Bürosit Dynamics NAV ERP Success Story

Bürosit relies on Microsoft Dynamics NAV for two key elements of today’s changing economy: being able to respond to customer demands, and remaining profitable even while offering the lowest possible price. Bürosit, which continuously expands its product range and always wants to respond positively to its customers’ varying requests, took a close look at Microsoft Dynamics NAV when it decided to change its IT infrastructure. Microsoft Dynamics NAV, which matched their long-term strategy perfectly with its flexible infrastructure, easy adaptability to changing business processes, and user-friendly screens, also provided major advantages in submitting tenders faster and with the desired pricing policy, quickly adapting to changing customer demands, tracking costs in detail, and carrying out effective subcontractor tracking.

Business Background R&D efforts on ergonomic office chairs, initiated within ERMETAL Otomotiv A.Ş., a major automotive supplier, led to the emergence of the BÜROSİT brand under the Ermetal Group in 1986. Bürosit, which gradually established its place in the market, set up its test laboratory in 1994 and obtained the GS certification, which holds significant standing in the market. Following this founding phase, BÜROSİT grew and strengthened rapidly, moving to its new 10,000 m² facility in 1995. By 1997, it began to see the tangible results of this growth and strength. Investing to become a global player in auditorium and cinema seating, as well as casino chairs and bar stools for export markets, Bürosit continuously expanded its production scope, manufacturing metal table legs, various metal components, and plastic and sheet metal molds, while also setting up a nickel-chrome plating facility. In 2005, its facilities were converted to fully automated operation with a robotic system, and an investment was made in a treatment plant in line with European Union standards, ensuring operations without harming the environment. As Bürosit continued its steady growth, it entered into business relationships with more than 390 suppliers and 100 dealers, working with around 4,000 active material and finished product codes. To manage the production of 12,000 chairs per month, an average of 100 work orders began to be opened each day. Fifty percent of production started being exported. As a result of this growing system, the company decided to renew its IT infrastructure due to the difficulties experienced in tracking product codes and inventory, the challenges encountered in controlling and managing business relationships, and the obstacles arising in keeping up with advancing technology.

Solution

Efforts to renew the IT infrastructure began in 2006. Although their existing systems were well suited to the automotive sector, in which the Ermetal Group primarily operates, they were not very practical for a system like Bürosit’s, which needed to be configurable according to customer needs and based on order-driven production. There were also some difficulties in meeting the growing integration needs brought on by advancing technology. Once it also became difficult to get support for the product, the search accelerated. Ermetal Group IT Manager Mr. Erkan Yaman says he first encountered Microsoft Dynamics NAV at a meeting organized by Microsoft in 2006: “We liked the product a lot during the meeting. We especially liked the order-based production module. After discussing it with senior management, we decided to speed up the installation of the new system.” When selecting the new system, Bürosit identified the following as its most important criteria:

Having selected its product based on these criteria, Bürosit decided that Microsoft Dynamics NAV was the most suitable solution for them among the alternatives and launched the project. With the project, the sales, marketing, purchasing, production, accounting, technical service, and order-based production processes were implemented at Bürosit; accounting, sales, and marketing modules were implemented at Mobsit, the company that markets Bürosit’s products; and sales, purchasing, production, accounting, and project modules were implemented at Mobmetal, the company that manufactures molds, fixtures, and tooling for the group.

Benefits

Fast and Reliable Price Quotations With increasing competition, customers today often have no trouble finding a supplier who can meet any kind of request at the lowest price. At Bürosit, all the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics NAV are used to take every type of customer request into account, produce the most accurate cost estimate, and offer the lowest price while remaining profitable. For example, some customers may request disassembled chairs, both for lower shipping costs and to take advantage of certain customs regulations. In such cases, what used to take half a day in Excel files — building the disassembled bill of materials and recalculating the price — can now be done with a single click, instantly retrieving these costs and producing a price quote. Mr. Yaman says: “Being able to prepare a quick quote — especially for public tenders and urgent needs — and even give a quote while on the phone is a major advantage.” He also notes that cost simulations can be run on all products from different perspectives: “We can pull a report of the costs of all products based on short- and medium-term exchange rate and labor cost projections. Tasks that used to take 4-5 hours now take at most 15 minutes.” Accurate Costing, Real Profitability After configuration management, the most important need that stood out was being able to access real-time, actual cost information whenever needed. Mr. Yaman summarizes this need as follows: “Being able to provide project-based quotes is very important for us. Our customers may want chrome-plated armrests added to our standard chair. In that case, we first need to check whether it’s feasible from a production standpoint, then calculate the cost, and then prepare our price quote.” Previously, these cost calculations were attempted in Excel files; now, because real-time costs are available in the system, the cost of an order can be seen as it’s being entered. If desired, costs can be examined from different angles using the previous month’s closed averages, the latest purchase prices, projected EUR or USD exchange rates, the most recent actual labor cost, or a forward-looking estimate. If there’s significant concern about profitability, an even more detailed cost simulation can be run by entering information such as shipping type, chrome-plating labor cost, upholstery labor cost, cargo type, and destination. After the simulation, semi-finished goods, labor, shipping, and subcontracting costs are displayed on screen in different colors, supporting the negotiation phase with alternative offers to reach the best agreement for both the customer and Bürosit. Ease of Use The fact that the screens follow the familiar look and logic of Microsoft applications helps users adapt to the program quickly. Thanks to this feature, which greatly shortens the training and adaptation process, training needs are minimized following internal role changes. “Also, because users can easily customize the screens just like Excel spreadsheets, there’s often no need for separate reporting at all. Our users can pull up the query they need directly from the screen at the same time. This has eliminated the reporting burden that used to fall on us,” says Mr. Yaman. Easy and Fast Adaptation to Changing Business Models and Organizational Structures Bürosit generally reaches end customers through its dealers. Due to growing competition, dealers also receive a variety of requests from their own customers and work together with Bürosit to meet them. For example, a dealer operating in South Africa decided to purchase unupholstered products from Bürosit and apply the fabric upholstery itself, in order to let its customers choose their own fabric and still deliver as quickly as local manufacturers. Adapting the bills of materials, pricing, and order system to support this kind of business model turned out to be very easy. This setup was later recommended to other dealers as well, giving them a competitive advantage. Bürosit is currently about to make changes to its sales and marketing organization. Bürosit, which previously had no involvement at all in marketing and sales, is now planning to take on sales and marketing activities itself. Mr. Yaman states that he is confident they will adapt quickly to these changes: “No matter how our organizational structure and business processes change, we know we can make those changes on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. In the past, senior management would ask us for our opinion on whether the system could support something. Now, senior management doesn’t even ask us anymore, because everyone knows Microsoft Dynamics NAV can work the way we need it to.” Efficiency in Internal Processes Following the move to Microsoft Dynamics NAV, efficiency was also achieved in Bürosit’s own internal processes. Accounting procedures were reduced. By keeping detailed information in the logistics modules as much as possible, the number of accounting accounts and processes was shortened. In addition, import and export processes were brought into Microsoft Dynamics NAV, ensuring that the costs incurred there were correctly allocated to the relevant products, and automating these processes, which used to take up a great deal of the accounting department’s time. Furthermore, the fact that all data and transactions in item, customer, supplier, and accounting records can be queried using dimension logic has saved departments significant time spent on reporting whenever different needs arise. Subcontractor Tracking Tracking materials and labor with the subcontractors Bürosit relies heavily on, particularly for metal leg coating, has become much easier. Previously, allocating subcontractor invoices to the relevant products was difficult and highly prone to error; with Microsoft Dynamics NAV, it has become possible to track the products sent to subcontractors, the labor performed there, the allocation of the issued invoice to the relevant products, and how all of this is reflected in the final cost. Easy Integration with External Systems As technology advances, companies are increasingly integrating with their customers, suppliers, and service providers offering support services. With Microsoft Dynamics NAV, easy integration was achieved with the barcode system already in use within the company, which tracks the traceability of chairs and their warranty processes. With the barcode system, the material movements and warranty records for all work orders can be completed with a single barcode scan. Likewise, payments made from banks to suppliers are automatically transferred to Microsoft Dynamics NAV, updating the relevant supplier accounts. Through this kind of automation, the workload on the accounting department has been eased, resulting in a noticeable reduction in overtime hours.

Customer Profile

Business Background Founded in 1986, Bürosit has continued to grow steadily, and today maintains business relationships with more than 390 suppliers and 100 dealers, working with around 4,000 active material and finished product codes. To manage the production of 12,000 chairs per month, an average of 100 work orders are opened each day. Fifty percent of production is now exported. Solution When selecting the new system, the following were identified as important criteria:

Benefits