Nelson implemented SYSPRO’s Product Configurator, gaining control over sales orders and inventory with real-time accuracy
Customer Profile
Established in 1994, Nelson Australia is a subsidiary of Nelson Irrigation Corporation in the USA, and a leading distributor of technologically-advanced irrigation equipment in the Australian and Asia Pacific markets. With offices in Brisbane and Perth, the company boasts an international reputation for providing efficient, sustainable and dependable irrigation equipment to the agriculture, landscape, golf and mining industries through a network of qualified dealers.
The Business Challenge
Nelson Australia has been running its operations on SYSPRO Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software since its implementation by ProActive Integrators in 2004. In 2006, Nelson implemented SYSPRO’s Product Configurator, gaining control over sales orders and inventory with real-time accuracy. In 2009, one of Nelson’s largest customers, Reece Australia, with more than 200 retail branches, made integration into its Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system mandatory for all its suppliers.
The Solution
ProActive Integrators developed and implemented a custom-built EDI application that polls Reece’s EDI system for all Nelson’s inbound sales orders. If a sales order document is found, the application downloads it, creates a transaction log, and converts the document to XML format using SYSPRO’s auto-import tool, the Document Flow Manager (DFM).
The Outcome
Willem Meyer, Nelson’s Chief Finance & Operations Officer, says the project was an unqualified success. “Once integrated with Reece Australia’s EDI, our new application auto-imported sales orders into SYSPRO and sent a notification to the relevant employee at Nelson as well as to Reece to acknowledge receipt of the order,” he says.
“When the goods in question were shipped, the application sent an automatic invoice to Reece via EDI. By automating the sales order and invoicing processes we eliminated an enormous amount of paper shuffling and minimized the errors that inevitably crop up during data entry. This represented a substantial reduction in labor, increased the quality of our financial data, and allowed us to improve our service levels to a very important customer.”
“We have rid the sales process of paper, streamlined our sales reps’ activities, and received very positive feedback from employees and customers. Going forward, we are very confident that we can plan our future automation projects with SYSPRO.”
– Willem Meyer, Nelson Australia, Chief Finance & Operations Officer
