“It had more of the features we were looking for, plus it was the most user friendly system”
– Karol Macolly, Vice President, Finance, WPI
The Company
World Precision Instruments (WPI) is a global leader in TEER measurement, nitric oxide sensing and other sophisticated instrumentation vital to physiological and medical research. The privately held company began operations in New Haven, Conn., in 1967 as a small manufacturer of amplifiers and stimulators for use in nerve, skin and muscle research. Growing worldwide demand led to the company’s 1990 move to larger facilities in Sarasota, Fla., and the subsequent establishment of offices in London, Berlin, Tokyo and Melbourne.
A majority of WPI’s sales is derived from trade shows and catalogs, the latest of which lists more than 1500 products, including data acquisition systems, digital cameras, glass capillaries, pre-pulled glass micropipettes, micro-syringe pumps, fiber optic spectrometers, micromanipulators, electrodes and more. The company’s newest products include a popular line of inexpensive micro-dissecting instruments, adjustable pipettes and binocular microscopes.
As a full-spectrum supplier of proprietary and standard instrumentation as well as associated “consumables,” WPI enjoys a distinct competitive advantage. The company is also renowned for its ability to fashion custom products to accommodate specific research needs. Customers include independent and “in-house” research labs, schools and hospitals.
The Challenge
Prior to 2002, WPI had been using a DOS-based ERP system, which, in fact, had been upgraded once. Explains Petra Adamson, IT Manager, “The system gave nothing back. In order to get information, you had to know the dictionary items and create the proper sentences. Individuals needing data from the system actually had to ask the IT department to get it.”
It became apparent that to accommodate growing sales and production, the company needed a new system. So, a software search was initiated in early 2000. According to Karol Macolly, Vice President, Finance, “To make the software selection a team effort we involved representatives from every department.”
The Solution
After a year of reviewing various software packages, the choice was SYSPRO Enterprise Software. “It had more of the features we were looking for, plus it was the most user friendly system,” says Macolly.
“As a full-spectrum supplier of proprietary and standard instrumentation as well as associated “consumables,” WPI enjoys a distinct competitive advantage. The company is also renowned for its ability to fashion custom products to accommodate specific research needs.”
