Chemical Industry Case Study – IRMCO

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Chemicals

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing

Use Cases

Manufacturing System Automation
Inventory Management

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

The Challenge

IRMCO, a manufacturer of water-based, environmentally friendly lubricant technologies for the metal-forming industry, was previously utilizing a discrete manufacturing ERP system. The system was not a proper fit for their process manufacturing business and it wasn’t going to be supported in the future. This compelled IRMCO to research a new ERP solution. The company needed a system that could easily and efficiently track its inventory levels in a real-time environment. They also wanted to streamline their processes, reduce operational costs, and eliminate dual recording of a majority of their inventory transactions.

About The Customer

IRMCO, established in 1914, is a manufacturer of water-based, environmentally friendly lubricant technologies for the metal-forming industry. IRMCO GEL® was the first water-based gel product for tube bending. IRMCO FLUIDS are a wave of new products spawned from the original Non-Oil Fluids, including IRMCO FLUIDS HIGH STRENGTH FORMULA, a high performance chemistry engineered to control the high heat and friction generated from the new demands of advanced and ultra high strength steel forming.

The Solution

IRMCO decided to implement ProcessPro, a fully integrated and industry specific ERP solution that strongly matched their company’s business operations and objectives. ProcessPro has enabled IRMCO to eliminate manual errors, streamline their business processes and focus on its core business activities with confidence that their decisions are based on accurate information. The implementation of ProcessPro’s ERP solution was completed in February 2013, which included an aggressive timeline for completion. The system was user-friendly and required no major modifications, making the transition for the staff painless.

Operational Impact

ProcessPro has provided the ability to observe IRMCO’s manufacturing process across the board, they have access to live inventory updates and on-hand, allocated and projected inventory levels by combining batch tickets, sales orders, purchase orders and current inventory levels.
IRMCO has been able to streamline their processes and reduce operational costs. They’ve eliminated dual recording of a majority of their inventory transactions, cut down on paperwork clutter and removed the frustration of delayed data at month’s end closeouts.
ProcessPro provided a system that IRMCO could use out of the box without major modifications. Initially they were also concerned about the “user friendly” capabilities of ProcessPro, as they kept in mind that their staff would need to adjust to the change. IRMCO’s staff has been pleased with the painless transition, accessibility of support staff and the Docs on Disk series that allows a user to view solutions while working in the system.