Syspro Helps Electronics Co. Cut $350K Surplus

April 02, 2009

COSTA MESA, Calif. – April 2, 2009 – SYSPRO, a leading, worldwide provider of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, today announced that it has helped its electronics industry customer, Parallax, reduce inventories by $350,000 while eliminating out-of-stock conditions. Parallax is a Rocklin, CA-based, designer and manufacturer of microcontrollers, sensors and robotic components for hobby, educational and commercial use.

Parallax uses SYSPRO enterprise software, leveraging heavily off SYSPRO MRP (Materials Resource Planning) to view, analyze and manage real-time inventory figures on the Web. Inventory control is particularly complex for Parallax’s dual manufacturing facilities on two continents – a U.S. surface-mount assembly plant, as well as China-based, electronic assembly and chip testing operation. SYSPRO’s combined pragmatic, yet visionary PragmaVision™ approach, is helping this mid-sized U.S. based manufacturer to cut costs in a challenging global market by providing the tools needed to more effectively plan and manage inventory.

According to Ken Gracey, Parallax Vice President of Sales and Marketing, “SYSPRO has made a major difference in our ability to compete. We have an internal chart showing how SYSPRO MRP has reduced our global total inventory by 16.1%. This has made a substantial impact on our business – particularly in this market.”

Prior to implementing SYSPRO MRP, Parallax was frequently out of stock of key finished goods and often overloaded with an excess of raw materials and the wrong finished goods. “The SYSPRO MRP setup requirements were instrumental in getting the company to carefully analyze manufacturing run times, operation and BOM [Bill of Materials] correctness and lead times for a variety of processes and parts, including: Made-in goods; Subcontracted; Kitted products; and Parts manufactured offshore. When you add in our requirements planning from a variety of warehouse demands, we've got a fairly complex system to manage,” Gracey said.

The electronics industry is one of four core super verticals for SYSPRO. Joey Benadretti, SYSPRO USA President, says that his company is particularly focused on helping U.S. manufacturers in this space to compete effectively and to meet the recent market challenges. “Our approach is different from many other ERP vendors,” Benadretti said. “We have a single product, not disparately acquired modules, with tight integration and analytical capabilities. When you put such a cohesive enterprise system on a very advanced Microsoft .NET architecture, you provide incredible benefits to even smaller manufacturers.”

SYSPRO has advanced features and functionality like sophisticated Lot Traceability, Return Merchandise Authorization and Product Configuration. With SYSPRO e.net solutions, electronic companies can also implement SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) to connect their systems to those of their supply chains and value chain partners, as well.

SYSPRO’s more thoughtful approach to adopting new technology, such as web services and SOA platforms, also reflects the desires of its buyers who are driven by business needs and not by the latest headlines. This exemplifies SYSPRO’s ongoing strategy of helping to simplify the success of its customers. SYSPRO calls its buyer landscape “PragmaVision,” consisting of pragmatic, visionary ERP executives that are driven by a desire for smart, but aggressive market growth.

About Parallax. Inc.
Parallax designs and manufactures microcontroller development tools and small single-board computers that are used by electronic engineers, educational institutions, and hobbyists. The Parallax current product line consists of BASIC Stamp® & Propeller Chip microcontrollers and development software, SX chips and programmers/debuggers, project boards, sensors, educational tools, robotics kits and accessories, and Propeller chips and tools. www.parallax.com

About SYSPRO
Since its inception in 1978, SYSPRO has been delivering state-of-the-art business solutions to some of the world's leading companies. As a global leader in the production of world-class ERP software, the company now caters to the specialized needs of 14,000 licensed companies in more than 60 countries worldwide. SYSPRO is marketed globally through regional territory distribution centers and a global reseller network in the US, Canada, Africa, Asia Pacific, Australia and the UK.

SYSPRO is a fully integrated business software solution that provides complete control over the planning and management of all facets of business including accounting, manufacturing and distribution operations in a variety of industries.

For additional information on SYSPRO, call Stanley Goodrich at 714/437-1000 or go to www.syspro.com

All company names and products mentioned in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.