Centric

The Business Need

Our client was preparing to embark on a journey that would dramatically transform the way they do business; implementing an ERP solution. Although they had selected a packaged solution to replace several stand-alone systems, they had not finalized the implementation team. Our client recognized they lacked deep ERP project management experience in the form of a project advisor. This 30-person company was making a significant investment, and desperately needed to recognize the benefits of the new system as quickly as possible to justify the business case ROI.   
 

The Right Skills

Because the ERP package was specialized for job shops, the project would be unique and challenging. Centric’s senior PM on the project assisted in all aspects of the implementation lifecycle, from planning to post production support, with ongoing periodic enhancements to the original solution. In a six-month period of time, Centric helped this client transition all order to cash, production, procurement, financials, and attendance processes, while consolidating all respective systems. 

Targeted Improvements

The client selected JobBOSS as the preferred packaged solution due to its advanced job scheduling functionality. One objective of this project was to leverage the integrated material and services planning capabilities to more effectively source materials and services for JIT job demands. In addition, it was essential to optimize capacity planning and leveling across work centers, while rolling up labor, material, and services job costs. Some examples of how Centric assisted in achieving business imperatives include:

• Centric developed and provided oversight of the implementation and cut-over strategy, which required a balance between hitting project milestones and meeting operational demands placed on internal client resources. 
• Centric facilitated system and process design workshops to bring the business solution in line with the sponsor’s holistic view of how the new system capabilities could open up a competitive advantage over other metal fabricators.
• Centric coordinated system configuration and custom application design when the project faced a relatively unstructured vendor approach to leading these initiatives.
• Centric was able to accelerate the implementation by transitioning to more of a “hands on” role at critical times over the course of the project.
• Centric continues to support ongoing process improvement efforts in an advisory capacity, and anticipates similar involvement in a subsequent deployment at their Tennessee facility.

Results

Centric has successfully assisted an entrepreneurial emerging company with an effort that should prove to differentiate them as a leader in their market space. The project completed on time and under budget.