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Founded in 1979, Hospital Food Services Ontario, Inc. (HFS) was
created to provide a complement of food products and services to
hospitals in the Ottawa region. Since then, HFS has grown to
service over 130 clients, including hospitals, nursing homes and
other healthcare facilities throughout Ontario. The company
manufactures quality food products and services, including chilled
foods (salads, sandwiches, etc.) and frozen foods (casseroles,
meats, desserts, etc.). HFS has more than 120 employees and more
than $10 million in annual revenues. Hospital Shared Services
functions as the administrative and managerial entity over both
Hospital Food Services and Healthcare Linen Services. HFS has
maintained its own manufacturing-based information technology
system.
The Challenges
Since the mid-1980's, HFS grew with the use of an old MRP
(manufacturing resource planning) system that was developed nearly
fifteen years ago. The proprietary DOS-based MRP system, written
by HFS in the BBx language, proved the best solution for its time,
but with increased business demands, it quickly outlived its
product lifecycle.
Furthermore, the MRP system was not designed to be Year
2000-compliant, or to handle the complex scheduling and production
tasks demanded from a twenty-first century customer base and
made-to-order production routines and schedules.
"The best word to describe our old system is cumbersome" said
David Pynn, chief executive officer of Hospital Shared Services.
"When it was first implemented in 1985, our organizational needs
were much smaller, and the Year 2000 problem wasn't even a blip on
the global radar screen. Just as our company and customers have
grown, so have our needs; they are much more complex now, and we
expect them to become even more sophisticated as we continue to
grow"
HFS used its DOS-based system to place orders, develop
production schedules and generally handle the operations side of
the manufacturing process. HFS also devoted an entirely different
financials package to the billing aspects of the business. The
attempts to consistently integrate these two systems further
complicated an already difficult situation.
"We had virtually zero percent faith in the system's integrity
during the last few months before we chose Navision software" said
Donald Smeth, chief information officer for Hospital Shared
Services.
The system presented several other challenges as well:
"In the old system, we had to run entire reports rather than
being able to choose and print from a specific set of criteria"
said Jean-Pierre Maheu, manufacturing manager for HFS.
To add to HFS' problems, the organization's full-time database
programmer retired from the organization. Without her expert
knowledge of the proprietary coding and flat file structure, HFS
suffered from a lack of IS support and on-site maintenance.
"We needed a robust system which would provide a single menu
from front to back" said Rocco Romeo, chief financial officer of
Hospital Shared Services. "We were also looking for a system that
would cover our manufacturing needs as well as provide the company
with the tools to succeed, not as we once - were small enterprise
- but as what we were becoming - growing, mid-sized business"
"HFS could have paid someone to rewrite the code for a new MRP
system, or repair the old system" said Romeo. "Although it was a
consideration, it just didn't make sense if we were able to find a
viable 'off-the-shelf' solution. This was a fantastic opportunity
to make an educated investment in the future of our customers and
our company."
The Search
Problems continued to compound and, in the second quarter of
1998, HFS began searching for a system that would replace their
older system and provide the functionality necessary to take them
into the next millennium. After more than six months of sitting
through in-depth presentations and product demonstrations, HFS
selected a "Short list" of two vendors.
In November 1998, Toronto-based Charon Systems, a Navision
Solution Centre (NSC), presented Navision Financials and showed
Navision Software's unique ability to customize and expand, as
well as easily navigate through drill-down screens and filter data
for concise manipulation and reporting. In December, Charon
Systems returned to show Navision Manufacturing. This presentation
was equally intense, comprising a full day of user requests and
vendor demonstrations.
"They even used our own data in the presentation," said Pynn.
"That was very impressive because it showed their desire to know
our business and speak our language. Plus, Charon Systems let us
'test-drive' the software for free. No other vendor allowed us to
take the software, make copies for our power users and use it in
real-world situations. Our Navision Solution Centre actually
challenged us to try and break it - not that he wanted us to
succeed, but that gave me an even greater sense of comfort with,
and confidence in, both Charon and Navision software."
The Solution
HFS selected, Navision Manufacturing and, on February 15, 1999,
the contract was signed. Hospital Food Services was now an
official partner with Charon Systems in implementing Navision
Manufacturing.
"We were all very excited and even more relieved that we would
once again have a reliable MRP system able to keep up with our
fast pace of production, distribution and delivery," said Romeo.
"After the implementation we could finally get back to focusing
on growing our core business and not worrying about having to
correctly hand-key purchase orders from one system into another."
The Implementation
Due to the timing of the deal, HFS only had six weeks until the
start of its next fiscal year (April 1, 1999) in which to
implement the new solution. The NSC team and HFS therefore decided
on an aggressive implementation process.
From that point on, the NSC and HFS worked hand-in-hand to
migrate all the data and coding.
"That's another thing that really impressed me about Navision
Software overall," Pynn continued. "They weren't like some of the
other vendors who claim to be able to do anything, anytime,
anywhere. Our NSC was always up-front and honest. If they didn't
know the answer immediately, they would go and find out. "
Considering the aggressive timeline, the unique customizations
that had to be made, and the complexity of the overall project
demands, Charon had quite a task in front of them. They dedicated
two "implementers" to the HFS installation in addition to a
programmer. During the last two weeks of implementation, the NSC's
staff virtually lived at the HFS headquarters.
"Charon's performance was outstanding," said Smeth. "The
intensity was what really impressed me. These guys were amazing.
We would work all day long - 10-hour days - they would go to the
hotel for dinner, rewrite some code, come back later that evening
and then work some more. Sometimes they only slept two or three
hours a night. In the end, though, we had a seamless and
successful implementation, and we are now reaping the benefits of
six long weeks of hard work."
The Results
Hospital Food Services went live with Navision Manufacturing on
March 28, 1999 and made the April 1 deadline. Although they
wouldn't recommend this type of aggressive implementation, HFS
does find it encouraging that its NSC was willing and dedicated
enough to reach their first major goal. This served as a good
indicator for a long-lasting and successful partnership.
While HFS selected Navision Manufacturing based on its
functionality, one of the solution's strongest benefits lie in the
ability of HFS' employees to work smarter with faster information
access.
"I can see a big difference after using Navision Software" said
Maheu. "With Navision Manufacturing, reports that once took
forty-five minutes to an hour, now take less than a minute - some
are instantaneous."
HFS is very pleased with Navision software's 'Drill down'
abilities allowing them to track sales, inventory or production
discrepancies from any screen. HFS also no longer has to worry
about excessive system crashes or reorganizing a production
schedule to fit the system's limitations.
"With the way we ran the business before, our old MRP system
dictated the steps we took in manufacturing our products and
distributing them to the marketplace," said Maheu. "These steps
confined us to certain procedural limitations. With Navision
Manufacturing, we can run our business more effectively because
the enterprise business solution is flexible, expandable and
totally customizable. It's as if Navision Software and Charon took
off our handcuffs and opened our arms to embrace growth again."
Furthermore, with a business solution that solves any Year 2000
concerns, Hospital Food Services customers can rest assured that
they will continue receiving high-quality food products and
services well into the next century.
"We had several challenges to overcome," said Pynn. "I feel
confident we partnered with the right people at the right time."
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