Sage MAS 200 Software - Bluewater Thermal Processing is HOT on Sage MAS 200

Bluewater Thermal Processing provides industrial heat treating services that change the composition of metal to increase its strength and durability. With six divisions and 18 plants spanning across 10 states, they boast an extensive customer base that includes such companies as General Electric, Ford, General Motors and Whirlpool.

In June of 2006, Gibraltar Industries sold their thermal processing division to a private equity group. The newly-formed company, which continued operating existing plants throughout the U.S., became known as Bluewater Thermal Processing.

Temperatures Rise with the Need for a New System

Mike DiMartino, Vice President of Finance for Bluewater Thermal explains, "After the spin-off, we were operating a variety of outdated accounting systems that did not have the ability to ‘talk’ to one another." Six thermal processing divisions were operating under six different charts of accounts, resulting in time consuming, manual adjustments, tremendous risk of error, and the inability to accurately assess business operations. Mike states, "Our mission was to get all six divisions running on the same software using the same chart of accounts. We also needed a consolidated reporting structure that would eliminate the nightmare of numerous spreadsheets and hours of manual adjustments."

To complicate the issue, Bluewater Thermal had a six month transition agreement with Gibraltar, at the end of which they would have to be selfsufficient and running their own business software. "Within that six month time period, Bluewater took on the seemingly impossible task of evaluating software applications, selecting the right system, identifying a technology partner to assist in the implementation, and ‘go-live’ before Gibraltar pulled the plug."

Read More