Imperial Auto Parts reaps big benefits with Infor ERP LN

The company, which supplies spares for the automotive sector, cites integration and forecasting benefits, as well as improved customer service and visibility across its supply chain. Sean McQuade, IT executive in Imperial's Auto Parts Division, says requirements include increasing stock and financial reporting accuracy to 95%, and 99% respectively, as well as the reliability of financial data to 99%. He also says that Imperial wants to finalise month-end reporting in five working days, and to deliver sales quotations to customers within 48 hours. And he expects to reduce lost sales by 10%, while increasing sales output and efficiency by 20%. McQuade explains that after many years of using an existing legacy system that was not fully integrated, the company had outgrown its environment, which had also become unstable and unreliable. "A fragmented and inconsistent IT architecture made it difficult to exercise the necessary control over the many business areas. Also, inefficiencies had crept in, due to manual processes being used to fill gaps, and data integrity had become a very real problem," comments McQuade. "In addition, the existing system did not comply with an SOA so was not able to allow open access and/or compatibility with new technologies… The selection of ERP LN brings with it inherent best practice methodologies. This, coupled with the support of a professional ERP vendor, such as Softworx, has enabled us to establish a solid foundation for future growth," he continues. "We plan to implement ERP LN at two other companies within the Imperial Auto Parts Division over the next two years."