Intuitive Manufacturing Systems Announces ASP Solution

As a way to help eliminate obstacles for small and medium-sized companies with make-to-stock, assemble-to-order, make-to-order and mixed-mode manufacturing operations that need to expand their business management systems, ERP software maker Intuitive Manufacturing Systems (Kirkland, WA) certified Impact Systems Group as an Application Service Provider (ASP).

An ASP manages and delivers application capabilities to multiple entities from data centers across a wide area network, giving customers a viable alternative to procuring and implementing complex systems themselves.

Impact Systems Group (Grand Rapids, MI) will work with Intuitive's sales channel to offer hosted Internet deployment and outsourcing of IT management for Intuitive's MRP9000 customers. Based on Microsoft technology, MRP9000 is an integrated ERP application organized around the five major business cycles of Sell, Plan, Buy, Make and Inventory.

Intuitive chose Impact because of their proven ability to deliver secure, reliable solutions to customers.

"MRP9000 customers can now dramatically reduce up-front IT costs by leveraging our ASP model for network infrastructure," says Chuck Gillam, president of Intuitive Manufacturing Systems.

ASPs eliminate obstacles for businesses that need to expand their business management system to newer platforms. Intuitive's ASP solution allows customers to outsource the deployment, operations and maintenance of Intuitive's ERP software solution, MRP9000, as well as IT support and server management. Customers are then able to focus on their core business rather than managing their application servers.

Impact Systems Group will also provide a comprehensive alternative to building and managing internal information technology operations, allowing customers to better control the total cost of technology ownership through scheduled payment plans. Since customers actually maintain ownership of MRP9000, they have the flexibility to bring the application in-house as their own IT resources increase. They are not locked in to one particular model.

"This hosting option provides manufacturers with control over their application and with a cost-saving opportunity to have the software installed and maintained in our data center," says Mike Sting, president of Impact Systems Group. "We believe this is a great benefit to the smaller manufacturers who don't necessarily have or want an IT staff to support an enterprise application."

Edited by Jim Lardear