“Together with COSMO CONSULT, we have managed to make central processes in all areas of the company more efficient. The low level of customization we needed is confirmation that we have the right partner and consultant."
Lucas Lurger, Project Manager at Qness GmbH
Qness GmbH develops solutions for hardness testing and metallography. For more than five years, the company worked with Sage's business software, which had limitations in the area of production. Existing deficiencies in material purchasing, production calculation and production planning could only be remedied by using external components. The manual effort in terms of information and coordination was thus relatively high. Because several applications were involved, timely production scheduling was not possible. Qness therefore decided to replace its heterogeneous IT infrastructure with a modern, integrated ERP system. The new software needed to be tailored to small series, discrete and project manufacturing. At the top of the wish list were more flexible production processes in order to be able to react more quickly to individual customer requirements and scheduling changes.
After extensive market research, Microsoft Dynamics NAV was chosen. The contract for implementation was awarded to the COSMO CONSULT Group, Europe's leading Microsoft Dynamics Partner. The software vendor complemented the ERP system with the industry solutioncc|industry for manufacturing companies. The product configurator developed by COSMO CONSULT has also been added. Using checklists and predefined rules, it leads step by step to the appropriate variant. A further additional module is used in the area of staff work time logging. It ensures that the data from the time logging terminals are transferred directly into Dynamics NAV and thus directly integrated into the payroll accounting system.
Although some special customization was necessary, the project team was able to implement the entire project in a short time. The the long-term updatability of the new software is also ensured. Qness thus benefits from a modern, future-proof solution that optimally supports its day-to-day business.
Today, Qness works with an effective mix of standard software and a few customer-specific adjustments. "Production worked from the very first day, so we immediately lowered our staff's workload. Naturally, something like that promotes user acceptance," says Lucas Lurger, project manager at Qness GmbH. He sees a further positive point in the open, modern technology of Dynamics NAV. "Relevant information from production is immediately available to all authorized persons. Central data storage is already a clear advance compared to what we used to have," said Lurger. Since all employees are working from the same information, errors are detected and corrected earlier. Improved production planning and optimized material purchasing ensure fast throughput times. At the same time, planning and production units do their work as part of an integrated process with identical data. Another advantage is the comfortable product configurator. It lets employees simply snap together the individual configuration of the test machines using checklists and parameters. Thanks to these improvements, there is more transparency in production planning, tangible cost savings along the value chain and optimized purchasing of materials.
Lucas Lurger is completely satisfied with the progress of the project: “Together with COSMO CONSULT, we have managed to make important processes in all areas of the company more efficient. We thus benefit from seamless workflows. Our employees appreciate the high level of user comfort. This shows us that we have chosen the right partner." For him, Dynamics NAV also makes the system future-proof to an extent: If the operational requirements change, new modules, functions or interfaces can be added flexibly. The software adapts to the company - and not vice versa.