Machinefabriek Bolier in Dordrecht is the sales and service organization for MaK marine diesel engines in the Benelux, France and some countries in North Africa. Bolier is a specialist in large diesel engines for ship propulsion and auxiliary power from 1020 to 16,000 kW.
"A flexible package that bends around the organization"
A quote from Jan Kreuze of Machinefabriek Bolier about Microsoft Dynamics NAV (now Business Central). This flexibility was essential when choosing a new company-wide automation package.
Lots of double work due to information silos
In the old situation, there were information silos at Bolier. The various packages did not communicate with each other and data had to be entered several times. In other words, a lot of double work. "We wanted to get rid of that situation," says Jan Kreuze, Manager ICT and QA at Bolier. "Our wish list was very simple: accounting, financial administration and parts sales administration just had to run smoothly. We wanted to be able to process all administrative operations automatically up to and including invoicing and preferably also technical administration."
During the search for a new package, Bolier received an invitation from a shipyard friend to attend a demo of Microsoft Dynamics with us. "We were so charmed by this that we quickly made a disicion. Dynamics is the only package that you can tailor very flexibly to your own business processes. Logic Vision is familiar with the maritime sector and that was very easy to talk to. Logic Vision took a determined approach and with an excellent team of people."
"Microsoft Dynamics is the only package that you can tailor very flexibly to your own business processes."
Jan Kreuze, Machinefabriek Bolier
The strength of Microsoft Dynamics NAV lies in its adaptability: it is possible to quickly build additional functionality on top of the standard modules. This allows Logic Vision to meet industry- or company-specific requirements. Logic Vision developed the Standards Bank for Bolier, a kind of library of standard repair data per engine type. The Standards Bank indicates which materials and how many man-hours are needed with the corresponding price.
Employees in the workplace record data about the service work directly in the Logic Vision Service Manager. "This reduces the risk of errors. They used to put that information on a scrap sheet and it was then typed out by the administration," said Jan Kreuze. With the Service Manager, Bolier records incoming parts and the work performed on them for each project. All incoming parts are provided with a bar code, so everything can always be found. "We don't lose parts anymore, which saves a lot of searching."
Logic Vision has developed other modules for Bolier. For example, the Drilling Manager is used to digitally record the visit reports made by mechanics, and the Warranty Manager serves to record warranty claims. It is also possible to send these digitally to the engine manufacturer, Caterpillar Engines in Kiel.
Digital Purchase Orders Sending is another module developed specifically for Bolier. This component ensures that a purchase order can be sent digitally to Caterpillar Engines in Kiel, where it is processed. Bolier then receives a digital confirmation which is read into the system. Finally, the buyer receives a confirmation and the confirmation is synchronized with the order.
Easier to adjust and respond quickly to developments
For Bolier, transparency is the biggest advantage of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. "We now produce clear reports for our shareholders. In the old situation, that happened once a year. Now, at the push of a button, we create an overview of the financial state of affairs at any time. About turnover and profit, about things that are going well and things that are not going well. This makes it easier for us to make adjustments and respond quickly to developments. In the old situation, we sometimes missed opportunities due to a lack of the right information. Internally, we also have a better overview of the results. Employees are happy with the customer-friendliness of Microsoft Dynamics NAV: almost all the paper statements we used to work with, we have been able to create just the same within Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Very pleasant for the users."
"We work more efficiently, because every hour we are idle costs money, and we can also invoice faster in the process." Because there is much less overlap in the work, Bolier can save a full-timer. "We can now use this employee for other activities, improving the quality of our work. We have solved a number of bottlenecks, which means we can now serve customers much better. Our information is no longer in dusty archives but in the computer system. This allows us to do our work faster and that is what the customer expects from us. So with Microsoft Dynamics NAV we can improve our competitiveness."
For the future, Bolier sees opportunities to further expand its business. "With Microsoft Dynamics NAV, we can very simply incorporate new business activities into our system. Furthermore, we have just started to further automate our logistics with support from Microsoft Dynamics NAV, including barcode scanning. This works quickly and accurately, because by curbing human actions, the chance of errors is minimal."