Pacific Steel Goes Live with Odyssey

For Immediate Release
Contact: Alexandria Trusov
Email: atrusov@blinfo.com
Phone: 269.465.6207 x 310

 

PACIFIC STEEL CONVERTS TO B&L'S METAL CASTING SOFTWARE  
    Scaling Up with ERP for One Integrated Solution

Bridgman, MI, May 21, 2013 - In early April 2013, Pacific Steel went live with B&L's Odyssey Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. During the months of pre-planning the installation, Pacific Steel's staff and the B&L Information Systems team worked to bring more than 130 users on-line with nearly every module offered within the Odyssey package. In terms of ERP software deployments for metalcasters, this implementation was a large undertaking.

Founded in 1934, Pacific Steel began by creating castings for the U.S. Military and is the 4th largest surviving steel foundry in the United States. They have a large, diverse workforce and exacting customer base which still includes the U.S. Military. While diversity is good in a workforce, it is not good in business systems where integration and compatibility are key drivers of success. B&L's Odyssey metalcasting software was selected for the extent of its business system coverage - everything from Scrap Control to an Accounts Receivable system are integrated within the Odyssey software framework.

To kick-off the project, project manager Frank Roorda and the B&L team met with the staff at Pacific Steel to map the planned project phases with a goal to keeping the work disruption as minimal as possible. The project mapping plan began with the "B&L's 5 Steps to Successful ERP Conversion":
1. File Conversion - data moved from old to new system via importation and mapping
2. Business Review - comparison of the business versus the planned module implementation
3. Training - Internet or on-site training as the prior two phrases are married
4. User Testing - proves out the training and allows any surprises to be flushed out prior to "go live"
5. Go Live - B&L staff is on-site to help with questions or issues as the ERP system is taken live

For the Pacific Steel project, B&L called on a variety of business partners to bring their special expertise to the table. Danly Consulting supplied on-site project management, expert installation, and guided Pacific Steel through a review of business processes and simplification of procedures as they moved off their AS-400 and prior ERP system. IntelliChief was integrated for document control, an EDI interface with Radley and a payroll interface to ADP incorporating the latest in California labor law compliance.

During a post-installation visit, B&L's President, Philip Laney, got a chance to see first-hand how Odyssey helped corral the complexities of California's labor laws. Under California law, improperly timed breaks can have significant labor cost impacts. The on-premise clocking solution deployed on Odyssey via 50 hardened touch screens throughout the plant offers supervisors a way to easily retain oversight of employee break times.

"This was a complex implementation, with both planned and unplanned challenges. The team at Pacific Steel, along with the B&L team and Mark Danly of Danly Consulting worked together - sometimes for 15 hour days - to ensure this installation went live on-time and on-budget," stated Laney after his visit to Pacific Steel. "The executive sponsorship at Pacific Steel was also key to this project. Without strong top management commitment to an ERP project, it tends to struggle when the bumps in the road are hit. Not so with this project. We are very pleased with how this project concluded. Congratulations to all! We look forward to a long relationship with our partners at Pacific Steel."

 

About B&L Information Systems
B&L Information Systems is a global leader in providing integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) for metalcasters. All B&L products, whether client server application or Software as a Service (SaaS), are designed with the specific needs of metalcasters in mind.