Industrial Equipment Company Hydra-Power Systems Advances Its Business on Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Among the wealth of information that was shared at the recent Convergence 2011 Conference was a powerful early adopter customer success story with US distributor and manufacturer of hydraulic and pneumatic systems Hydra-Power Systems.

Just to make sure that this case was not lost amid the rest of the Convergence buzz, I wanted to share it with you again as a great example of a customer that is already experiencing the power, simplicity and agility that the coming release can enable.

With a multisite operation headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Hydra-Power Systems has relied on Microsoft Dynamics AX as a highly dependable, flexible, and scalable business enabler since 2007. So when the company was given the opportunity of joining the Microsoft Technology Adoption Program to gain early access to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 , they jumped at the chance. Bob Jablonski, operations manager at Hydra-Power Systems, was especially keen to investigate how the release could introduce new efficiencies and enhancements to help the whole business run more smoothly, improve responsiveness to customer demand, and make the company even more competitive.

The new solution will be used across the organization to streamline and boost productivity: delivering insight and reporting to company leadership; enabling visibility and efficiencies for inside and outside sales teams; enabling engineering managers to run and track manufacturing projects more effectively; and helping warehouse employees optimize management of inventory, receiving, and shipping processes…and just about everywhere else in-between.

The final goal of the implementation is for employees at Hydra-Power Systems to use Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to perform all of the tasks that are central to their roles, equipped with the reports, dashboards, alerts, and other decision-making tools that they need to help them move the business forward and serve their customers better.

The upgrade and implementation progress has been fast and surprisingly non-disruptive. Largely handling the pre-release upgrade on his own, Jablonski has been able to run an efficient, phased implementation of functionalities for specific business activities and requirements over time. And with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 providing so many new capabilities as part of the core product, the implementation is primarily based on standard product functionality, with far fewer customizations than were previously necessary to meet business needs. As Jablonski comments: “By providing us with all these capabilities and making them easy to implement and operate, Microsoft gives us opportunities that usually only large companies with ample resources experience.”

As for the business needs of the future, although uncertain, they are certainly not forgotten. As Jablonski adds: “With Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, it’s very easy to scale horizontally or vertically to meet the challenge of whichever requirements the business presents.”

Sounds like Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is already providing impressive upgrade value at Hydra-Power Systems by delivering a powerful business foundation that’s simple to implement and use today, and with the agility to seize compelling new business opportunities as they arise.

You can read the full customer success story here, and see the Hydra-Power Systems video here.

Ross Thorpe

Microsoft Dynamics ERP Product Marketing