Gibraltar Industries Earns 2008 Summit Award at Consona User Conference
Company Uses AXIS® ERP Software to Generate Higher Revenues While Decreasing Plants and Staff; Wins Best Overall Use Award
Las Vegas, Indianapolis, and Buffalo, N. Y., (Vocus) October 15, 2008
Consona Corporation (Consona), a worldwide leader in providing customer relationship management (CRM) (http://www. consona. com/consona/default. aspx? pagename=CRM-Solutions) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) (http://www. consona. com/consona/default. aspx? pagename=Cross-Industry-ERP) software and services for companies of all sizes, today announced at its premier user conference, Consona Connect, that Gibraltar Industries, a Buffalo, N. Y.-based manufacturer, processor, and distributor of products for the building, industrial, and vehicular markets and AXIS ERP user, is the 2008 recipient of the software provider's Best Overall Use Award.
The Best Overall Use Award, part of Consona's annual Summit Awards, honors a customer that has demonstrated excellence in utilizing multiple products (modules, features, add-on, third-party) and services from Consona. Recipients of the award submit both qualitative and quantitative data that illustrate how the solution has improved the customer's overall business performance. Award recipients display full use of both core and add-on solutions, steady business growth, a strong return on investment, and a passion for implementing and mastering new technologies.
Gibraltar Industries classifies its operations into two segments: Building Products and Processed Metal Products. The Processed Metal Products group provides value-added processing, such as cold rolling, annealing, temper rolling and slitting, yielding products for the automotive industry and other applications.
Until recently, the Processed Metal Products group's three plants used a combination of custom-developed software and outdated off-the-shelf work order systems. Maintaining three separate systems was burdensome on the organization, and required manual transfer of information that caused a lag in reporting, so information was no longer current when it was finally entered into another system. Ultimately, management decided that it was important to get the three different sites to agree on a single way of running the business. Gibraltar Industries selected AXIS ERP to integrate all of its business operations on a single platform, enabling the group to combine and adjust the sales, accounting, purchasing and planning functions.
The group now uses all of the AXIS modules to run its entire business. Built from the ground up to support the unique operations requirements of the metals industry, AXIS ERP captures all of the information involved in the group's business, including as sales orders, purchase orders, inventory, work orders, labor, financial accounting and more, into one system that can be used for reporting and decision making. By working closely with the AXIS team, Gibraltar Industries was able to overcome the standard implementation challenges and realize the following benefits:
Reduced the number of plants from three to two, while increasing revenues. Reduced administrative and operations staff by 25 percent. Increased inventory accuracy from 85 to 98 percent. Handled a sudden upsurge in business without allowing quality to suffer or missing customer delivery dates.
"We are now capable of shipping more product and generating substantially higher revenues with 25 percent fewer people and 33 percent less administrative staff than at the time we first installed AXIS ERP," said Matt Jacobs, manager of business processes for Gibraltar Industries. "The AXIS team has worked closely with us over the years--even upgrading the software in response to our requests. All in all, the implementation of AXIS has played a key role in our ability to improve the efficiency of our operations to compete in the global economy."
"It is our pleasure to honor Gibraltar Industries with a Summit Award for their absolutely outstanding achievements," said Jeff Tognoni, CEO of Consona. "Gibraltar Industries stands as an example of the dedication it takes to gain maximum return on a business system investment. The growth and success this company has achieved with our support reminds all of us at Consona why we're in business."
About Consona Corporation
Consona Corporation (Consona, formerly known as M2M Holdings Inc.) is a worldwide leader in providing customer relationship management (CRM) (http://www. consona. com/consona/default. aspx? pagename=CRM-Solutions) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) (http://www. consona. com/consona/default. aspx? pagename=Cross-Industry-ERP) software and services for companies of all sizes. Consona is dedicated to becoming a valued business partner by helping each and every customer continuously improve business processes over time. Toward this mission (http://www. consona. com/consona/default. aspx? pagename=Vision), Consona invests in the people, processes, technology and tools needed to provide its customers with a unique combination of customer care; product fit; a broad range of consulting, IT and business services; and industry expertise. Consona serves more than 4,500 customers worldwide and across a variety of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, financial services, health care, high tech, and local government. Battery Ventures and Thoma Bravo jointly own Consona. For further information, visit www. consona. com, e-mail info @ consona. com, or call (888) 8 CONSONA.
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