Eagle Foundry Co. has been providing quality castings since 1974. The foundry specializes in abrasion, impact, and wear-resistant cast iron and manganese steels as well as mild and low alloy steels and heat-resistant stainless steels.
With designs provided by its customers, Eagle Foundry Co. builds wood and plastic patterns for molds. The company stores 5000 patterns on-site and 1500 can be active at any given time. The molds are made with a special type of sand and then they go to the pouring floor where four furnaces heat alloys as high as 2800 degrees. After a casting cools, the mold is broken open and the final product is removed and taken to the grinding room where workers smooth down any rough edges. Finished castings range from one to 1500 pounds.
The problem:
In 1998, Eagle Foundry Co. was looking for software to replace the various systems they were using for different areas of the business. After speaking with MASI clients Durametal Corporation and LaGrand Industrial Supply Co., Doug Postlewaite, Chief Financial Officer of Eagle Foundry Co., contacted MASI.
The solution: Navision from Microsoft and MicroAccounting Systems
"We've been very happy with Navision," said Doug. "We were looking for a system that adapted to us, so we didn't have to adapt our business to it. We found that in Navision. We use the Navision location code to track a product through the different stages of our manufacturing process. This works well for us and we didn't have to adapt a complicated process."
Doug puts together reports from the standard Navision software to see orders, schedules, and job status. "We don't need a bill of materials for parts, our product is a piece of metal," said Doug. "I like the reporting and the convenience of being able to customize the reports myself. The other day, I put the country code at the beginning of our order form to make it easier for our order entry staff and Canadian customers."
"Navision Payroll has saved me lots of time with payroll accruals. Now, I just punch a button and it's done! It's saved me hours per month as it allocates payroll accruals to the appropriate departments," said Doug. "We're also using laser printing for checks and that works well."
Glenn Doering, Human Resources Manager of Eagle Foundry Co., said, "Navision is so much easier to use and less time consuming than our previous system. It interfaces with our time keeping system and it's easy to transfer data. The reports are good too!"
Other features of Navision continue to impress Doug. "It's a very smooth transition from month-to-month. Closing happens once a year and we can still make entries in the prior year if necessary. The drill down feature is also very helpful. It's very easy to see items that may need adjustments by viewing several months at a time, or looking at entries on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The drill down and on-screen viewing allow me to see adjustments immediately without wading through a printout or report," stated Doug.
Eagle Foundry Co. has dealers across the nation and three in-house salespeople who sell products throughout the U.S. and Canada. "The salespeople really like the information they can get out of the system," added Doug.
Ken Tallent, Eagle Foundry Co. Owner and Chairman of the Board, concluded, "Navision works great! It's easy for me to get around in and since I'm not very computer savvy, that says a lot! I can view reports weekly instead of monthly and we can modify reports as necessary. It really helps with analysis."