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Infor LX Tips, Infor LN Tips, BPCS Tips, Baan Tips, Infor M3 Tips & Infor ERP News

Crossroads Connections

Infor ERP Tips & News from the Experts

Infor LX | Infor LN | BPCS | Baan | Infor M3

Crenlo and Crossroads RMC Go International

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Crenlo, A leading manufacturer of cab and enclosure products to protect people and electronics, has partnered with Crossroads RMC to deliver a shop floor (MES lite) solution to their facilities in the US and Brazil. Crenlo was looking for a way to ensure that each production run was complete and accurate, and their overall production efficiencies were measurable. Crossroads RMC developed a complete solution to deliver detailed proprietary work instructions to each workstation, configure production lines to fit the work to be completed, perform downtime tracking with alerts and provide web based pivot reports to view entire assemblies, compare actual to expected, view inspection failures and analyze trends week to week, month to month and year to year. This solution will be fully integrated with Crenlo’s Baan IV ERP system.

Nice-Pak Products Drives Purchasing Power With Crossroads

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Nice-Pak Products, a leading manufacturer in the wet wipes industry, has selected Crossroads RMC to evaluate the purchasing processes within their facilities in Indiana. During this evaluation, Crossroads RMC will determine the best path for streamlining purchasing operations and develop a standardized approach that can be shared within other locations of Nice-Pak utilizing Infor LX.

International Wire Selects Crossroads RMC For Their High Performance Conductor Division

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International Wire Group, Inc. headquartered in Camden, New York is the largest bare copper wire and copper wire products manufacturer in the United States. Crossroads has been selected to evaluate the manufacturing processes within the High Performance Conductor Division of International Wire, with locations in South Carolina and Georgia. During this evaluation, Crossroads will determine the best path for streamlining the shop floor which will include data collection and labor reporting. International currently utilizes Infor LX and will be evaluating Crossroads’ MES solution as part of this project.

BPCS/LX TIP OF THE WEEK: INVENTORY TRANSFERS

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Misplaced inventory… this happens all the time, but it CAN be avoided.

As part of an employee’s initial training, they should be taught the importance of proper inventory handling. This training should occur even if inventory handling is not their job! Employees need to know how the actions (or lack thereof) of one individual affects the rest of the company and the system used to run your business. Proper inventory management is the responsibility of ALL employees. 

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Inventory Transfers

Kathy Barthelt 0 96335 Article rating: No rating

Misplaced inventory… this happens all the time, but it CAN be avoided.

As part of an employee’s initial training, they should be taught the importance of proper inventory handling. This training should occur even if inventory handling is not their job! Employees need to know how the actions (or lack thereof) of one individual affects the rest of the company and the system used to run your business. Proper inventory management is the responsibility of ALL employees. 

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

Tip of the Week: Finding the Cause of Waste

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If a particular machine in your shop breaks down a lot, and you are seeing lots of scrap on every job, maybe it is time to look at what is going on. Is there truly a problem with the machine? If so, get it fixed, or move production to another line. Maybe it is a problem with how the machine operator has been trained, or maybe it is due to poor quality materials that are being used as components on a given job. Until you dig in to find the root cause, you can’t fix the problem.  

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

Tip of the Week: Gain Efficiency & Save Money - Evaluate Your Production Lines

Anthony Etzel 0 53292 Article rating: 5.0

When is the last time you took a hard look at your production lines?

  • How are we moving product through our facility?
  • Do we have work instructions / drawings available where needed?
  • Do we have frequently used inventory available at the line?
  • Where are the bottlenecks?
  • Are processes automated, where possible?

Taking a hard look at your processes and procedures may reveal some interesting results. Don’t assume that everyone is doing things the same way. Some may be superstars, and others may need some mentoring. Some processes may be outdated and costing you time and money, while others are extremely efficient. One area of the business may benefit from how others operate. Take the time to review and analyze your findings. Your company may benefit greatly as a result.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

Tip of the Week: Gain Efficiency & Save Money - Evaluate Your Production Lines

Kathy Barthelt 0 83468 Article rating: No rating

When is the last time you took a hard look at your production lines?

  • How are we moving product through our facility?
  • Do we have work instructions / drawings available where needed?
  • Do we have frequently used inventory available at the line?
  • Where are the bottlenecks?
  • Are processes automated, where possible?

Taking a hard look at your processes and procedures may reveal some interesting results. Don’t assume that everyone is doing things the same way. Some may be superstars, and others may need some mentoring. Some processes may be outdated and costing you time and money, while others are extremely efficient. One area of the business may benefit from how others operate. Take the time to review and analyze your findings. Your company may benefit greatly as a result.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

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Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

Tips: LN | Baan

An ERP System Review is NOT a Report Card

It's a no-judgment-review - we promise!

report card C minusWe all remember our school days and the nervousness that we felt when it came time to get our grades. Even if we were doing well, we were still nervous. Sometimes we experienced that same nervousness when it came time for a performance review on our job. Nervousness…sometimes dread…knowing that our performance was not what we wanted it to be, or others expected it to be. 

Somehow I think the feelings that we felt in our past often find ways to creep into our present. I have seen this recently when I suggested an ERP system review to one of our customers. They immediately became flustered and thought about every possible problem that they knew existed within the software and how they were currently using it. I asked them to consider the purpose of the ERP system review.

An ERP Utilization Review will:

  • Document how your company is using your ERP system (or a particular aspect of the system) and to what extent the system meets the needs of the business.
  • Identify challenges encountered using the software.
  • Create opportunities for improving business processes and generating additional value.
  • Identify potential risks and areas that need improvement.


key hole to the futureSo, if the result of ERP system review is to establish a path forward for growth based on current status, then why doesn’t every company take advantage of it? I think for some, the answer lies in the feelings of nervousness and dread still stuck in the recesses of our brains.

An ERP system review or more specifically a utilization review is NOT a personal report card, or performance review showing how well a particular individual does his/hers/their job, nor is it an attack on the team that implemented the software. 

As they say, hindsight is 20/20. What we view now to be a less than ideal implementation methodology may have been absolutely appropriate at the time the software was originally deployed. The software has likely matured and the skillsets of the individuals responsible for the system have likely matured as well. In some cases, those resources are no longer with the company, leaving those that remain with no back story as to how and why implementation decisions were made.

Instead of viewing the ERP utilization review as a reason to find fault in previous decisions, think of it as discovering untapped potential – both of the ERP system and the people who use it. Viewing an ERP utilization review in this way puts a positive spin on it and allows us to challenge ourselves to identify opportunities for growth far greater than anything we imagined before. This means not only moving our businesses forward faster but also advancing the strength of the company as individuals and as a team.

What untapped potential lies within your company?

Consider a utilization review of your entire ERP system, or just a part of it like Finance, Technology, Materials Management, Order Processing, or Shop Floor Control. You just might be surprised at what greatness can be achieved… far greater than anyone could have imagined.  

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Kathy Barthelt

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