Implementing a new ERP system is a big project, but with great commitment from ECM Industries and Monitor's consultants, together they managed to complete the project one month ahead of schedule. ECM Industries had an outdated ERP system, and undertook a decision-making process in order to choose a new provider. Monitor was given the green light, and since then an excellent partnership has developed.

Monitor decided it was time to visit one of our customers' factories, so we could get a glimpse of their day-to-day operations and learn even more about how the Monitor ERP system creates value for them. It has already been two years since ECM Industries went live with Monitor ERP, and the system is currently well integrated into the company. We sat down with Bjarne Poulsen, CEO of ECM Industries, to learn more.

ECM Industries, Denmark, is a total supplier within metalworking, providing its customers with high quality and outstanding service. Over time, they have grown from a small forging company to a medium-sized company with 130 employees.

For ECM Industries, it was time to look ahead and search for a new ERP provider that could meet their needs. They had challenges with their existing system in terms of creating an overview of occupancy and capacity. As a result, it was therefore essential to find the right partner with whom they could take the journey. We asked ECM's CEO Bjarne Poulsen to explain how they arrived at Monitor ERP as a provider.

"We were sitting with an outdated C5, where we were almost forced to make an upgrade. I knew Monitor from a previous company, and therefore the choice was made quite quickly, since it was one of the options we were looking into. We quickly realized that Monitor was probably the system that best suited our challenges and opportunities," explains Bjarne.

Frank Madsen from Monitor was the consultant on the case, and he elaborates on how the ERP system could help ECM create the overview they were missing.

Continuous development leading to success

Bjarne Poulsen from ECM Industries highlights that it's important for them to have an ERP system supplier that continuously develops its system and delivers new functions that can meet the company's needs and help them in their daily work.

"Again, it was a standard system with opportunities to influence if we could see in the long run that there are some needs; well, when we are enough companies that can see the same need, then Monitor has also shown a willingness to be involved in developing the system along the way," Bjarne points out.

Frank also emphasizes the importance of developing alongside the customer. ECM is one of the customers that have helped accelerate the development of the ERP system's functionality, and this has a positive effect on the collaboration.

A complete standard system

Around 5,000 companies worldwide are currently optimizing their operations using Monitor. One of the system's core advantages is that it's a complete standardized system, which ensures the customer receives a solution that covers all the company's needs, from production to administration. In addition, this means you don’t need to spend time or money on adaptations or special solutions. This is also one of the advantages Bjarne sees with the system.

"Well, we are a production company in which production takes all our focus, and Monitor is actually tailored for that, and a standard system, which I clearly saw as an advantage in that we didn't need to have a lot of internal discussions about what kind of adjustments that could make sense. In this case, ‘what you see is what you get’. But we also quickly agreed that 95% of what Monitor could deliver satisfied our needs,” Bjarne underlines.

Sustainability by Monitor

In 2023, Monitor released a new feature – Sustainability by Monitor – which aims to help companies measure their environmental impact, evaluate the results, and take strategic measures. At Monitor, we’ve focused on introducing our customers to this new function as well as possible, to ensure they’re equipped to meet the new ESRS standard. Bjarne from ECM also emphasizes the importance of this function in the ERP system.

"Having a Sustainability function in the system is a must; we have customers who require us to be able to document the CO2 footprint of our processes, and to be able to make quick and correct calculations, we simply must have a system that can handle that data. So I’d say that it is a requirement for us that this is part of the ERP system," says Bjarne.

Bjarne also points out that they have several customers who demand this information; and if they cannot provide it, they will have difficulty being a supplier to this type of customer.

An ERP system you can recommend

That a customer is satisfied with your product is one of the most important indicators that you are doing something right. With this in mind, we asked Bjarne from ECM Industries if he would recommend Monitor to others. Bjarne emphasizes that he would highly recommend Monitor to production companies with the same challenges and needs as themselves.

"So if someone comes and asks me about an ERP transition and asks which systems you should look at, and you are a manufacturing company, then for me there is no doubt that Monitor is one of the systems that you should definitely bear in mind in your assessment. If you are faced with the challenges we face as a production company – and have to measure the things we do – Monitor is definitely worth recommending, from my side."

The system is currently used in virtually all departments and units in the company, from production to administration.