Case Study: Integrex

ERP creates dynamic environment for electronics contract manufacturer

Overview

Integrex, an electronics contract manufacturer specializing in high mix, low volume circuit board assemblies, faced a daunting challenge. In only a few short months, the company needed to launch a brand new production facility and implement a business infrastructure that would support a rapidly growing customer base and provide them with a competitive advantage.

The Challenge

Integrex provides an outsourcing solution to other manufacturing companies that do not want to tie up assets and overhead in electronics manufacturing, but still need high quality, complex assemblies. To meet the demands of manufacturers in the industrial systems, medical instruments, networking systems and telecommunications industries, Integrex built a state-of-the-art Surface Mount Technology (SMT) production facility in Bothell, Washington. And, to pull it all together, to manage accounting and manufacturing activities, keep their own costs down and provide flexibility in meeting customer demands, they needed an infrastructure.

The Solution

Integrex selected Intuitive ERP by Intuitive Manufacturing Systems for material planning, procurement, inventory and production management, shop floor scheduling and general accounting functions. A team consisting of members of executive management and key personnel from materials and IT selected Intuitive ERP after reviewing several other ERP systems. They based the decision on five major criteria: production and inventory control functionality, ease of use, integration of accounting and manufacturing functions, system scalability and technical support services.

“Because we provide turnkey operations to our customers, we needed a business system that would give us control over our operations and support our competitive advantage in the area of flexibility,” Volberding said. “We have a very dynamic production environment so bringing in the right material, managing the shop floor and controlling inventory are very important elements of our business. We selected Intuitive ERP because it had the functionality we needed, a high level of ease-of-use, and it met our budgetary objectives.”

Integrex’s Results

Many of the products Integrex builds have very complex bills of material and can contain thousands of components. According to Keith Gitchel, Vice President of Materials, it is critical that they manage their inventory in order to maintain a cost advantage over competitors.

“The inventory and planning functions of Intuitive ERP, including integration of forecasts, detailed MRP analysis, vendor management reporting and inventory control, provide the information we need to make the right business decisions quickly and accurately,” Gitchel said. “That gives us flexibility and control.”

Integrating accounting and manufacturing was also a high priority for the company. General ledger, product costing capabilities and management reporting were all major requirements.

“Intuitive ERP certainly met most of our needs right out of the box,” said Rich Whitten, Vice President of Finance. “We only had to make some small modifications, but they were relatively quick and easy to make. The system gives me the tools to manage standard accounting processes but also gives the management team a high level view of key business indicators.”

From an IT perspective, Intuitive ERP also aligns well with Integrex’s business strategy. Integrex made the decision early on to pursue an ERP solution with Microsoft technology. The decision was based on expectations of cost, scalability, performance and ease of administration. Built from the ground up with Microsoft technology, Intuitive ERP is easy to implement and maintain, and requires little training. Even though Integrex was in the process of setting up its network infrastructure and plant facilities, implementation took less than 60 days, thanks to Intuitive ERP Import Wizards and the product’s ease of use.

“We were very pleased with the implementation process,” stated Richard Kellerer, Manager of IT Services. “In fact, Intuitive ERP implementation only took about 60 days. It would have taken even less time if we would have had all of the network infrastructure in place.”

Integrex’s Reaction

As a dynamic young company, Integrex needed a system that would help them hit the ground running and keep up with their aggressive growth plans.

“We are competing—and winning—against very large and well established competitors,” said Integrex CEO and President Ted Volberding. “We win because of a focus on quality and excellence in our operations. Those two elements allow us to be extremely efficient, and provide the ability to respond quickly to customer needs.

“We were looking for a system that satisfied our immediate needs and could grow with us as we expand our customer base,” Volberding said. “We looked at a lot of systems and Intuitive ERP provided the broadest functionality and the greatest ease of use. There is a lot of competition in the electronics industry and Intuitive ERP supports our strategic initiatives and helps us get the most out of our resources.”