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“The implementation of Greenlight BTS's
aXTend
Shipper Integration will positively affect the company’s bottom line. We are seeing a streamlining of processes and
a reduction in errors and costs every day with our
new ability to fully track our freight in transit."
Jeff Johnson, Vice President, Operations and Service, Municipal Emergency Services, Inc.
Background
Municipal Emergency Services, Inc. (MES,) founded in 2001, is a nationwide distributor of firefighting, safety, and security products to
fire departments, municipalities, government, and the military.
The company represents over 200 manufacturers of
firefighting and safety equipment, including self-contained breathing apparatus,
personal protective equipment (PPE),
and specialty tools like the Jaws of Life
and thermal imaging systems.
Approximately 80% of MES's orders are
drop-shipped. In addition, the company operates 12 warehouses across the
country, with three primary distribution
hubs: Charlotte, NC; Houston, TX; Denver,
CO.
Situation
MES was already using Microsoft Dynamics AX as
its enterprise platform, but shipping functions were not integrated into
the system during the initial implementation. At
that time, each distribution center used an
independent, stand-alone version of the UPS WorldShip software.
The company was experiencing an
average return on shipping costs of only 70%, due primarily to a lack of up-to-date information
about the pricing procedures of their commissioned salespeople,
who would discount freight charges to close a sale,
but still receive full
commission on the sale.
To offer
direct sales online, MES was adding an
e-commerce website (MESFire.com) to its AX platform. A fully integrated shipping package
would maximize efficiency and help reduce
shipping costs.
Solution
After considerable research, MES Fire purchased the Ship Carrier Module for Dynamics AX 4,
(developed by NMB Solutions, original creators of this now standard feature in AX2009),
plus Greenlight's aXTend Ship Carrier add-on, which provides additional functionality
for integrating with FedEx Ship Manager and UPS Worldship.
"When we were ready to add a freight
module," stated Jeff Johnson, MES VP of Operations and Service,
"Greenlight BTS was
recommended to us by one of our shipping
managers, who did a rather extensive search
of companies that offered freight
integration solutions within the AX environment."
Some of the customizations MESFire
incorporated into their AX platform included:
- Shipping Integration module
(aXTend Ship Carrier)
- E-commerce Web module
- Credit card module
(from Red Maple)
- Fully-customized “Service” module designed specifically for
their unique service set-up:
- A network of more than 40 “mobile”
technicians work out of service trucks
across the country, each with a stock of
inventory.
- Entire network
to be integrated real-time into AX system to help improve inventory and other
issues.
Results
The 60-day implementation process was completed, on schedule,
with no
interruptions of service. "The implementation was rather seamless,"
Johnson added. "Greenlight BTS was able to
integrate the Ship Carrier Module and their aXTend Ship
Carrier add-on solution into our AX system
without any downtime, plus they ensured it
would be easily transferable should we ever
want to upgrade to a different version of AX
or add future customizations. We are
now seeing savings, even after just a few months of
operation."
MES still uses the UPS WorldShip software,
which is seamlessly connected to
Dynamics AX via the Ship Carrier module.
When activities are concluded in WorldShip
at the end of each day, updated
information is automatically passed into
the Dynamics AX platform.
Benefits
The speed of the system has allowed
MES to increase efficiency and
reduce its costs. With the shipping module’s
integration capabilities, the company has closed the 30% freight cost gap and now recoups a
significantly larger portion of
these costs.
"With our ability to fully track our
freight in transit, we are seeing a streamlining of processes
every day, as well as a reduction in errors and costs,"
Mr. Johnson said. "When we close our WorldShip program each day, the
updated information is automatically imported
onto the AX platform. Consequently, we are able to update customers’ information more quickly, and provide tracking details more easily. The integration is working extremely well."
With the addition of the new module,
MES can provide both its offline customers and
its online ecommerce customers with more complete shipping details,
including:
- Date product was shipped
- Real-time tracking of their
shipments
- Current location
- Shipment's ETA
- Automatic email notification of
confirmed shipments, with links to the online tracking information.
Greenlight’s aXTend modules have a flexible
and scalable architecture that will allow
the company to easily unplug the modules and reapply
them to any future upgrades of the AX platform.
"We had a very good experience with Greenlight. We would certainly give
them additional work in the future should we need it,"
Mr. Johnson concluded.
For a free consultation regarding your
shipping integration needs, call us at
888-580-0746, or
send us an email.
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