Although Hagler Systems has approximately tripled its overall staff in the last eight years, the administration department has barely grown. In 2009, Hagler Systems had thirty employees, including four administrative staff. Today, Hagler employs nearly ninety and has expanded its 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility by 50 percent to support larger machines and increased business in the dredging, oil sands, mining and nuclear industries. Yet, Hagler still has only five administrative staff. Within the last few years, Hagler has transformed from a small, family-owned company to a midsized company with multinational customers. Hagler’s commitment to streamlined and efficient business processes rivals that of global corporations with billions in revenue while maintaining their same original core values.

With an individually customized business management software system configured by several technology expert consultants who specialized in industrial equipment manufacturing, Hagler tripled its engineering and production employees without adding much administrative overhead.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

The three teenaged Hagler brothers—Bob, David, and Ben—worked in the foundry at Georgia Iron Works (GIW), a business run by their grandfather and later their dad. After college, they returned to GIW and learned about the slurry pump business both domestically and abroad. In 1996, the three brothers founded Hagler Systems, Inc. as a pump and hose reseller. The company started briskly, but the brothers soon recognized that they would need to enhance product value for success in the long run. They worked to expand their product offering and capabilities. Today, Hagler is a full-service mining and dredging equipment company that designs, manufactures and sells engineered-to-order slurry pump systems for use in phosphate fields, oil sands, on dredging barges, in potash mines and quarries. Its list of customers includes Royal Dutch Shell, PotashCorp, Suncor Energy, and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock.

FAST GROWTH LEADS TO ADDITIONAL OVERHEAD, MANUAL PROCESSES

Hagler quickly increased their overhead and manual processes when the company began to grow rapidly. This accelerated growth created significant problems, unnecessary complexity and layers of administrative frustration. Employees relied on extensive paperwork, did not use part numbers or a systemized parts labeling operation, had no way to track labor hours or deadlines, could not efficiently and effectively manage inventory, and had no manner to anticipate demand accurately. It was chaos.

In 2009, Hagler decided to invest in Microsoft Dynamics AX. It is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that helps large businesses manage inventory, accounting, revenue streams, workflow plans and more. Then they immediately perceived that this ERP system needed much more than a routine installation to maximize its capabilities. It required a team to customize the solution to the business, train employees on how to use it and continually implement system updates. With sales growing 30 percent during 2009 – 2012, it further demanded the need to streamline business processes to serve the company's rapid growth.

For the Dynamics AX solution to be more than profitably favorable, Hagler hired numerous IT specialists, including Prakash Viswanathan, an industrial engineer. Commencing in 2012, he worked with Hagler’s IT team and outside consultants from AX-Solutions, LLC, a professional services firm that specializes in Microsoft Dynamics implementation, technology, and advisory services, to customize Dynamics to fit Hagler’s unique business model.

SCALABLE PROCESSES, FASTER DELIVERY

“AX-Solutions has deep expertise in Dynamics 365 and Dynamics AX for industrial equipment manufacturing and configured the Microsoft product specifically for Hagler. Consultants there helped us master the system and maximize its capabilities. Equally important, they worked at our pace and within our budget,” says Prakash. “They didn’t try to push us when we needed to take a step back. They emphasized that there isn’t a standard Dynamics AX procedure, so we had to identify what made the most sense given our industry, specific business, and diverse needs of our customers.”

Prakash says that, before the AX implementation, Hagler’s employees relied almost exclusively on ‘tribal knowledge’ without universal or documented business processes. Now, he runs Dynamics training sessions with each new employee to ensure that select staff members at every level—from the shop floor to the executive suite—have a high-level comprehension of the software's capabilities and how to use its basic functions.

“Before AX-Solutions designed a configured solution, we had all of our business insights and data points on pieces of paper,” says Prakash. “With Dynamics, we don’t have to worry about losing or keeping track of that. We can make reliable production estimates, track every detail and design change, effectively manage our inventory, anticipate demand and compete with larger competitors.”

Ben Hagler agrees. “Dynamics AX helped us develop scalable processes and deliver products to our customers much faster. It also ensures that employees spend more time doing what they do best—designing and manufacturing,” he says. “AX-Solutions immediately understood our vision and taught us what we needed to know so that we could run with the system moving forward. That’s invaluable.”

REDUCE INVENTORY BY ONE-THIRD

John Leibach, Hagler’s controller, says that Microsoft Dynamics AX allowed the company to divide expenses into dimensions, recognize the source to order strategically. He emphasized the system’s impact on inventory. Before Dynamics, the company had a lot of old and unused inventory on the shelves with no manner to track it. As a result of everyone’s joint effort, the company went from zero part item numbers to 10,000+ in less than eleven months, which enabled better tracking. Since implementation, Hagler reduced its inventory by one-third and can use the extra money to grow the business.

“AX-Solutions showed us that Dynamics AX creates a culture of transparency since every employee can see what we’re spending and how much we’re bringing in,” remarks Prakash. “That’s moving away from the traditional top-down culture that creates friction for a lot of family-owned businesses.”

To ensure success, the consultants at AX-Solutions also extensively discussed with Hagler on AX's best practices to optimize Hagler’s business.

“We train people in the process before we train them on the software and stress the importance of planning—across every aspect of a project,” says Prakash, before continuing, “We’ve seen a remarkable degree of acceptance from everyone here. There’s a huge appreciation for eliminating roadblocks and being open to new processes and ways of managing workflows.”

John Leibach said it’s smart to “include everyone in the process since the best improvements and ideas often come from guys on the shop floor. You can’t rely solely on the insights of executives—you’ll miss the big picture. Successful implementation of AX relies on setting realistic goals and breaking the process into small steps so that everyone feels a sense of accomplishment.”

COMMITMENT TO CULTIVATING HOMEGROWN TALENT

Hagler Systems pride themselves on hiring local—but often inexperienced—talent right out of college and helping them expand their initial skill set. The company’s action demonstrates their commitment to their mission "to reach beyond good and inspire greatness."

“We have employees who now perform tasks they never realized they were capable of performing when they first walked through our doors,” states Ben Hagler insightfully. “We encourage them to study the business and never apologize for asking questions. Then we empower them to take risks, find their niche and ultimately flourish.”

Hagler shows no sign of slowing down with sales on the rise and increasing customer demand. Shortly, the company plans to implement advanced asset tracking technology into its pump systems that will alert employees of reports. Now, notifications are immediate when a system is down or when it needs monitoring or maintenance. This additional service allows the company to provide continual value long after the initial product sale.

Pointing to the company’s nondescript manufacturing facility on Georgia’s Sand Bar Ferry Road, Prakash says, “Most people would have written us off and never thought our tiny business could make such a successful product. But like many things in life, it’s important not to be deceived by external appearances. It was a bold move for a company of our size to invest in Microsoft Dynamics AX—but the risk definitely paid off.”

Pausing, he added, “Hagler is unique. It has the values, passion and unmatched work ethic of a family-owned company but now features the precision and mindset of a well-oiled corporation. It’s an unstoppable combination.” 

Additional Information

Hagler Systems has subsequently upgraded to Dynamics 365.

In 1996, Georgia Tech graduates Bob, David and Ben Hagler founded Hagler Systems, Inc. Collectively, they have 100+ years of experience providing solutions for mining, dredging, and municipal pumping requirements globally. For more information, visit haglersystems.com or call 803.278.2728.

Also of interest: 

• Dynamics AX Lends a Personal Touch to Hagler Systems by Umran Hasan

Image courtesy of Modern Pumping Today.

AX-Solutions was recommended to Hagler Systems to help implement Dynamics 365. We started before Microsoft Dynamics 365 was not officially released yet and part of Technology Adoption Program (TAP) and Rapid Deployment Program (RDP).

AX-Solutions and Hagler Systems understood that we both would be learning Dynamics 365 new features as well as limitations, however, would get significant advantage being early adopters.

AX-Solutions, brings proven methodologies:

• AX-Solutions project methodology aligns with Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step Methodology.
• A consistent and repeatable process utilized on all AX-Solutions projects.
• Scalable for all product lines and project sizes. 
• Reduces risk.
• Focuses on critical business issues.
• Promotes ownership from all levels & areas of the organization.
• Client resources fulfill significant role in project activities.
• Early and repeated client involvement in the process.
• Facilitates ownership using an iterative process approach.
• Delivers consistent quality for a “World Class” services provider.

As part of this implementation, we did a phased roll-out using our project methodology to manage risk and gain insight of new functionality starting with Finance followed by Logistics, Engineering, Manufacturing, and Projects. As part of this implementation a project lifecycle management (PLM) integration between PTC Windchill and Microsoft Dynamics 365 was done which is optimized for concurrent engineering and a high level of flexibility in creating complex BOMs. This is an integrated Engineer-to-Order PDM-ERP solution with a 2-way interface where PDM is providing the full life-cycle view of each designed and delivered solution and ERP provides project planning, W.A. costing, mixed-mode manufacturing, Inventory and warehouse management for each project and across projects. This includes traceability of revision, serial and Lot numbers in both systems to comply with the NQA-1 nuclear quality standard.

See Implementation for more information.

Also, a Visual Project Planning extension was deployed which helps Hagler Systems to manage their projects more effectively. This Microsoft Dynamics add-on:

• Enables project managers to create a Work Breakdown Structure and plan the activities effectively
• Enables project planners to plan activities and/or (sub)tasks for workers and resources and retain insight into their capacities
• Is an integrated enhancement to standard Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project that integrates project supply chain (purchase orders, sales orders, item requirements and production orders) with the task planning
• Unites all of its powerful elements in a simple visual GANTT chart overview, which is fully integrated with supporting information
• Supports planning baselines and multi-scenario views, enabling an easy comparison between potential planning options, with full visibility of work-breakdown structures
• Gives the project manager visual alerts of non-conformities in the planning
• Gives the project manager insight into the progress of the project based on posted hours

Most recently, we upgraded Hagler Systems to Microsoft Dynamics 365. See Upgrades for more information.

We were very honored to be working with Microsoft directly, helping them with our deep functional and industry experience that we bring to the table and architecting a solution. Microsoft Consulting Services helps larger clients implement Dynamics AX and to manage these projects, and we helped Microsoft deploy Dynamics AX internally for the service delivery/project lifecycle.

Our expertise focused on the following:

• Opportunity Management: 

1. Scope and cost projects quickly and with consistent rigor.
2. Assess potential profit/risk/impact.

•  Resource and Project Management:

1. Streamline project initiation to compress lead-time and reduce admin cost.
2. Confirm availability of right resources to ensure quality and team productivity.

• Project Execution:

1. Ease procurement of required items and services.
2. Manage to scope for project milestones, project resources and time.

• Time and Expense Capture:

1. Simplify entry of timesheets and project expenses to maximize timely capture.

•  Financial Management and Billing:

1. Deliver timely and accurate invoices (and allocations) to customers/clients.
2. Improve visibility into project metrics.

As part of the solution, we recommended utilizing data partitions, which empowered the holding subsidiaries to:

• Share IT infrastructure across independent businesses.
• Achieve strict data isolation across businesses.
• Reduce TCO for managing IT infrastructure.

Over 120 processes were in scope to be implemented across general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, cost accounting, project accounting, fixed assets, services management. In addition, over 30 integrations were in scope to connect to and from Microsoft Dynamics AX. See Integration for more information.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 was selected because:

• Highly flexible chart of accounts and account dimensions
• Simplified integration with other Microsoft products such as Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint®, Microsoft Dynamics CRM®, and Microsoft SQL Server® Reporting Services—all of which we run in production
• Software with processes focused on public sector needs such as fund accounting, commitment accounting, grants, etc.
• Highly configurable to minimize customizations
• Powerful and flexible workflow
• Application integration technology to allow data exchange with external systems through web services or middleware such as Microsoft BizTalk®

As part of the solution, we designed two major customizations that built on the standard functionality and can be easily upgraded and utilized by other clients with the same business needs:

• True multiple funding sources (customers) to a project (without funding rule, priority, maximum amount and percentage, which is only a partial solution for ‘services’ projects). This allows any project contract/customer to be selected for any project, so a project can be set up as a service to be billed to various customers, which works perfectly in a services environment. This customization was a solution for a deal-breaker and beyond Microsoft’s willingness to consider as a standard solution. Our solution made Dynamics AX work seemingly easy for the University of Washington, while complexity was dealt with in back-end.
• Enhancing standard financial dimensions framework by allowing priorities logic through setup, avoiding time-intensive customizations due to the complex nature of integration framework (see illustration below) and enabling end-to-end processes (procure-to-pay, order-to-cash and project management and accounting flow) consistent use and tracking for financial dimensions, which is crucial for University of Washington's fund accounting and is applicable to many organizations outside public sector that want to utilize the robust functionality of financial dimensions.

See Customizations for more information.

Zones provides Business-to-business (B2B) IT solutions and services and implemented Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

As Zones has high volume of transactions and many end-users and processes, it was key to go in-depth and streamline business processes and provide reconciliation tools, working hand in hand with various stakeholders throughout the organization. We were able to significantly reduce and simplify reconciliation processes providing cost savings and reliable data used for cash flow management. Process documentation and training was provided to help optimize business processes go forward and tools were provided to rectify transactions where needed. In addition, Advanced Bank Reconciliation was explored, tested, documented and proposed. Other post-go-live areas that were researched, documented (to-be) and presented were around financial month-end closing as well as a full independent audit of setup with recommendations for improvements.

For collections management, new Dynamics AX 2012 functionality was explored and designed to work efficiently and consistently for the collections team, while providing management traceability and better results. As part of this process, various simple but powerful customizations were proposed that would provide short-term Return on Investment. See Customization for more information.

In addition, various training was tailored to Zones’ needs. See Training for more information.

Cash processing is a multi-sourced subject at The Seattle Times. The company is responsible for collecting a variety form of funds from coin/cash, some foreign currency (Canadian), electronic funds (ACH and Wire), checks (with or without remittance) and credit cards and image deposits. The form of cash and method of cash receipt varies based on the source of revenue.  

This dash-board provides a total overview which than can be drilled down by various operators and sources and transactions like credit cards can be imported, submitted and viewed on aggregated levels in Dynamics AX. Once the totals are reviewed and correct, all journals can be posted with one push of a button which then posts the journals and hits the appropriate bank accounts (sub-ledgers) and ledger accounts. AX then produces reports (summarized and detailed) for daily cash processing. In addition, various treasury reports are available for management. This solution was runner up in Microsoft Convergence Customer Excellence Awards. See About Us for more information.

We replaced SAP at The Seattle Times and saved the company money by providing lower cost of ownership and increasing productivity as well as enhancing user experience by providing a robust and complete mid-market solution and offering flexibility and a higher return on investment (ROI). We also delivered a scalable solution that will last for many years to come while accommodating growth and proving clients to respond quickly in an ever-changing world of business.

In addition to the implementation, integrations and customizations, we also helped with data-migration for various sources of data, deploying several methodologies including Microsoft Dynamics AX® Data Import/Export framework. One area which was challenging, was fixed assets due to the volume and history of the data and client needing 4 different tax books for each asset across 8 different entities. To optimize setup, sharing of tables through virtual companies was deployed as well as fixed assets tax book functionality, which is something that is only done by very few companies with very experienced specialized subject matter consultants. We embraced the challenge and were successful thanks to the cooperation with the very engaged and experienced client team. See Data-Migration for more information.

We also provide on-going post go-live support service for this and many other clients. See Training for more information.