Light Corporation

The Company: About Light Corporation

Light Corporation, based in Grand Haven, Michigan, is a world-class lighting manufacturer specializing in fluorescent task lights and ambient lighting for office furniture as well as lighting fixtures for industrial, warehouse, gymnasium, big box retail, and architectural applications. The company’s product lines continually evolve in design, layout, and function as the company’s customers challenge it to keep up with new workspace and office requirements. A leader in developing energy-efficient products, the company is committed to environmentally friendly processes and products. Light Corporation operates a full development and production facility with 150 employees.

The Situation: Capacity Planning

When Light Corporation operated its business with an old material requirement planning (MRP) system, processes for capacity planning were unavailable, and sales order and purchase order entry were very cumbersome. Also, other systems were employed to fill some of the holes in the MRP system, making it difficult to track and reference information from one machine to another. Compounding issues, Light Corporation’s contact management software did not communicate with the company’s other applications, so it was ery difficult to coordinate customer contact information with the MRP system’s database.

The company was also hampered by outdated, slow processes. When its MRP system ran in ​“change” mode, production and purchasing were without access to the system for an hour and a half, waiting for the run to be completed. Hoping to add flexibility and improve response times, Light Corporation began seeking an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to integrate and automate its processes and help the company operate in a manner as enterprising as its products.

The Solution: Infor VISUAL ERP

Light Corporation chose Infor™ ERP VISUAL to improve the planning and productivity of the company. In addition to the core application, the company chose to use the solution’s CRM, Quality, and Configurator modules. Led by Light Corporation IT Manager Peter Boers and with the guidance of Infor solution partner Visual Business Solutions, the company implemented the Infor solution and immediately began realizing results.

The Results: Infor VISUAL ERP Implementation Benefits

By employing Infor ERP VISUAL with its core CRM module, Light Corporation rapidly resolved its planning, sales, and purchase orders problems. Moreover, the run time for the MRP change mode has been cut by two-thirds, down to just half an hour, and employees can use the system while this process is running. Customer and scheduling information is entered just once and is shared with all applications to speed order entry and generate a detailed view of customer demand. This enables accurate order configuration, improved production planning, and firm delivery promises. Further, marketing personnel has access to the same information available to the plant floor and distribution centers, allowing them to assure customers that materials are available and delivery dates and times are secure.

“Because our legacy system lacked a capacity planning module, scheduling our shop floor was guesswork at best,” Boers says. ​“With our Infor solution, we are now able to see our customer demand and production capabilities, helping us meet customer delivery requirements.”

Using Infor ERP VISUAL, Light Corporation has achieved

• A 67 percent reduction in time required for MRP changes.

• More accurate order configuration.

• Visibility into inventory and orders, improving production planning.

• Confidence in its delivery promises.

• A better-informed sales and customer service staff.

• One tightly integrated system for customer and vendor contacts, order entry, production requirements, and quality monitoring.