Without change, performance would never improve

As a small business, its crucial that we proxy for one another. IQMS has become the absolute cornerstone for day to day functionality. One area of focus that we were really excited about was the Real Time module. We, both supply and compete with billion dollar companies who must regularly review Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) as a key metric.

Pros

Its user friendly! Without having prior experience using an integrated system, I was able to lead a team, effectively self implementing from work station installs to setting up barcoding and scanning for Warehouse management.

Cons

Similar to any software, There can be a steep learning curve between modules in the beginning .

No More External Spreadsheets

If we had not implemented three years ago, we would have been up a creek without a paddle. It is truly an end to end solution and with so many packages to add on to the core, it will be able to grow with us into the future.

Pros

This system goes from quote to customer right through sales, purchasing, engineering, manufacturing, quality control, material review board, non-conformance, returns. HR modules and document control are available. Warehouse and distribution allowing for scanners and barcoding. Many many add on's within the same software company - as well as the ability to go outside the core and get third party spreadsheet add on's that make reporting a breeze. Unbelievable continuity in this system. This is the first system where the schedule was actually useful - we do not have to do our scheduling outside the system!!!! With crystal report writer, every report can be modified to your specific needs. With various areas for custom fields in all sorts of places, you can set your own fields that you require that are not already in an extensive list of fields already available. We have implemented the core packages plus MRO, Quality, Document Control and are planning to put some HR and warehouse management packages on shortly.

Cons

Because of its overwhelming ability to do almost anything, sometimes you are disappointed by some small things it cannot do. Sometimes you have to go through a couple of people to find the best solution to your problems in support, but generally they get you the answers in a timely manner.

Our company walked their sales team through our current system and thoroughly spelled out our needs. The sales representative claimed to identify the modules we would need to transition in a way we mutually agreed made sense, but as soon as we signed up we were told by the implementation team we needed to buy more modules to maintain the basic functions the sales representative claimed he had already spec'd out with us. Further, while we insisted on having the implementation specialist assigned before hand so we could check his background. They assigned a person that had a strong background, but when he arrived it was revealed that he was far too busy with other clients to work on our implementation, so they reassigned him and put someone on that has been with their company about a year. The software has its strengths and we are still trying to push through implementation. If you have the talent and experience in house to spec out exactly what modules you need and implement them the software might be a fit for you, but if you are going to be relying heavily on their implementation team you may want to look elsewhere.

Very please with IQMS ERP software

We feel that IQMS really had helped us grow, even without huge capital expenditures. We feel that it has made us more efficient, which has allowed us to increase sales without adding extra capacity. It also allowed us to decrease lead times with much better inventory controls and scheduling improvements.

Pros

We selected IQMS to give us one central database across all plant functions. Apple Rubber is both a Manufacture and Distributor. Therefore we needed to monitor and control inventory levels and also manufacturing of the product. IQMS WMS gave full warehouse control of inventory. Improving both inventory count and placement accuracy. IQMS Realtime allowed everyone to see what the MFG plant is doing and ties back to the schedule to show if any timing issues. What our customers like best is the Quality module allows full lot traceability as well as SPC and if any issues using MRB or Corrective Actions. Now using IQMS CRM we have outside sales and inside sales working off one system. Marketing can push referrals to sales or engineering to support customer request. Accounting functions are fully supported, which allows us to easily close month and year-end activities. We have also found that regulatory and customer audits are much easier. Both have commented how having one central database is really beneficial and impressed with how well it works.

Cons

We are collecting a lot more data, so being on the system since 2007 our database has grown. We do need to come up with a way to better achieve or strip data that is not required. Large tables will slow SQL scripts, especially for remote users.

IQMS can be a powerful tool for maintaining the information and processes that drive a business, but a firm's experience with IQMS is highly dependent upon the quality of the firm's employees and business practices before adopting IQMS.

IQMS might benefit from better scaling on their pricing to encourage deeper adoption of the software. The more heavily integrated a business is with IQMS, the less likely that business is to switch to using a competing software solution.

Pros

The features that IQMS has are all fairly well developed and mature. Support staff can be incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. There are a wide array of software modules with highly configurable settings to cover most production situations for a diverse array of firms.

Cons

IQMS implementation specialists can leave a lot to be desired. Many essential features of our install were never configured or were configured incorrectly. To that extent IQMS is highly reliant on companies having individuals with high aptitudes for trouble shooting and problem solving. If your company has this sort of talent, it can be an incredibly helpful software suite. Without that baseline expertise or talent, IQMS can hurt more than it helps. Additionally, the licensing for IQMS is quite expensive, which can make implementing the full range of software impossible. For some companies, modules like RealTime Production monitoring will never be cost effective, and other software features of IQMS are hamstrung by an absence of crucial pieces like RealTime. Because of the way that IQMS' business logic is designed, businesses will necessarily need to make some changes to the way they operate to bring them more into line with the best practices set up by IQMS. Unfortunately, the exact nature of these best practices and the gaps in an individual business' adoption of these best practices is not well specified by IQMS.