CASE STUDIES

A logistics company needed to integrate their live IBMi production freight data to an external transportation management system (TMS) database for daily load planning. M.A.P. worked with the IT department to establish requirements. M.A.P. designed a solution using ODBC. We configured the automated data extractions and established the ODBC connections for transfers of live production data to the client’s in-house TMS.

Our manufacturing client needed an inventory planning tool to better budget and manage safety stock, take advantage of bulk shipping and plan ahead using ‘what-if’ scenarios. The client had a further need to prioritize any order and contain the risk of impacting pre-existing customer orders. M.A.P. Worked with the business MRP team to learn the requirements and create a solutions proposal. M.A.P. developed an MS Excel tool in VBA that uses IBMi data from their ERP system that is refreshed on demand. The tool allows the client to promote a greater number of new orders with the certainty they are able to fulfill their clients’ requirements within promised time frames.

The Expediting Tool takes into consideration all work in progress, stock levels, and lead times to inform the Production Manager how long will it take to produce a certain product and how to soon it is possible to expedite the production order without consuming inventory already allocated to other customer orders. These valuable tools are giving this company the inventory and production planning insight they need to confidently grow their business and meet their revenue goals.

Some of our wholesale distribution and 3PL clients have migrated some or all of their IBMi or AS400 or System 36 applications to commercial ERP software packages. M.A.P. worked with the IT department who provided the file names and CSV data specifications. M.A.P. performed the master and transactional data extractions needed for these conversions. Most of these projects require significant testing and repetitive extractions prior to moving to a live production environment. We set up the structure for the extractions and routines to run them on command, giving the client the flexibility they need to repetitively test their new applications and comfortably move to their new ERP on go-live day.

We occasionally receive that difficult call detailing a systems crash or partial data loss. As companies trim staff, proper care of critical systems is occasionally overlooked. M.A.P. has stepped in to minimize those losses for several customers over the last few years. Some of these cases resulted from the lack of available disk space or disk failures and inadequate backup procedures.

M.A.P. provided services to restore the system. Next, we provided an assessment of their existing hardware and software followed by a recommendation of improvements following the latest IBM guidelines.  

A “last-mile” delivery company needed to initiate EDI to comply with a key customer’s requirements. In addition to satisfying their customer, they wanted to avoid VAN and 3rd party transaction fees. M.A.P. reviewed the client EDI processes with their business supply chain team. We provided a solutions proposal for custom development to create and transmit multiple document types that accommodate the client’s incoming and outgoing transactions. As a result, the client can take on additional business they had not considered before initiating EDI.

A 3PL customer needed to enhance their WMS to process full pallet orders in and out of their warehouse facility. The customer was building a new client base that needed to ship full pallet freight into our 3PL customer’s regional facilities for further delivery to end destinations. M.A.P. worked with the business team to document their requirements. After approval of our proposal for a custom solution, we built the custom RPG & SQL programs to accommodate inbound receiving, storing and subsequent retrieval, staging, and loading using RF technology. The software provided queries, reports, delivery documentation, TMS interface and freight billing to complete the application requirements and enable our customer to grow this segment of the business.