The outdated database structure of Lithographics’ previous software system made it extremely difficult to generate reports unique to their business and required 20-25 hours a month to manage for their IT department.
Since implementing CRC, Lithographics has been able to utilize Crystal Reports® in conjunction with the open database to significantly reduce the time spent generating custom reports. Overall business management software expenses have also been dramatically reduced. “Monthly maintenance and support has been reduced by 60%, overall operating costs reduced by 40%, and the amount of IT hours reduced by 80%. In the IT area alone, we have saved over $50,000 annually,” noted Schuld.
CRC has numerous features built in to help ensure ease-of-use, and CRC’s workflow menu structure is designed to show end users how information flows from module to module. “Efficiency is everything in manufacturing. CRC’s user interface is far superior to its competitors. Our shop floor employees seamlessly transitioned to CRC. We feel that this ease of operation will provide more accurate entries, which will give us better information for job costing analysis. CRC reports estimated vs. actual costs in a clear and concise manner. We are in the initial stages of using this information to evaluate our standards and feel this will translate into greater overall efficiency from estimating through production,” remarked Lithographics Special Project & Marketing Manager Cindy Tanley.
CRC has also helped streamline and improve control of Lithographics inventory. “Physical inventory is no longer necessary at the end of the month, and CRC is providing accurate reporting with minimal administrative responsibilities,” said Tanley.
Lithographics accounting department has also benefited from the amount of control, level of detail, and efficient workflows provided by CRC. “Our purchasing and vendor invoicing reconciliations have been the most improved area since the implementation of the software. This is the first time we are able to track the actual invoice to a purchase order and know that a vendor’s invoice is what has been quoted. We produce over 650 purchase orders a month, with many of those purchase orders having several invoices from vendors. In fact, our accounts payable staff is able to perform all activities in much less time than with our previous system, and we have been able to reduce our accounting staff by 30%,” commented Schuld.
