Hosting Infor VISUAL Case Study
Midwest Plastics, Inc., of West St. Paul, Minnesota, is a leading provider of plastic injection molding, thermoforming, and packaging products and services. In addition to the services that it offers to companies in the industrial, automotive, and aerospace industries, Midwest Plastics also develops and produces its own line of innovative plastic products for the consumer market. These products include plastic drawer organizers, garbage bag dispensers, and cutting boards for use around the home. Midwest Plastics turned to Beyond Impact and a hosted VISUAL Enterprise system in 1999 in preparation for Y2K. Prior to using VISUAL, Midwest Plastics was using an antiquated system to manage its activities; it needed a more comprehensive system that would provide visibility to all manufacturing business activities. Rather than implementing the VISUAL system on site, Midwest Plastics elected for a host-based system from Beyond Impact. “We needed a new system, so we decided it was a good time for a transition to a hosted system,” states Don Roth, President of Midwest Plastics.
Prior to implementing the host-based VISUAL system, the staff at Midwest Plastics was responsible for all of the IT activities at the company, including data backups and software upgrades. “The switch to the hosted VISUAL system allowed us to reduce our IT infrastructure and minimize our hardware investment,” states Roth.
With the year 2000 looming, the Beyond Impact team began the VISUAL implementation in 1999. “The implementation process was smooth,” states Roth. “They were able to convert the data from our previous system and import it into VISUAL. The implementation was complete for the company to go live in January 2000.
“The biggest benefit of having a hosted system is the confidence of knowing that our database is being handled by professionals,” states Roth. “It’s the peace of mind that comes from knowing that our data is safe, that it’s backed up regularly, and that professional help is only a call away should the need arise. We’ve not lost a single piece of data in the seven years we’ve worked with Beyond Impact.”
“The biggest benefit of having a hosted system is the confidence of knowing that our database is being handled by professionals.”
— Don Roth President, Midwest Plastics, Inc.
