Poll: Majority Of Manufacturers Rely On Spreadsheets Instead Of ERP

A new survey suggests that a majority of top manufacturers and distributors still rely on spreadsheets and other manual processes instead of business management software.

According to the 2015 Manufacturing Survey by Illinois-based accounting firm Sikich LLP, 53 percent of those polled used manual processes to measure key performance indicators, compared to just 26 percent that used applications such as enterprise resource systems.

“The persistence of manual processes in the industry is troubling," said Sikich’s Jim Wagner. "Technology can help companies grow more efficient, lower costs and better serve customers. It has the potential to transform the industry and drive success, but companies need to make full use of it to realize gains."

The survey found that companies use technology in greater numbers to improve manufacturing processes, business intelligence, reporting and customer service.

In addition, 54 percent expected their revenue to increase by more than 5 percent in 2015, while 96 percent projected hiring to remain constant or increase this year.

Although about half of respondents were more optimistic about the national economy compared to 2014, Sikich analysts said that many companies remained hesitant to expand product offerings or markets.

Almost 40 percent of those polled expected existing markets to be their top opportunities for growth, while nearly one in three planned to spend less than 1 percent of sales on new product development.

The vast majority of respondents anticipated rising tax, labor and raw materials costs over the next 12 months.

“Many manufacturers continue to adopt a cautious approach to growth,” Wagner said. “But while a focus on existing markets presents less risk, it won’t sustain manufacturers forever."

The 2015 report surveyed 116 manufacturers and distributors; nearly 75 percent of participants reported annual revenue of more than $1 million.

IBS Named 2014 Qlik Nordic Rookie Partner of the Year

Ability to drive joint business growth cited as key IBS strength.

International Business Systems, a global supply chain software leader, has recently been named 2014 Nordic Rookie Partner of the Year by Qlik, a leader in visual analytics. The award recognizes IBS' contribution to the Qlik business ecosystem and ability to drive joint business growth on the strength of its industry-leading IBS Analytics solution, a data discovery platform powered by QlikView that makes data actionable for every user. IBS claimed the award during its first full year as an official Qlik OEM partner.

Unlike tools that simply put a new face on the same old data, the IBS Analytics solution optimizes data structures and provides an analytical query engine, interactive user experience, highly graphical interface and collaboration tools to support the way humans naturally search for information. With it, users can explore complex data, detect patterns, share and compare information, and make proactive business decisions using easy-to-navigate dashboards and easy-to-understand visualizations.

"Our partnership with Qlik is just one more demonstration of our commitment to IBS customers to provide the most powerful, productive and results-oriented software in the supply chain industry," said Doug Braun, IBS CEO.  "It is a great honor for us to receive this award, which we consider to be only the first in a long-term relationship that will benefit our mutual customers moving forward."

The Qlik Partner Awards recognize the Qlik partner community for excellence in several categories.

"IBS is an important partner in our go-to-market strategy and helps us extend our leadership in delivering solutions for guided analytics and self-service visualization," said Johan Salenstedt, Vice President of Nordic Sales & Managing Director at Qliktech Nordic AB, and Country Manager at Qlik. "We are proud to acknowledge the achievements made in 2014 by IBS, and look forward to our mutual success in 2015."

About IBS

International Business Systems (IBS) is a leading global integrated ERP, WMS and supply chain distribution software solution provider. For more than 35 years, we have helped customers such as WORLDPAC, Fidelitone, Associated Pharmacies, Inc., GILLIG, Zwilling J.A. Henckels, Miele Inc., Tri Literal LLC, Mighty Auto Parts, Victory Packaging Inc. and many more streamline, automate and accelerate their distribution network processes, and drive profitability and efficiency.

For more information, please visit www.ibs.net or contact:

Renee Truttmann
Chief Marketing Officer
+1 760 201 6243
renee.truttmann@ibs.net

Maurice Sporting Goods Selects IBS Dynaman WMS

Advanced WMS features and ability to meet aggressive growth plans sealed purchase decision. 

International Business Systems (IBS), a global leading integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Warehouse Management System (WMS) and supply chain provider, today announced that Maurice Sporting Goods, the largest family-owned and operated sporting goods distributor in the world, has selected IBS Dynaman WMS to streamline processes and more fully automate the growing needs of its distribution operations in North America.

Much of Maurice Sporting Goods' dramatic growth in the past several years has been driven by a growing portfolio of sporting goods products in a widening number of categories. This has led to higher SKU counts and increased shipping volumes, prompting the search for a more advanced WMS.

The company selected IBS Dynaman WMS to help control its distribution center operations, from receiving through put away, real-time inventory management and pick-pack-ship functions. Dynaman's value-added services component will be used to meet client outbound order assembly and kitting requirements. The investment in the new WMS system is a significant part of Maurice Sporting Goods' overall commitment to providing world-class logistics support to both its vendors and its retail customers.

"We consider it a great privilege to add Maurice Sporting Goods to our growing list of world-class companies impacting the retail/e-commerce supply chain," said Bob Carver, IBS Director of Sales, Dynaman Division. "Maurice is today's leader in the outdoor sporting goods retail industry, in part by providing efficient distribution. We are honored that it has selected IBS Dynaman to further advance its distribution operations."

"The need for a new WMS became critical for us as SKU counts and shipping volumes greatly increased among our four primary distribution centers," said Michael Olshansky, Maurice Sporting Goods CTO. "IBS definitely demonstrated that Dynaman is a superior WMS product, and its distribution expertise made us feel confident in accomplishing our aggressive global expansion plans."

About IBS
International Business Systems (IBS) is a leading global integrated ERP, WMS and supply chain distribution software solution provider. For more than 35 years, we have helped customers such as WORLDPAC, Fidelitone, Associated Pharmacies, Inc., GILLIG, Zwilling J.A. Henckels, Miele Inc., Tri Literal LLC, Mighty Auto Parts, Victory Packaging Inc. and many more streamline, automate and accelerate their distribution network processes, and drive profitability and efficiency. For more information visit www.ibs.net.

About Maurice Sporting Goods
Maurice Sporting Goods, Inc. is a family-owned wholesaler of sporting goods products in the fishing, hunting, outdoor recreation, marine, fitness/athletics, sports licensing and outdoor gift categories, serving mass retailers and independent dealers throughout the United States, Canada and other international markets. For more information, refer to www.maurice.net.

For more information, please visit www.ibs.net or contact:

Renee Truttmann
Chief Marketing Officer
+1 760 201 6243
renee.truttmann@ibs.net

Advanced WMS features and ability to meet aggressive growth plans sealed purchase decision.

FOLSOM, Calif., August 6, 2015 – International Business Systems (IBS), a global leading integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Warehouse Management System (WMS) and supply chain provider, today announced that Maurice Sporting Goods, the largest family-owned and operated sporting goods distributor in the world, has selected IBS Dynaman WMS to streamline processes and more fully automate the growing needs of its distribution operations in North America.
Much of Maurice Sporting Goods' dramatic growth in the past several years has been driven by a growing portfolio of sporting goods products in a widening number of categories. This has led to higher SKU counts and increased shipping volumes, prompting the search for a more advanced WMS.
The company selected IBS Dynaman WMS to help control its distribution center operations, from receiving through put away, real-time inventory management and pick-pack-ship functions. Dynaman's value-added services component will be used to meet client outbound order assembly and kitting requirements. The investment in the new WMS system is a significant part of Maurice Sporting Goods' overall commitment to providing world-class logistics support to both its vendors and its retail customers.
"We consider it a great privilege to add Maurice Sporting Goods to our growing list of world-class companies impacting the retail/e-commerce supply chain," said Bob Carver, IBS Director of Sales, Dynaman Division. "Maurice is today's leader in the outdoor sporting goods retail industry, in part by providing efficient distribution. We are honored that it has selected IBS Dynaman to further advance its distribution operations."
"The need for a new WMS became critical for us as SKU counts and shipping volumes greatly increased among our four primary distribution centers," said Michael Olshansky, Maurice Sporting Goods CTO. "IBS definitely demonstrated that Dynaman is a superior WMS product, and its distribution expertise made us feel confident in accomplishing our aggressive global expansion plans."
About IBS
International Business Systems (IBS) is a leading global integrated ERP, WMS and supply chain distribution software solution provider. For more than 35 years, we have helped customers such as WORLDPAC, Fidelitone, Associated Pharmacies, Inc., GILLIG, Zwilling J.A. Henckels, Miele Inc., Tri Literal LLC, Mighty Auto Parts, Victory Packaging Inc. and many more streamline, automate and accelerate their distribution network processes, and drive profitability and efficiency. For more information visit www.ibs.net.
About Maurice Sporting Goods
Maurice Sporting Goods, Inc. is a family-owned wholesaler of sporting goods products in the fishing, hunting, outdoor recreation, marine, fitness/athletics, sports licensing and outdoor gift categories, serving mass retailers and independent dealers throughout the United States, Canada and other international markets. For more information, refer to www.maurice.net.
For more information, please visit www.ibs.net or contact:
Renee Truttmann
Chief Marketing Officer
+1 760 201 6243
renee.truttmann@ibs.net

- See more at: http://www.ibs.net/en/company/news/2015/Maurice-Sporting-Goods-Selects-IBS-Dynaman-WMS/#sthash.GaUMeH7K.dpuf

DDI System Inform ERP Users Realizing ROI Within 3 Years!

Read report to learn how DDI System's Inform ERP software is helping distributors achieve success.

In fact, 92% of DDI's customers have realized significant ROI within the first 3 years. Increase overall profitability & productivity in your operations, gain better inventory forecasting tools and grow your online & mobile sales. 

Click Here to visit website. 

Infor Delivers Major Enhancement To Configure Price Quote

Infor, an industry cloud company, has announced significant enhancements to the user interface of Infor Configure Price Quote (CPQ) to help customers increase sales, reduce costs and differentiate their brand. The new personalization capability allows organizations to differentiate themselves quickly and easily in their markets with visual layout design and custom style functionality. The ability for customers to personalize the configuration and quoting experience themselves allows for tailored content and presentation of the CPQ process to the specific needs of a sales channel, distributor or end user. Infor CPQ is designed to provide a seamless, customized experience for the end user to encourage repeat use for future business needs.

Formerly known as Infor Product Configuration Management (PCM), Infor CPQ is a visual product configurator solution that is specifically designed to help manufacturers and distributors that design, sell and market configured products and/or services through distribution channels. The product is created to meet the unique business challenges of various industries with greater speed and accuracy. Infor CPQ provides an easy to use, image-driven solution to help users track processes in a unified format, from quotation through order delivery.

"Configure, price and quote (CPQ) tools have historically been deployed with a focus on internal sales efficiency. However, organizations started opening up their sales environment, providing CPQ tools to partners and customers. The ability of customers to personalize their experience, with greater transparency, helps them to better engage with organizations," said Praveen Sengar, Gartner.

There are two major components of the user experience. The first is the ability to establish custom layouts that can vary by role and device and apply them to a rule set for creating a compelling experience. The second aspect of this personalized interface is to incorporate an organization's themes and styles sheets within the layout for enhanced branding consistent with the organization's go-to-market channels.

"By enabling the guided selling and visualization experience to be tailored to the context needed by the end user, through new rules and custom layouts, organizations can drive adoption while improving their bottom line", said David Cahn, director, CPQ Product Management, Infor. "The ability to personalize the configuration user experience is about making a relevant connection to an individual."

Inventory Optimization and Maximizing Profitability

Please attend the Business Improvement Webcast Series for distributors on May 28, 2015:

Epicor welcomes Jon Schreibfeder, president of Effective Inventory Management, for an educational and informative discussion on how distributors can overcome four major challenges:

• Increased competition
• Lower margins
• Product proliferation
• Demanding customers

Jon will discuss useful strategies for managing your inventory investment to maximize net profits, including valuable tips on:

• Accurate forecasting
• Using adjusted margin to access profitability
• Ensuring your inventory is accurate
• Meeting customer expectations

Click here to register.

In addition, you'll learn about some powerful tools for helping you effectively manage your inventory.  Epicor will demonstrate how you can identify buying trends and unique demand patterns, apply the best forecasting methods, eliminate excessive stock, manage VMI, and improve processes for better inventory control. 

You’ll walk away with an even better understanding of how to exceed customers’ expectations of product availability and maximize net profits.