CASE
STUDY
Complete ERP for the Heavy Equipment Dealerships
by
Complete ERP system for the Heavy Equipment Dealerships
based on Microsoft Dynamics AX
Huntraco Ltd. is a privately-owned market leader in the heavy equipment industry in Hungary. They are the exclusive dealer and distributor for Caterpillar equipment in Hungary, Challenger agricultural equipment and other major heavy machinery brands. Additionally, they provide exceptional service, parts and rental solutions to their customer base. As the company developed and grew its independent divisions, they acquired and developed their own information systems and solutions which needed
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Business Challenges
Like all companies, Huntraco has a diversified customer base leading to different business processes and requirements. For example, the Sales Division sells approximately 300 new pieces of equipment -per year, while the Parts Division has thousands of customers, maintains inventory in excess of 50,000
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to 60,000 parts, ranging in price from a few cents to thousands of dollars. Because of this, each Division was forced to maintain different systems and processes to manage their respective businesses.
In 2003 the company leadership made a business decision to move to a completely integrated ERP system. The owners granted the management the right to investigate many ERP systems that met the requirements. One requirement was that the new system should be a long term solution for
the company, while another was that the fixed budget for the project should not be exceeded. From 15 vendors in the initial RFP process, Huntraco finalized this to 4 vendors who eventually conducted demonstrations of their solutions.The management invited users of every Division
to participate and have an active role in the selection process. Management’s decision was based on the users feedback as well as how the ERP systems features matched to Huntraco’s requirements and existing processes.
The management eventually selected Microsoft Dynamics AX because its ability to accommodate the company’s complex procedures with ease with the least amount of compromises.
Other ERP systems could not come close to matching this.
„Two years after going live with Dynamics AX we are quite satisfied with the system and I know that we achieved our main objective set out by our investors. We have a long term solution for all of our systems and processes, and we did this without exceeding our original budget. We made the XAPT consultants work very hard but the results speak for themselves. I can
wholeheartedly recommend the solutions that were developed for us to other Caterpillar dealers. The system fulfilled all of our hopes and one of the strongest benefits of the new system is that it forces us to follow our own procedures and require us to « keep the order ».“
Győző Barczi, IT Director Huntraco
Solution
Huntraco has implemented many modules in their new Dynamics AX system. In addition to Financials, the following modules are being used: Sales, Purchasing, Logistics, Parts Retail, Service, Rental,
HR Management, Project Management, CRM and Business Intelligence. Naturally, certain
customizations have been made to meet company-specific requirements of Huntraco’s divisions. Huntraco’s management understood that their requirements were unique and would provide a great challenge to the new ERP system and XAPT’s team. After signing the contract in early 2004, the first phase of the implementation was to be based on Huntraco’s BPR (Business Process Reengineering) results. Even with the BPR project results in place, a large number of customizations and development were needed to meet all of their needs. Consolidation of data migration took weeks as it was a major challenge, representing different data formats and practices. This process is not unique as most companies face this challenge. Despite the challenge for XAPT’s consultants, the go-live date of
January 1, 2005 was successfully met for all departments except Service, which went live 3 months later. All departments now utilize the new system and results have been significant.
Benefits & Results
- Inventory Management and Master planning according to Caterpillar standards.
- Machinery database – Track key information during the life time of equipment to facilitate - Completely integrated sales flow from first contact to closing a new deal or reselling - Remote “travelling” sales person connected to the system on-line.
- Service management, worksheet management, guarantee/warranty management. - Handling for rental of heavy machinery.
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XAPT put great emphasis on training to ensure that the system was effectively used from day one. Key users were trained by an XAPT trainer and they then trained other Huntraco users. Today, out of 200 employees, 130 use the AX system regularly, and it is not uncommon to see users working in the system during late nights from home, doing research or entering data.
- Project management, project accounting. buyback operations and parts supply. (sales pipeline).
Overview
Complete ERP system for the Heavy Equipment Dealerships based on Microsoft Dynamics AX
Country
Hungary
Type of Business
Heavy equipment industry
Customer Pr
ofile
Huntraco Ltd. was established in 1991 and headquartered near Budapest, Hungary. They currently have over 200 employees in its headquarters and 7 dealerships
Business Situation
With a centralised accounting system, the independent divisions introduced software solutions
for their specific needs, and company management lacked unified and up to date information.
It was a strategic decision to implement an integrated system with one database, one business logic,
Solution
The new Dynamics AX-based ERP system went live on January 1st 2005. The new system
integrates all administrative, sales and finance operations of the company into one
Result
Because Dynamics AX is an integrated ERP system built on easy-to-manage architecture, Huntraco’s processes are well organized and easy to observe. It has greatly improved
Implemented Solutions
Microsoft Dynamics AX
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across Hungary. The company’s main business is the sales, rental and maintenance of Caterpillar and Challenger heavy equipment. Huntraco’s annual sales exceeded
USD $60 Million making them the market leader in Hungary.
one toolbox to handle all business processes in all divisions, based on the result of the previous BPR – Business Process Reengineering – project.
unified system, providing up-to-date detailed information for all users.
the flow of information between departments and increased the quality and quantity of
