Armstrong International

The Company: About Armstrong International

Armstrong International provides intelligent system solutions that improve utility performance, lower energy consumption, and reduce environmental emissions. As the industry’s leading thermal utility partner, Armstrong International can satisfy unique requirements while helping to improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption and emissions.

The fifth-generation, family-owned business provides hardworking products, state-of-the-art technology, custom-engineered systems, services, and more than a century of knowledge and experience — all organized with industry specificity. Founded in 1900, Armstrong International is headquartered in the United States, with manufacturing, sales, and seminar centers located throughout the Americas, EMEA, and Asia.

The Situation: Inadequate Legacy Systems

In 2008, Armstrong had four different ERP and materials requirements planning (MRP) applications running at three locations, and there was no data sharing.

Armstrong needed to support a lot of intracompany transactions, with each location operating as a full manufacturing facility. Planners on staff operate in make-to-order (MTO) and make-to-stock (MTS). A subassembly could be built in China and then sent to the US in bulk, with the final project occurring in the US. Aligning all divisions on a single instance of ERP was imperative.

“We were not running as efficiently as we could. There was a desire to become a more closely tied global company,” stated Kurt Armstrong, CEO of Armstrong International. ​“We had customized our MRP solution to meet our every need. It got to the point where the solution was so customized that we could not take the next release.”

The company also faced a lot of heavy lifting to implement the multi-currency and multi-language features it needed. ​“In general, as a company we started to get more globalized,” stated Joe Letizia, Global Director of IT at Armstrong. ​“With IFS, operations became connected, quickly bringing our people and our data together.”

Armstrong considered technology from SAP, IFS, ABAS and Infor Global Solutions during the evaluation process. IFS was selected for its simplicity and ability to handle all of Armstrong’s needs, today and into the future.

The Solution: IFS Cloud ERP

Armstrong implemented IFS in 2008, and there have been many advances in enterprise applications since then. Leveraging IFS and other systems, the company has evolved its technology strategy into the global Armstrong Business Suite, with IFS firmly in place as its anchor for Order-to-Cash and Procure-to-Pay business flows.

The initial IFS implementation was deployed at Armstrong’s European manufacturing headquarters in Herstal, Belgium, expanding to an additional three sites over the following 18 months. The company had been running multiple ERP systems across various divisions but subsequently united its locations in North America, Europe, China, Korea, and India on a single instance of IFS.

Connecting Global Operations with IFS

The company also faced significant challenges in implementing the multi-currency and multi-language features it needed.

“In general, as a company, we started to get more globalized,” stated Joe Letizia, Global Director of IT at Armstrong. ​“With IFS, operations became connected, quickly bringing our people and our data together.”

During the evaluation process, Armstrong considered technology from SAP, IFS, ABAS, and Infor Global Solutions. IFS was selected for its simplicity and ability to handle all of Armstrong’s needs, both present and future.

The Results: Implementation Benefits with IFS Cloud ERP

Armstrong Today

Over the years, Armstrong developed the Armstrong Global Business System, a collection of best-in-class solutions and services. Within this suite, IFS plays a critical role in managing and sharing master data for data entry and other workflows.

For example, the business flow begins with a CRM customer opportunity. Once the opportunity is quoted and approved, it is converted into a customer order in the Armstrong CPQ. This triggers customer data to flow into the enterprise customer master and order management tables within IFS, ensuring data continuity and minimizing human error across Armstrong’s hybrid enterprise environment.

“IFS has allowed us to get closer to our customers because we can tie our activities closer to our CRM information,” stated Kurt Armstrong. ​“We are more knowledgeable about our customers. If a customer asks us to expedite their shipment, we pull information very quickly and break it down by product categories or even on a more granular level. We swiftly address any concerns they may have and take informed action. We provide those tools to all of our sales offices and salespeople on the road.”

Addressing Workforce Attrition

Armstrong prepared for an imminent talent shortfall due to employee retirements. Establishing a global order system was a critical requirement to offset the loss of subject matter experts and ensure a single operating standard across all employees.

Ultimately, the company lost about 30% of its order entry personnel, with the wave beginning in Europe and intensifying in America. Armstrong relied on IFS and the rest of the global business system to unify how each division managed and processed orders, ensuring uptime during the transition.

Today, all financial information from the global order system is maintained in IFS, including the consolidation of financial statements. With numerous divisions, all profit and loss records must be maintained to generate a single set of financial statements.

New Service Models

Armstrong introduced new services for some of its customers. In the Americas, EMEA, and Asia, teams of Armstrong employees work on-site at customer locations to support the efficient use of steam, hot water, and humidification. One example includes the use of high-quality steam for sterilization and other cleanroom processes.

These teams share their expertise in the thermal utility space while overseeing maintenance activities such as repairs, break fixes, and preventive maintenance.

Armstrong relies on IFS to ensure its profitability objectives are met. The teams use IFS to store objects, track relationships between objects, manage serial numbers, vendors, and other data. All onsite purchasing is done via IFS instances that are shared globally.

IFS is also central to Armstrong’s decarbonization services. The company uses IFS to build out projects, make recommendations, and log engineering time, which is offset against the project.

Looking to the Future

Today, Armstrong is exploring the potential to move to IFS Cloud, evaluating the economics of hosting more of its Business Systems in the cloud. The transition will support a smaller yet more scalable data center, shifting the expenditure model from CapEx to OpEx.