• York Romania

York Romania needed an enterprise solution that would facilitate communication between departments and streamline processes, and turned to Epicor iScala.

Epicor iScala was initially chosen as a business solution to meet the company’s head office reporting needs.  The implementation of the system started in 1998 with iScala financial modules and was completed step by step, following the Signature implementation methodology, finishing with a parallel run with the old system for three months to ensure the integrity of the data. Developed, improved and proven over thousands of projects using hundreds of consultants, Signature enables Epicor Scala to deliver efficient, effective and well-managed projects for every client, consistently, wherever they are in the world.

At the start of 1999, the old system was finally abandoned and iScala went live.  By the end of 2000, following the same rigorous implementation standards the iScala Logistic and the Project Management modules were also working live.

The system consists of three companies, the first is the statutory requirements with two for external reporting, the data being converted automatically first from Lei to the currency used for reporting in the second company, and then translated from the Romanian chart of accounts to the G.A.A.P. chart of accounts in the third company.

The external reports are quite different from the local standards and require many adjustments - that’s why the consolidation characteristic of the system was important.  York chose to use the Periodic consolidation features of iScala to meet their corporate requirements using internal group exchange rate.  iScala multi-currency handles deals with an array of international internal group suppliers and helps with worldwide consolidation and elimination of intra-group, non-realized profit.

According to Stela Tulpan, financial director for York Romania, before starting such an implementation you should understand very well your information needs.

The organization of the information flow in the company has to be well designed, such a system will help to eliminate the waste and inaccuracies in information processing.

What use to be the sole responsibility of each person became a team responsibility.  We have a young, dynamic team that has embraced the system, said Tulpan.

By using Epicor iScala each project can be followed with their associated costs, stock and project teams.  The flexible reporting helps with analysis and reporting of project performance.  Contracts, services, invoices all is interdependent.  The system demands a certain discipline, and the communication between departments is essential.

Tulpan continued, Having so far integrated the York business cycle from contract through the project management to invoicing and stock management team, we look forward to the next stage when the system goes virtual allowing the staff out in the field to access critical data live over the Internet.

The collaboration with iScala specialists was remarkably good.  There is a certain connection between the consultant that implemented the system and the company, in a way that he gets to know the particularities, procedures, work methodology of the customer and therefore rapidly finds a solution to any changes in activity that may occur.

About York Romania - York is a heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment producer for both domestic and industrial use.  York is the largest independent supplier for these products in the United States and a leader in the industry internationally.  The company has grown to over 25,000 employees in 54 countries.  With 42 factories around the world, its products are now sold in more than 100 countries. Following a feasibility study of the market here, York opened its first Romanian office in March 1994.  A direct subsidiary of the U.S. parent, York Romania now has over 50 employees

• Electrolux

Global home appliance giant relies on Scala to manage their local business processes

Electrolux in the Czech Republic is one of the numerous subsidiaries of Electrolux AB Stockholm, a Swedish enterprise that has a network of operations in almost every country worldwide. The Electrolux trademark represents a very popular and well-known brand of products, primarily home appliances. In 1991, after a rather lengthy 60-year pause, Electrolux returned to the Czech Republic and revived its position on the Czech market. The company, originally known as the leading supplier of vacuum cleaners, became the distributor of a wide range of products – including home appliances (white goods) by Zanussi, AEG; machines and other equipment for use in forests, parks and gardens (marketed by Husqvarna) for example Flymo, Partner, Husqvarna, and Jonsered – within a short space of time.

The company is also a major supplier of technical equipment, such as laundry systems and kitchen appliances. In addition, it provides services for most of its product lines. For a number of years some of Electrolux‘s offices in Sweden have already been using Scala’s software, and the strategic decision was therefore made also to implement the system in the newly formed subsidiaries across the Eastern European region.

Low total cost of ownership and an open architecture

Peter Culleton, International Business Systems Manager for Electrolux Home Appliances (EHP) Europe has been involved in several Scala installations. He comments about the benefits they have seen from using Scala: “The ability to roll Scala out from existing sites, all the while adapting to all local legal requirements, permits us in Electrolux to keep our overall total cost of ownership (TCO) i.e. the real total cost of an implementation, much lower than any other competing software in its grade, and this complements our use of JDEdwards in larger Electrolux sites. It is because of this low TCO that Electrolux uses Scala over many sectors, not just home appliances, in many countries around the world.”

Culleton explains that Scala’s open architecture has permitted EHP easily to integrate to and from other applications such as Copics, EFS and EPS, among others. “By permitting a more fluid work flow and better management of sales order processing, credit management, sales analysis and Group reporting – to name just a few – we are able to concentrate our efforts where our expertise is, that is, in serving our customers in the marketplace,” he says.

It remains essential to Culleton that Scala is the software Electrolux uses for its business processes. He continues, “This is what I like most about the use of Scala – it is flexible, adaptable to a changing marketplace, ‘parameterisable’ in the jargon – all the while adapting to our business requirements and our improving knowledge of the needs of our customers. Scala software adapts to us, by design, and we do not have to adapt to the limitations of any existing technology. The market can change quickly. We may change our market focus. A good software solution follows our changes straight away. That is scalability.”

Progressive, fast-growing in the Czech Republic

Electrolux has four divisions in the Czech Republic and these divisions have been using Scala’s software since the start of their business operations. The four divisions are:

• Home Appliances
• Commercial Appliances
• Holding Husqvarna

In just a few years, Electrolux has become a fast-progressing business. From the initial standard Scala installation for four users, which consisted of the essential financial and logistic processes only, the system has now been expanded into a fully-fledged ERP solution covering almost all available processes, better to suit the demands of a growing company. Today Electrolux uses extended logistics functionality (for processes such as order consolidation, product structures, batch tracing, and serial number monitoring), service management processes, the marketing database, and the third party Crystal Reports report generator from Crystal Decisions.

The Husqvarna division uses a very similar configuration. “We entered the Czech market for the second time in June 1991, and I had the pleasure to be there – as one of the first six employees,“ says Petr Novotný, General Manager, Electrolux Home Appliances.

Currently, the company has over 140 employees and 50 of those work actively with the Scala system. The company pays attention not only to expanding and improving its marketing and service activities, but it also takes care in maintaining its hardware and software equipment to the best possible level. This approach is apparent, as both Electrolux and Husqvarna use the latest Scala version on the latest Microsoft SQL platform.

The complete business management system

Electrolux has been using Scala’s software since the time it stepped into the Czech Republic more than ten years ago. During this period, the company never considered replacing the originally implemented system for a brand new solution. According to Mrs. Dagmar Koprivova, Electrolux Financial Manager, their Scala system works at a level (and employees master all its functions and benefits) to the extent that the subsidiary is viewed by other countries in the Group as an example of a well-functioning work centre.

“Scala is a multifaceted system that contains interconnected processes. From the user’s point of view, what I especially like about the system is the possibility to enter data in a single run and have them transcripted into other processes without the need to enter the same data repeatedly“, she says. “We work with Scala intensively and we have already installed all processes and we know how to use them, therefore we are probably one of the most advanced divisions in the Group, and our counterparts from other countries visit us to share our experience.“ Mrs. Koprivova adds that it would be very difficult to decide which one of the processes is the most important for the company. “All processes play an important part and we use all of them.“ Generally speaking, Electrolux views Scala as a completely integrated solution.

In the area of financial and resource management, the company has installed all available processes to help manage its business operations – cash flow monitoring (including automated bank operations), fixed assets management, standard reporting and generation of customized reports, monitoring accounts payable and receivable while using an automatic function for creating reminders for debtors. The company generates reports in the third party product Crystal Reports from Crystal Decisions. In the logistics area, the company staff make the best of the advantages offered by the Scala system; in addition to its standard functionality, the system provides extended possibilities by adding order consolidation, product structures, batch tracing and statistics. In order to improve its services, the company enhanced the general system solution by adding service management processes, including serial number file and service statistics.

Husqvarna division

Husqvarna sales points are deployed all over the Czech Republic. Currently, the division employs about 30 people of whom more than 20 work with Scala software. Until 1997, the company used a heavily tailored software package in FoxPro to control its business activities. At that time, the system suited Husqvarna‘s requirements, however, a strategic decision was taken in the headquarters (for the purpose of compatibility with other Group countries) to replace the system with Scala. “At that time, the software was closely tailored to meet our needs and we could even determine how it was going to function – unlike Scala, which contains standardized processes and does not offer large possibilities to modify its functionality,“ says Richard Kahl, Husqvarna’s IT manager and Scala implementation project manager at that time.

Kahl adds, “Finally, we understood that it all depended on changing the approach to routine work and adopting new working methods. We are now able to recognize many of the advantages the system offers. The most significant move was converting to the Microsoft SQL platform which provides us with a wide range of possibilities, especially in terms of reporting and database access – on a much higher level compared to the platform we originally used.“ In addition, he also mentions the cooperation with the local Scala team. “Gradually, we have developed a very close working relationship. In practice it means we can just make a call and in a short time everything gets resolved.“

Positive feedback

Electrolux generates about 8000 invoices per month and the system is used almost constantly by 50 users, therefore the reliability and security of Scala is one of the most important issues. The divisions have expressed their satisfaction with Scala, especially for the advantage of ensuring access to real-time information for all employees in different divisions, and for providing excellent conditions for creating user-specific as well as complex reports which can be efficiently used by regular users and managers.