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Deerfield,
IL, April 21, 2004 -- Award winning factory design and state-of-the-art
manufacturing throughout its assembly plants has earned Crystal
Window & Door Systems, Ltd., Queens, NY, a reputation as one
of the most innovative names in the window and door industry. Domestically
and internationally marketed, Crystal manufactures a full product
line of quality, energy efficient vinyl windows for replacement
and new construction, aluminum windows for light and heavy commercial
applications, and steel and fiberglass entrance doors for residential
and commercial use, with support from branch offices and affiliated
companies located within the Northeastern and Midwestern states.
Crystal has dedicated the last two years
to improving processes in every facet of the organization,
to preserve its reputation and measurably increase internal
efficiency and sales profitability. The foundation for
building on its strengths has been rooted in the company’s
adoption of a technology solution designed to handle
the select needs of the window and door industry.
Looking back a few years, the Director
of M.I.S. at Crystal, Mason Wang, conducted painstaking
research into potential technology solutions. He explains,
“After honing in on the options for industrial-strength
AS/400®-based enterprise software, we looked inside
the window and door industry to see if any solution dominated
the marketplace. Friedman Corporation was providing multi-plant
manufacturers with a configuration-based solution called
Frontier® that integrated every discipline within
the organization. That was the direction we wanted to
take.”
Wang took time to interface with Friedman
customers and learn about both the product’s strengths
and the company’s philosophy. I walked away with
the impression that communication between customers and
Friedman consultants was entrenched in the software development
process. Friedman consultants have real world experience
in the window and door industry, so they know the business
improvements we are striving to achieve.”
Wang experienced firsthand the resourcefulness of Friedman
consultants during implementation of the Frontier software
at Crystal’s two manufacturing sites and nine connected
branch offices. With the system going live, Crystal applied
a tremendous level of process improvement in all areas
of the organization. Wang says, “Every software
implementation will have its share of challenges. To
meet the challenges we set up local user support teams
for each department that worked with on-site Friedman
consultants. All of the old manual processes were automated
and, for every critical business function, we addressed
and improved process issues. In fact, new business issues
were identified and new policies and procedures put in
place to help streamline certain departments.”
Wang says, “The Frontier configurator [nucleus
of the software] is a powerful tool for depositing all
information relating to a product: pricing tables, product
specifications, bill of materials, inventory requirements
– everything at the front end, including price
matrices and pricing calculations, through the back end
– such as information relating to MRP set up.”
The configurator speeds up Crystal’s order processing,
promoting efficiency within the Order Entry department.
Frontier gives workers more capacity to maintain and
edit data on the shop floor, simplifying the assembly
of windows and doors. As a result, Crystal has better
control over the entire production cycle.
Wang says, “The system forced us to build internal
processes for requirements such as inventory cycle count
and internal audits. We can conduct useful analysis using
inventory data such as costing and comparing what is
spend by month/quarter/year and find ways to reduce the
cost and level of inventory.”
The software’s flexibility allows for integration
among the various Crystal departments. Every department
and discipline can use it – from sales analysis,
financial reporting, and inventory data reporting, to
the decision makers, management team, and purchasing
department – and customize the output of data for
their own reporting requirements.”
For a fast growing company like Crystal, one of the pinnacles
of the Frontier database is access to information for
making intelligent product and business decisions. According
to Wang, “In the big picture, data from Frontier
helps us project profit margins for new products we introduce
because the system provides such accurate costing information
for existing products. It also helps smooth our cash
flow because we have detailed data on incoming orders
for the next month, quarter, and beyond, so we know how
much inventory to buy. We save money because Frontier
gives us better leverage to negotiate purchase orders.”
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