Forward-moving
companies have the distinct advantage of being able to watch their
competition in a rear-view mirror. They are constantly seeking
out new technology to improve their business, and searching for
new ways to better serve their customers. DIX Metals, Inc. of
Huntington Beach, California a value-added metals service center
specializing in close-tolerance sawing, grinding and milling is
one such example. DIX has committed itself to a philosophy of
continuous improvement, and is constantly seeking ways to anticipate
and meet their customers future needs. Primarily, DIX customers
are OEMs and job shops involved in machining operations. However,
a significant portion of their business also caters to companies
such as ITT Industries, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, 3M and IBM.
When searching
for a fully integrated system with extensive inventory management,
processing abilities and cost reporting capabilities, DIX Metals
turned to Epicor Software Corporation for help. They first chose
Epicor’s Vista solution in the fall of 1998, then moved to
Epicor’s Vantage system in October 2001. “We stayed with
Epicor because of our four-year relationship with the Vista support
team. The support team was a great resource in problem solving
situations, and I had confidence that if we remained an Epicor
customer, our needs would continue to be a priority, says Pablo
Garza, vice president of Operations at DIX Metals, Inc.
Migrating
from Vista to Vantage
When DIX
implemented Vista in 1997, the solution worked well. In the past
four years, however, the company went from $7 million to $10 million
in annual sales, a growth rate of 30 percent. While being very
flexible, the Vista system was designed for the needs of smaller
manufacturers, and with a 15 concurrent user environment, the
level of functionality required by DIX’s users was beginning
to outpace the current system.
After systematically
defining their systems requirements, DIX spent three months evaluating
software solutions. In the end, they went to back to Epicor and
determined that the logical ERP choice was Vantage because of
existing familiarity of terminologies resulting in reduced overall
training costs. The Vantage solution also provided a fully integrated
system with a user-friendly customer service interface for the
company’s inside sales team, inventory management capabilities,
job planning and extensive cost reporting features.
In addition,
DIX’s environment required an industrial-grade database that
could provide their users the speed and performance to effectively
handle day-to-day internal transactions flawlessly. Garza felt
that the Vantage system would greatly enhance the implementation
process and level off the learning curve. “While the Vista
system taught users how to work in an integrated structure and
offered a fast implementation timeline, Vantage would continue
along those lines by providing an increased depth of business
intelligence.
Epicor’s
aggressive growth incentive program allowed DIX to migrate from
Vista to Vantage as their business requirements changed. Epicor
applied the company’s entire software investment in Vista toward
the purchase of Vantage, which was planned since purchasing Vista.
At the time Vista was purchased, DIX was not ready for the robust
and enhanced Vantage solution. “When we were ready to move
to Vantage, Epicor was there to support us, Garza adds.
Report
Builder and Visual Scheduling
“Vantage’s
versatility was very important, says Garza. “The Report Builder
afforded us the ability to build and integrate custom reports
into our business flow, allowing our users to access critical
data. With Vantage Visual Scheduling, departments can be broken
down individually or by work center and loaded according to capacity
and process capability. Furthermore, full visibility of work center
load can be accessed by anyone using the system. This is especially
important when planning available capacity for new business opportunities.
Real Time
Data Collection and Labor Reporting
Vantage’s
Real Time Data Collection and Labor Reporting tools are excellent
in providing supervisors with a clear picture of resources available
for the day. Standard reports can be generated, which outline
time and attendance of employees, labor and machine efficiency
and scrap ratios. These real-time reporting tools provide excellent
visibility of potential shop floor problems and root causes can
be determined with minimal effort.
Vantage
Brings Benefits
Since implementing
Vantage, the DIX Metals team has been impressed with immediate
and significant results. They now have full traceability of material
issued to jobs, real time tracking of employee hours, comprehensive
backlog reports and increased accuracy of order processing. The
inside sales group has embraced the Quoting and Order Entry modules,
and for the first time, DIX accountants can put together a financial
picture at a moment’s notice.
With Vantage,
DIX Metals streamlined their order entry process and have seen
a 25 percent measured increase in productivity. This increase
is due to the efficient transactions handled within the database
structure. The Job Linking feature within the order entry module
has increased productivity between 15 and 20 percent by bringing
critical, comprehensive data in to the planning functions and
preventing questions that typically slow the process. “The
Vantage system has improved our overall ability to process information
more efficiently across the board, notes Garza. Additionally,
the QA team can now maintain online inspection and first article
reports. The Quality Module inside Vantage further reduces DIX’s
dependency on paper and improves their ability to follow-up on
corrective actions. DIX is looking forward to implementing the
Epicor Customer Portal via the Internet, which expands their customer
service to 24 X 7 and allows their customers to check order status
without making a phone call.
Looking
Ahead
DIX Metals
is looking forward to a prosperous future. In March, 1999, DIX
moved into their newly built 111,000 square foot facility in Huntington
Beach, California. The implementation of Vantage software and
this physical expansion will enable DIX Metals to reach new heights
in providing customers a greater variety of metal finishing services
and better overall service. Garza sums it up, saying, “DIX
Metals has built a reputation on quality work and customer service.
We pride ourselves on exceeding customer expectations. Vantage
will add a new dimension to our IT infrastructure; it will enable
our company to gain the needed competitive edge to effectively
handle current and future business requirements.
