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Ironbark Manufacturing Software - Case Study: i.Power Solutions

Company Profile

i.Power Solutions is an Australian electrical engineering company offering a uniquely bundled service. They manufacture, install and support medium and low voltage switchgear, substations and switchrooms, as well as engineering solutions for automation, SCADA, control and IT networks. i.Power coves a diverse range of industries, from mining oil and gas, sewerage and water treatment, through to bulk materials, food and beverage.

Business Issues

Typical for a business with turnover of $100 million and 360 staff, i.Power insisted on a robust system for financial administration. With their business model centered on projects and just-in-time job-type production, i.Power also needed strong support for supply chain, manufacturing and project management.

The Solution

Ironbark Manufacturing software had already been installed for several years at another company, Nu-lec Industries, when i.Power acquired the Switchgear and Project divisions of that company in 2001. Recognising the value and potential of the Ironbark Manufacturing software system, i.Power adopted Ironbark Manufacturing software for its entire operation and has continued to invest in customised Ironbark Software applications to meet their specific and evolving needs.

The Ironbark Manufacturing software solution used by i.Power consists of Ironbark Financials, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing and Project Management modules.

With their focus on customer service, i.Power particularly appreciates the integration between Ironbark. Manufacturing and Microsoft Word, using templates for the professional presentation of Purchase Orders, Delivery Dockets, Order Acknowledgements and Invoices.

Examples of additional features that we have developed for i.Power include:

• Custom jobcosting reports – including a detailed export to Microsoft Excel that is used to create job sheets for quality control purposes.
• Links to KPI reporting system – Ironbark Manufacturing data is exported throughout the day to an SQL database which feeds the internally designed i.Power Link 2 web system.
• Automatic purchase orders – Ironbark Manufacturing calculates order requirements and creates purchase orders taking into account current and desired stock levels, and transactions in the system.
• Hierarchical approvals – purchase orders exceeding a set limit can be printed in 'print preview' mode for the responsible authority to sign and accept prior to creating the official document.
• Stock receival alerts – when stock is received, the system automatically notifies by email the user who created the purchase order.
• Bills of materials 'on the fly' – i.Power is not limited to set number of parent-child BOMs. They can copy an existing BOM, assign a new BOM number and quickly modify that BOM for a specific customer. This is critically important given the one-off nature of the items they manufacture.

The Result

i.Power see their comprehensive and integrated Ironbark system as a critical foundation for their entire business. They run efficiently and with minimum administration overhead, while remaining focussed on customer delivery and quality. The Ironbark Manufacturing software system has been a true partner to i.Power in its growth since the Nu-lec acquisition.

What the Customer Says

"Ironbark Software fits with our business practices and fulfils all of our software needs.  We are now looking to implement other technologies available from Ironbark to further enhance our system..." 
Nick Burton, Finance Director - i.Power Solutions.