Freundenberg-NOK

Jerry Bragalone and Kevin Riddle of Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership, agree that it would be nice if their customers wanted every order shipped exactly the same way, without scheduling or packaging requirements.

But the world doesn’t work that way, they concede, and neither should their business system. And now, thanks to a successful QAD implementation led by a FNGP cross-functional team involving the Milan, Ohio Distribution Center staff and Corporate Information Technology team members working together with PICS, it doesn’t.

“We have to manage orders the way our customers want us to, not the other way around,” said Bragalone, who is the warehouse manager at the company’s distribution center in Milan, Ohio. Riddle, a team leader at the same location, explains: “Some customers send orders months ahead of time, and some want same-day delivery. And others require special labels on packages within these packages. We have to be able to do that for them—and then some.”

“The packaging programs in QAD Enterprise Applications ( MFG/PRO ) were good, but they didn’t suit us,” Bragalone said.
“We needed functionality that went above and beyond what most people need, and PICS helped us build it," he said, referring to the containerization functionality in QAD.

The system could support the container/packing structure but fell short in several other key areas. This is where the PICS team worked closely with Bragalone and Riddle to close these gaps programmatically. The result was a custom module that sits between the orders picked via QAD AIM module and QAD TMS module. This customization, referred to as the “Packing Module,” allows the Freudenberg-NOK packing personnel to see the contents of a pallet as well as what order it belongs to, containerize it to the customer’s shipping specifications and label it as required.

Because they use PICS-developed functionality for their QAD system, Freudenberg NOK can now deliver the most detailed requests quickly and efficiently without the use of multiple screens and programs. For example, the packing module created by PICS allows Freudenberg-NOK to produce a variety of internal and customer-specific bar code labels at the packing workbench screen, easing receiving processes for their customers and electronically matching the streamlined packing process.

Other functionality of the packing module allows them to detail exactly where a particular item is in a carton. The PICS-developed enhancement then prints that information on a packing slip label, making it easier for the customer to find exactly what he or she is looking for. This greatly increases service and satisfaction, while making it easier for customers to choose to buy from Freudenberg-NOK again in the future.

A History of Change

Bragalone and Riddle have been with the Freudenberg-NOK family for more than 50 years combined, and Bragalone jokes that he used a chisel and stone tablets to manage inventory when he began his career with the organization.

What he doesn’t joke about is today’s need for highly efficient and dependable technology. “It’s essential for our business,” he says. “We wouldn’t be able to fulfill requirements without it.”

And both Bragalone and Riddle appreciate the value of a good system and a well organized team to put it to work. They have been through two implementations in as many years and can testify what constitutes success—and what forecasts failure.

Riddle recalls that during the first, unsuccessful (non-QAD) implementation, consultants from the software vendor's professional services department tended to exaggerate the capabilities of the software and answered 'yes' to many of their requests without much thought.

For the QAD implementation Freudenberg-NOK was better prepared and more educated. Freudenberg-NOK choose PICS to be their implementation partner because they wanted a capable, certified QAD Service Alliance Partner who lived and breathed the system. The PICS team’s extensive expertise and excellent Core Team training program helped: “They helped us realize that we needed to keep everything as vanilla as possible—that tasks in the system were designed for a reason,” Riddle says.

And, of course, PICS stood ready to help when Freudenberg-NOK needed to tailor the system to their needs—as with the packaging customizations. A clear customization roadmap and detailed design specifications made the modifications well thought out and upgradeable to future versions of QAD.

But their most important advice: Understand the system inside out and spend time training and educating your people on the system. Integration testing of all modules is also very important. Bragalone says, “We tested it. We tried to beat it to death and when we couldn't break it anymore, we went live.”

Since the implementation, which Bragalone and Riddle both agree was almost seamless, Freudenberg-NOK has become a more agile, efficient organization. Inventory organization has improved greatly. Inventory accuracy is now almost perfect, hovering at 99 percent from the low- to mid-90s.

“We weren’t going to accept mediocrity the second time around,” Bragalone says. “So we’re glad we chose QAD. And we’re glad we put the time into it. And we’re happy we worked with PICS.”