Novum, a supplier of refrigeration systems to the retail sector, has upgraded its ERP system in a move that the company said would repay its investment within 12 months and reduce its product life cycle process by more than one third.
The Dublin-based manufacturer has implemented ERP System21 Aurora from Infor to help manage growth in its export business. The upgrade uses Infor’s Flex program to move from an older version of ERP System21 to Aurora, which is based on service-oriented architecture.
Novum will use the upgrade to drive integration with all of its customer order fulfilment processes, resulting in improved order-to-cash cycle times and better decision making across the organisation.
Infor said its Flex programme allows customers with active maintenance contracts, such as Novum, to upgrade to the latest version of the software via transparent, low-cost implementations. The software company said this way mitigates the risk of an implementation that misses its deadline or goes over budget.
Novum’s investment pay off
Novum’s chief financial officer Rober Gibney said the company expects the investment to have paid for itself within a year, as it will integrate all previously disparate systems into one seamless process. Reporting can now be done immediately and on a regular basis, tapping into live data to produce customised reports in minutes.
“System21 Aurora is providing the practical software tools to manage our growth,” said Gibney. “Phase one of the System21 Aurora deployment is complete and already there are immediate benefits. We have begun a process of reducing the overall life cycle of our product process from order to sale. We hope within 12 months to have reduced this by 35pc. Already we are on track.”
As part of the upgrade, Novum also migrated to a new IBM System i model 520 in order to greatly improve system performance and resilience.
Morgan O’Flaherty, Infor Ireland’s business development director, added: “The team has better information available in a timely manner, greater business control, improved customer service levels and profit margins on its products, which are all key metrics for Novum.”
