achieved and sustained remarkable growth in the most efficient way possible, due in part to the installation of S2K ERP software from VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.). Recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, Seacore capitalized on its inward and outbound logistics to make its consumer brand, OceanPrime, widely available across North America while managing more than 5,000 fresh and frozen items in inventory.  

From its state-of-the-art 75,000 square foot facility in the Toronto suburb of Vaughan, Ontario, Seacore houses its three distinct divisions – OceanPrime, Fisherman’s Depot and Seafood Depot – which serve thousands of consumer, retail and wholesale customers. Its extensive network of inward and outward logistics allows Seacore to buy seafood directly from the source – whether it’s trailer trucks picking up seafood in New England or Florida, flights arriving from the Philippines and Europe or shipments from Asia and South America. This allows Seacore to provide a wide variety of fresh, high-quality seafood ranging from crab legs from Alaska to barrmundi from Australia and salmon from Ireland.

To keep up with the growing demand for its products, Seacore automated many of its core business functions, including inventory management, accounting, route management, order entry, logistics and retail point-of-sale by installing VAI’s S2K software five years ago. Since then, Seacore has realized tremendous business benefits from this installation including:

  • Improved Accounts Receivables Management
    • 85% of Seacore’s account receivables are current which is almost unheard of in the food industry.
  • Faster Customer Delivery Rates and Reduced Order Picking Time
    • Seacore has hastened its truck routing process by 50%, ensuring extremely high levels of prompt customer delivery. Through the S2K Route Manager, Seacore was able to see all of its orders as well as the number of orders per route and then make the business decision on how to set up the deliveries most efficiently. And through the bulk and Wave picking, Seacore reduced its order picking time by 40%, which further increased its already impressive on-time delivery rates.
  • Streamlined Fish Cutting Process
    • By automating fish cutting, Seacore took three or four steps out of the process and made it 80% more efficient than it was previously. This allowed Seacore to save time and service more customers, thereby growing its business exponentially.
  • Up-to-the-Minute Consolidated Financials
    • Seacore can now view its consolidated financials at the push of one button – so they can see instantly how retail sales are faring hour-to-hour or minute-by-minute each day. This is especially important during busy seasonal periods like the Christmas holidays when the retail division realizes a 1000% sales increase.
  • Greater Inventory Accuracy
    • With three distinct divisions sharing a master inventory, Seacore wanted to do automatic transfers within each company in real-time. VAI customized the S2K installation so that if one Seacore division used an item that was purchased by another company, an automatic transfer would be made and the inventory along with the ledger accounts would be auto-adjusted to keep everything in balance. The S2K installation also introduced BIN locations to the Seacore warehouse, allowing the Seacore staff to know the exact location of an item especially when there are multiple pallets.
  • Faster Order Entry
    • Seacore was able to hasten order entry as well as meet specific customer requirements. For example, a customer may want only certain items sold to their locations and their own item numbers would have to appear on invoices. With S2K, Seacore can not only create order guides from their past history or from a custom list, but they can also restrict a customer to only buy those items.
  • Automatic Real-Time Traceability
    • Seacore can now do full traceability on where their seafood is coming from and how it was caught – information which has become increasingly important to retailers such as Whole Foods as well as its consumers.  With S2K, Seacore can now provide this information to customers in real-time.
  • Integrated Point-of-Sale
    • VAI customized the S2K implementation so that Point-of-Sale was completely integrated in real-time. This allowed Seacore to instantly see the inventory moving to Seacore’s retail store division from their warehouse.  Seacore was also able to add seafood industry-specific items to the POS implementation such as Catch Weights and a wide variety of unit measures that would normally have to be scanned.
 
“VAI’s S2K software allowed us to reach phenomenal economies of scale that could not have been attained by generic ERP software solutions,” said Sal Battaglia, director of operations, Seacore Seafood. “The S2K installation dramatically improved nearly every part of our business – from accounting and logistics to inventory and warehouse management.  By automating many of these key functions, our team can focus on critical aspects of our business such as sales and customer service.  And we feel confident that we can continue our impressive growth trajectory knowing that our business is running as smoothly and efficiently as possible.”
 
On Tuesday, September 25th at 2:00pm ET, VAI will host a webinar, “S2K for Food: A Complete Solution for the Food Industry,” that will examine the unique challenges and requirements of the food industry. Attendees will learn how S2K Enterprise for Food helps distributors meet the challenges of today’s economic environment by automating and integrating business processes across the organization. To register for the webinar, please visit here.  
 
About VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.)
VAI is a leading independent mid-market ERP software developer renowned for its customized solutions and ability to automate critical business functions for the distribution, manufacturing, specialty retail and service sectors. An IBM Premier Business Partner, VAI is the 2012 IBM Beacon Award Winner for Outstanding Solutions for Midsize Businesses. VAI continues to innovate with new solutions that leverage analytics, business intelligence, mobility and cloud technology to help customers make more informed business decisions in real-time and empower their mobile workforces.  VAI is headquartered in Ronkonkoma, NY with branch offices in Florida, Illinois and California. For more information, visit www.vai.net, follow @VAISoftware on Twitter or “like us” on facebook.com/VAISoftware.  

Monday, August 27, 2012

VAI Webinar: 10 Reasons Your Company Should Be Using S2K Sales Force

VAI S2K Sales Force is much more than an online contact management system; it is completely integrated with VAI S2K Enterprise, giving your sales team real-time access to customer and product information, anytime and anywhere they need it. With this powerful application your sales team will be empowered to drive new business and make the most of their sales calls.

To Register, visit: www.vai.net/events

Monday, July 16, 2012

Free Webinar: Streamline Production and Material Planning with VAI S2K MRP Software

On July 25, 2012 at 2:00 pm EST: Attendees will Learn how to Meet Customer Demand, Minimize Waste and Save Time with S2K MRP

Managing sufficient material levels is one of the most critical and time-consuming aspects of manufacturing. With VAI’s MRP application, customers can determine precisely when and how much material should be purchased or manufactured based on a time-phased analysis of sales orders, production orders, purchase orders, current inventory levels and forecasts. The material requirement planning system is tightly integrated with the Customer Orders, Inventory, Sales Analysis (Forecasting), Purchasing, and Manufacturing modules of S2K Enterprise, and is sensitive to company and plant specific criteria.

VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.), a leading ERP software provider, is hosting a free webinar to showcase how its S2K Material Requirements Planning (MRP) software helps eliminate purchasing and scheduling problems and speeds up the work process. This powerful, yet easy-to-use application, helps purchasing and production managers analyze current and future material and production requirements to enable more effective planning.  To register for this webinar, please visit: www.vai.net/eve​nts

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Steve Epner's 9th Book (Simplify Everything) Was Just Published

Steve Epner, Founder of the Brown Smith Wallace Consulting, has finished his 9th book, Simplify Everything. In his first book geared toward the general business audience, Steve presents three effective steps to improve outcomes, keep employees engaged and provide a better daily experience in your organization. Simplify Everything is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and local book stores.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Absolute Value is Sponsoring a Series of Free Educational Webinars

 
Are You Using
Best Practices and World-Class Software to Manage Your Most Important Asset – Your Inventory?
Join us to find out how!

Absolute Value is Sponsoring a Series of   Free Educational Webinars
on Effective Inventory Management with
Jon Schreibfeder of EIM
Forecast Analysis: Best Practices, Tools,
and Tips
Register Now! Using RSVP Code BSW101
Thursday, June 21, 2012
2:00 - 3:30 p.m. EST
Creating Your Company's Supply Chain for Profitability and Customer Service     
 Register Now! Using RSVP Code BSW102
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
2:00 - 3:30 p.m. EST
Choosing and Evaluating Vendors: It's not just about the price

  Register Now! Using RSVP Code BSW103
Thursday, September 13, 2012
2:00 - 3:30 p.m. EST
Register Now!
Joy Boyd, Absolute Value
Phone: 678-389-7302
Email:
joy@absolutevalue-us.com
One Meca Way, Norcross, GA 30093

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

VAI Webinar: Leveraging Mobile Technology in VAI S2K for Food

While ERP can optimize your supply chains and better manage your back-end processes; mobile technologies can improve your business by reducing resource and overhead costs and driving anytime/anywhere operations.  Join this one-hour webinar and learn how using technologies, such as NCS handheld devices and iPhone/iPads, can benefit how your business will be transformed by new technology adoption. 

To register, visit:  http://www.vai.net/events

Monday, April 30, 2012

VAI Webinar: How Can an Integrated ERP System Deliver Bottom Line Results

Join this webinar to learn how an ERP system can leverage your business' success. VAI S2K Enterprise Software provides the power and unsurpassed value that companies need to address key industry requirements and deliver bottom-line results. During this one-hour event you will learn about the features and functions of S2K Enterprise Software and how it will significantly improve your companies overall operations. 

To register, visit http://www.vai.net/events  

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Acumatica Targets Professional Service, Non-Profit and Multi-Location Businesses with the Release of Acumatica 3.0

The latest release of Acumatica’s award-winning financial software includes Project Accounting, Automated Inter-Company Transfers, and many more features.

Acumatica, a provider of Cloud ERP software, has announced general availability of Acumatica 3.0, the latest release of its award winning financial software. The release contains project accounting, automated inter-company transfers, and several features requested by hundreds of customers.  

“Acumatica 3.0 allows us to expand our market offerings both vertically and horizontally”, said Ezequiel Steiner, CEO at Acumatica.  “The project accounting features are a perfect fit for consulting, engineering, marketing, non-profits, and other professional services companies, while the inter-company features are designed for businesses with multiple offices, warehouses, subsidiaries, and complex reporting structures.”

Acumatica’s new Project Accounting suite delivers a complete software package for managing a project lifecycle including budgeting, managing timesheets, tracking materials, billing, accounting, and reporting. The software is delivered via the Cloud to organize projects with multiple locations, many partners, and remote workers.

“Acumatica’s project accounting capabilities are well suited to our consulting business,” said Carolyn Jasiulewicz, President at Progressive System Solutions. “Employees and external contractors can enter timesheets and link line items to specific projects using any device with a browser. This saves us money by keeping consultants at the customer site instead of requiring them to email their hours and expenses for someone else to enter.”

“We receive funding from multiple sources, which we then allocate to several different programs to support our mission in the fight against Cancer,” said David Castaneda Diaz, Director of Finance at the DC Cancer Consortium. “It takes considerable effort and resources to manage, track, monitor, and report the effectiveness of each program. Using Acumatica’s Project Accounting module, we can manage all phases of many different types of programs and easily get real-time reports regarding program effectiveness.”

Acumatica 3.0 automates inter-company accounting for organizations with multiple business entities that require separate financial reporting. The software allows organizations to establish branches and subsidiaries that rely upon centralized operations including purchasing and cash management. Complexities of inventory transfers between branches, allocated expenses, and inter-company transactions are handled automatically for financial and tax reporting.

Key Features in Acumatica 3.0:

·        Project Accounting: Manage billing and budgets for multiple projects involving several people, roles, billing rates, inventory, markups, and allocated costs.

·        Intercompany Accounting: Create multiple branches to centralize bill payment & cash management, allocate expenses, and create automated inventory transfer transactions.

·        Enhanced Dashboards: Users can select from role-based templates or create custom dashboards using an improved graphical interface with expanded chart and layout options.

·        Other features: Hundreds of additional features include additional electronic bank and credit card reconciliation, activity monitoring and notifications, plus Acumatica report writer enhancements.

Acumatica delivers the benefits of Cloud software without sacrificing growth and flexibility. For companies that require integration, Acumatica delivers an advanced application programming interface (API) has been used to connect best-in-breed solutions for ecommerce, payroll, supply chain and EDI, tax calculation, point of sale, as well as customer specific applications. Acumatica also delivers robust reporting tools, integration tools, and the option to switch between an on-premise deployment and a subscription service.

How to Purchase Acumatica 3.0:

Acumatica sells 100% of its software through a vast and knowledgeable network of value added resellers and software experts. Acumatica can be purchased as a license or as a subscription service (SaaS). For a list of resellers, visit www.acumatica.com/varpartners.  

About Acumatica

Acumatica is a leading cloud ERP software vendor that delivers the benefits of Cloud and SaaS without sacrificing customization, control, security, or speed.  Acumatica can be deployed on premise, hosted at a datacenter, or run on a Cloud computing platform.  Learn more about Acumatica’s Cloud ERP solution at www.acumatica.com.

Media Contact:

Douglas Johnson

703-873-7570

djohnson@acumatica.com

Thursday, April 5, 2012

VAI Webinar: VAI S2K Analytics


Make Better Business Decisions & Improve Bottom Line With VAI S2K Analytics; Powered By IBM Cognos
 
Business intelligence dashboards connect people with information in an easy-to-use way so they can make better decisions. VAI S2K Analytics, powered by IBM Cognos, provides dynamic dashboards and reports that can help you gain more value from your enterprise data.

To register, visit:  http://www.vai.net/events 

 

Monday, March 5, 2012

VAI Wins 2012 IBM Beacon Award for Outstanding Solution for Midsize Businesses

"Recipients of the 2012 IBM Beacon Award set the standard for business excellence, innovative solutions, ingenuity, and client transformation," said Mark Hennessy, general manager, IBM Global Business Partners and Midmarket. "We congratulate VAI on winning the Beacon Award for Outstanding Solution for Midsize Businesses and demonstrating its ability to provide value by incorporating a truly innovative, end-to-end ERP solution for the mid-sized market.” 

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Monday, February 27, 2012

Absolute Value Announces a Highly Successful Implementation

World –class demand forecasting and replenishment offering improved supply chain planning for the Chinese New Year shutdowns


Absolute Value, a Microsoft Gold-Certified Partner, today announced the successful implementation of its demand planning and replenishment solution at SIGMA Corporation.

SIGMA, an importer of specialized water products and accessories, recently implemented the SaaS or Cloud version of Absolute Value, enhancing the productivity and inventory management of their Sage MAS 200 ERP solution. With an implementation timeline of less than 30 days, SIGMA rolled out this software solution to help streamline their Supply Chain forecasting and replenishment process.

According to leading distribution industry consultant Jon Schreibfeder, President of Effective Inventory Management, Inc., “Absolute Value software features a comprehensive set of tools for forecasting the future demand of products, replenishing inventory and analyzing an organization’s inventory investment. It can help distributors, in a wide variety of industries, achieve the goal of effective inventory management.”

SIGMA imports much of their product from overseas, a good portion from China. As a result, they are presented with a quite a supply chain planning challenge every year related to the Chinese New Year. Many factories in China close for up to four weeks surrounding the New Year. This year, less than two hours of careful planning in Absolute Value remarkably enabled Sigma to avoid their normal product availability issues during the 2012 holiday.

SIGMA's Purchasing and Inventory Planning Manager, Andrew Podner says, “Today, we spent less than 2 hours generating and reviewing suggested orders for 8 locations, including regenerating one of the facilities a second time. This operation, if we could have even done it properly, would have taken us at least a week to do before Absolute Value. I cannot begin to express my happiness that we are so much more clearly informed and able to respond and act so quickly to what is normally a major undertaking. "

Mitchell Rona, the VP of Operations for SIGMA, deems Absolute Value an "excellent forecasting and inventory tool. It is yet another way that SIGMA demonstrates its commitment to efficiency, strategic planning, and excellent customer service.”

About Absolute Value, LLC
Absolute Value has roots in the distribution software industry that are extensive, with specific strength in Forecasting and Replenishment. Constructed of both end-user and software vendor experience, the Absolute Value team bridges a dual perspective on the complex needs of today’s distributors. Blending this depth of experience with knowledge of state-of-the-art technology and application solutions provides their clients a unique pathway to success. The Absolute Value team offers this key experience gained as an evolution of Lanham Associates, a Microsoft Gold-Certified partner. www.absolutevalue-us.com

About SIGMA Corporation
SIGMA is a New Jersey, USA Corporation, in business since 1985. SIGMA’s core products have been Waterworks pipe fittings and accessories. SIGMA pioneered production of these pipe fittings in China starting in 1985, and since then has steadily grown to be the second largest AWWA pipe fittings supplier in USA. Today SIGMA offers the widest range of pipe fittings in the industry and can satisfy every requirement on a job. Quality is ensured through proprietary quality systems that exceed the requirements of AWWA and other national standards. www.sigmaco.com

Thursday, February 2, 2012

ECi M1 Announces Partnership with Global Software, Inc.

Microsoft Excel automation tools enhance ECi M1 reporting experience






ECi Software Solutions, a leader in industry-specific information technology solutions, announced a new partnership between Global Software Inc. and the official launch of the ECi M1 Advanced Financial Reporting tool.

This partnership with M1 enables customers to use live M1 financial data, with powerful drill-down capability to the lowest level of detail. Global Software’s Spreadsheet Server tool unlocks the financial data held in an ERP solution. Simple to install and use, M1 users can leverage spreadsheet functionality while ensuring the integrity of critical financial data is maintained. 

“M1 Advanced Financial Reporting has numerous benefits; it combines reporting, account inquiry, and journal inquiry into one application as well as eliminates the need to download or re-key/export spreadsheet data,” says Daniel Noonan, Managing Director of ECi M1. “This new partnership with Global Software, Inc. further demonstrates our focus on helping manufacturing businesses to succeed.  We have integrated their tool with M1 and now our customers can enjoy further efficiencies in their business. Initial customer feedback has been entirely positive. We are pleased that our M1 users can now quickly retrieve and manipulate data within a desktop tool everyone is familiar with—Microsoft Excel.”

“We are excited to work with the team at ECi M1,” says Spencer Kupferman, Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Affairs at Global Software, Inc. “ECi has built a comprehensive ERP system and, in conjunction with Spreadsheet Server, ECi M1 customers now have access to a powerful Microsoft® Excel-based tool that is already used by over 5,000 businesses globally.” 

About Global Software, Inc.
Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Global Software Inc. has established itself as the no.1 worldwide provider of Microsoft® Excel-based automation tools. For almost 40 years it has worked with leading ERP systems in the world. Global Software Inc, supports over 5000 businesses in 39 different countries. For more information, please visit www.glbsoft.com. 

About ECi
ECi Software Solutions provides best-in-industry business and e-commerce software solutions for growing companies. For more than 30 years, ECi has served the manufacturing, office equipment, managed print services, office supplies, contract office furniture, business intelligence, lumber and building materials, hardware and jan/san sectors. Privately held, ECi is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, with offices throughout the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and the Netherlands. For more information, email info@ecisolutions.com, visit www.ECiSolutions.com, or call (800) 959-3367.
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