Enabling Technology
Challenge
Specific and unique customer demands and on-time, complete shipments are crucial to Clean Control’s success. Since 2011, it has relied on Microsoft Dynamics NAV; however, the initial launch was difficult.
Pam recalls how high turnover at the company’s partner slowed down the process and hurt the user adoption rate. Although Clean Control went with Dynamics NAV to eliminate many of its manual processes, it was unable to fully transition to companywide scanning and barcoding during its early days with the system.
To find a solution, Pam started looking for a new partner, and her involvement with NAVUG allowed her many opportunities to interact with potential candidates. She recalls that Innovia Consulting made her list early on because it was so visible at these events. She always saw Innovia’s consultants giving training classes and investing in the user group community.
Although the company initially went with another partner, Pam recalls two instances where Innovia impressed her enough to earn her business.
- Firstly, at one user group event, she had a long conversation with Donavan Lane, Innovia’s founder. Both Donavan and a few other members of the team wasted no time following up, and she recalled thinking, “They aren’t just talk; they actually follow through.”
- The second event was a panel with several partners answering questions that users posed. She was more impressed with Innovia’s answers than any of the others.
These two interactions, as well as Innovia’s reputation for training users, led her to make the switch.
Revolutionizing the Warehouse
One of the critical first steps for Innovia Consulting was to help Clean Control establish its warehousing process. The team needed to start barcoding and scanning to keep up with business and allow other parts of the company to work efficiently.
Ironically, Innovia first recognized that the system Clean Control implemented with its previous partner was not working. The Innovia team advised Pam to step back, go back to the old process for a short time, regroup, and then deploy the right one.
Pam appreciated Innovia’s willingness to offer this kind of strategic advice. Her previous partner always asked, “What do you want to do?” and then did it. Recognizing that she “does not know what she does not know,” she wanted a partner that would offer advice on what should be done, and with Innovia, she found that partner.
After working out the bugs Clean Control experienced with its first warehouse deployment, the new implementation went well. Between Innovia’s expertise and the addition of key add-ons from Insight Works (including its Mobile Warehouse Management solution), Clean Control finally had the system and processes it needed. Pam summarizes the results by saying:
The mixing department is scanning now; they weren’t before. The shipping team is scanning now; they weren’t before. Small pack is scanning, they weren’t before. All this makes us more efficient at getting things out the door! And that’s how we get paid.
Where before items might not show as available to ship until the end of the day, they now appeared in the system in real-time. This efficiency was a game-changer for Clean Control!
A Partner Who Is Willing to Challenge the Process
One of the things Pam appreciates about Innovia Consulting’s team is that they never simply “go along” with everything she says. Often, when she shares a current process, Innovia consultants ask, “Why do you do it that way?”
In one instance, the shipping team was applying a lot number of 11 zeros to all finished goods. When Innovia asked why, Pam explained that her previous partner told her that if they ever chose to implement an automated lot control system, they needed to already be doing this. Innovia’s team assured her that they could remove this step without consequence; they could start again once they could automate the process. Removing that single step saved time across many departments, including shipping, output, and accounting.
Equipped for 2020 ... and Beyond!
More recently, Clean Control found a way to work more efficiently while COVID-19-related demand was skyrocketing. The chemists created a pre-blend formula as a quicker alternate recipe, but they could not change production orders in the system if they needed to swap recipes due to changing supply.
John Grant from Innovia Consulting walked them through how they could do this step-by-step via screen share. Pam was thrilled with the result and notes how one of the things she appreciates most about Innovia is the team’s willingness to train customers on the system.
Today, Pam is planning for Clean Control’s upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS. Because of the relationship she has built with Innovia’s team, she is confident that this move will bring even more efficiency (and new flexibility) to the company.
