Jerry Bragalone and Kevin Riddle, Warehouse Manager and Team Leader, Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership

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 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.”

Terry Rossi has been a part of the Explore experience for more than a decade and truly understands the needs of QAD users. In this article, he discusses what he has seen over the years and talks about how you can make the most of your experience at the conference.

Q) For how many years have you attended Explore?
We first began going to QAD Global Conferences in 1992. Rich and I were driving forces in the turnaround of QAD’s support organization as their business exploded.
Our first Explore as PICS was in 1995. We had a small client base at that time, but we used Explore as a way to meet face to face with customers and prospects.

Q) How should QAD users make the most of their time at the conference?
Attend all the sessions you can and make the most of the Solutions Expo and Meal Roundtables. You can spend quality time with our consultants and developers at both of these places.

Q) How has the conference evolved since you first started attending?
Today’s Explore is a much better experience for QAD customers and for PICS. Explore has different tracks that allow QAD users to maximize their time and participate in sessions that are pertinent to them. We use the conference as an opportunity to meet with current and future customers, listen to their business challenges and offer suggestions about how we can assist them.

Q) Can you tell me about PICS’ role at the conference now versus when you first started attending?
PICS has played an increasingly prominent role. You may have noticed that we now use the motto Your Partner in Technology, which really expresses the culture we have worked hard to implement. We view ourselves as our customers’ partner and want to make sure everyone from PICS comes to Explore armed with the knowledge and collateral for explaining our value to Explore attendees.

Q) As principals of PICS, what have you done at the conference?
Part of the Explore experience is seeing people that you only see face-to-face once a year, so we work hard to build and retain relationships. We treat Explore as our time to talk with our long-time and future customers and our business partners. Explore is one of the few times we have the opportunity to meet with everyone at one time. We spend a lot of time listening to our customers and business partners and discussing strategies to work better with them during the upcoming year. Often we will have strategic meetings with our customers to set direction pertaining to large projects, QAD upgrades, mergers and acquisitions.

Q) What QAD trends—and technology trends in general—have you seen over the years?
QAD has always used Explore as the place to announce new functionality: V6 brought site functionality, V7 Multiple Databases and Entities, Field Service and DRP. V7.4/8.4 was the dawn of GUI and more recently we have seen the announcement of Desktop2, NetUI, Enhanced Financials and Localized versions of MFG/PRO.

PICS’ technology has also evolved. One of the newest additions to our service offerings is our remote database administration. With this service we act as the UNIX, Progress and QAD administrator for our customers’ QAD environments and provide remote monitoring around the clock for their QAD systems.

Q) Why should attendees make time to visit PICS at Explore?

We’re an agile company with seasoned professionals who know how to implement QAD and work efficiently with our customers. Just ask Explore attendees: We’ve worked with more than 70 percent of them.
We work with both large and small QAD environments and have pricing that can be very affordable considering the possible reduction or redirection of existing staff.

Meet Chris Dompert, Senior PICS Consultant

There are many consultants with hands-on experience with the software packages they implement. Others have a long history of industry experience. Others have an extensive background in technology & programming. Very few have all of these attributes—and that’s what makes Chris Dompert, a seven-year member of the PICS team, so unique.

Dompert began his career in the Electro-mechanical Engineering field for a data communications company and worked his way up to Manager of the Design Department. When the company needed to implement new technology to improve operations, Dompert developed systems for engineering, document management, bills of materials, purchasing and inventory control. Soon afterward, he became MIS manager and began working with QAD software, implementing the system through the company’s data communications, musical instruments and contract manufacturing divisions.

After that project was done, Dompert realized he found his niche. “I began looking to transition to an ERP implementation consulting career,” he says. Fortunately, he found PICS. Since beginning his PICS career, Dompert has led well over a dozen implementations, many of which have been extensive and complex.

Dompert’s value as a consultant lies in his experience. “I’ve been doing implementations most of my adult career,” he says. Because of his extensive experience in engineering, distribution and manufacturing, he can easily relate to the people with whom he works. Dompert says that he shares these characteristics with other members of the PICS team: “What differentiates us from people working at other service companies is our depth of knowledge and capabilities,” he says. “Most of us have worked in the manufacturing industry as QAD users and have strong management, application and technical skills.”

Q and A with Chris Dompert

Q: What advice would you offer clients facing a big project?
A: “It’s all about the team. No project is a success because of a single individual. When starting a project, enlist the strongest team members you can find and ensure they can be 100-percent dedicated to the project. Poor utilization of project resources can be the biggest obstacle to success and is very costly.”

Q: Do you have any suggestions for people assembling a team to handle a project?
A: “You need a good project manager. Project management often comes with a lot of responsibility and very little authority. For this reason, the project manager needs to have strong people skills and the ability to motivate people to work toward a common goal. You also need top management support and an active steering committee. They need to be more than talking heads or boxes on an organizational chart.”