Microsoft® Business Solution
Customer Solution Case Study
Harger Lightning and Grounding Stormproofs
Its Future with Microsoft Business Solutions
Overview
Country: United States
Industry: Distribution, Electronic Components,
Manufacturing
Customer Profile
Founded in 1960, Harger Lightning and Grounding
provides solutions to the lightning protection and
“Many of our internal processes have been improved since the
introduction of [Microsoft Business Solutions]–Navision to
Harger. The changes in our internal processes are too
numerous to mention—it has helped us beyond belief.”
Dala Raffauf, Former IT Manager, Harger Lightning and Grounding
grounding industries. The company combines
expertise and capabilities in engineering, systems
design, product manufacturing, and installation.
Located in Grayslake, Illinois, Harger serves an
international clientele.
Business Situation
Harger was in desperate need of a new system to
manage data for its enterprise resources and
Labouring under an unreliable and labor-intensive enterprise
Ed Simnick, Tech Support Manager, Allison Payment Systems, LLC
resource planning system, Harger Lightning and Grounding went
shopping for a better solution. They needed software that could
support all the company's functions—from purchasing to sales
fulfillment.
operations. Their system crashed several times a
day. There was no linkage between the
manufacturing and accounting software. These
shortcomings made it impossible to meet their goal
of 24 to 48 hour turnaround on order processing.
Solution
Harger selected an integrated Microsoft® Business
Solutions–Navision® enterprise resource planning
system for its integrated functionality that would
allow all company operations to communicate.
They believed it would capably support the make-
The selection of Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision proved a
wise investment for Harger. They have been able to substantially
reduce personnel costs in manufacturing, purchasing, sales, and
shipping. Having more accurate inventory data has enabled Harger
to reduce on-hand materials by $150,000. The time from receipt of
order to shipping has been reduced to between 24 and 48 hours.
to-order portion of their business.
Benefits
 Order to shipping time reduced by 100 per cent
 Inventory on hand reduced by $150,000
 Past due orders reduced to less than 10 per
cent
 Labor costs significantly reduced
 Customer satisfaction increase
The percentage of past due orders has decreased to less than 10
percent. Productivity has increased through reduction of system
downtime. And…customer satisfaction has increased, due in part to
the addition of the E-Ship add-on module that informs customers
when their order has shipped.
Situation
Since 1960, Harger Lightning and Grounding
has been providing solutions to the lightning
protection and grounding industries. They
have experience in all facets of these
markets including engineering, systems
design, product manufacturing and
installation. Their engineering department
provides design services for engineers and
contractors domestically, as well as
internationally. They strive to stay on the
cutting edge of technology.
"One of the features that
we like most about
Microsoft Navision is the
availability to do
modifications to the
system."
Dala Raffauf, Former IT Manager, Harger
Lightning and Grounding
Harger's existing accounting solution was no
longer suitable to meet the demands of the
electrical, industrial, construction, and
telecommunications markets they served.
They needed a complete manufacturing and
accounting solution that could give them an
overview of the status of the company at any
point in time. They needed to know their
inventory, work in progress, processes, and
delivery. They needed flexibility to meet
changes in demand and capacity. Dale
Raffauf, at the time Harger's IT Manager,
points out problems with the old system. "The
information displayed on the screen was
never accurate. We had to do cycle counting
every day to try and get accurate inventory
counts—the counts were still off."
Solution
In December of 2000, Harger's executives
and enterprise resource planning
stakeholders began evaluating software
packages from vendors that included Fourth
Shift, Made2Manage, Lily, and Microsoft®
Business Solutions—Navision. Harger decided
to go with the Microsoft Business Solutions—
Navision® manufacturing software solution
for these reasons:
They believed it would provide a solution that
supported all of Harger's data—for
procurement, sales, manufacturing, shipping,
and accounting—in a single package.
The evaluation team felt that Microsoft
Navision's functionality was well suited for
the make-to-order segment of Harger's
business.
The solution would be able to support
engineers who need to develop bills of
material based on CAD designs sent by
customers with their orders.
In addition, Harger's former IT Manager, Dale
Raffauf, had previous experience working
with Microsoft Navision, which created the
potential for reduced deployment and
customization costs.
Harger initially chose to partner with ICS
Advantage to implement and customize their
solution. ICS Advantage and Raffauf worked
side by side to install, customize, and transfer
existing data in just four months. Harger went
through one upgrade during the
implementation. Raffauf says, "One of the
features that we like most about Microsoft
Navision is the availability to do modifications
to the system."
Since the implementation, Dale Raffauf
(former Harger IT Manager) who managed the
Microsoft Navision implementation at Harger,
has formed his own Microsoft reselling
partner organization, In-Sys Solutions, Inc.
and now works with Harger as well as other
clients.
Benefits
Raffauf has this to say about Microsoft
Navision. "We purchased [Microsoft] Navision
to be used as a COMPLETE manufacturing
and accounting solution—it has done that and
more. We use almost every granule offered
from [Microsoft] Navision. Our manufacturing
turnaround time from order to shipping is
now within 24 to 48 hours. [Microsoft]
Navision has allowed us to react quicker to
get the orders filled and out the door."
Since the implementation, these benefits
have been realized.
Reduced Personnel Costs
Because of the process improvements
introduced by Microsoft Navision, Harger was
able to reduce staff in multiple departments,
saving substantial costs per year. Harger has
since reduced staffing further even as the
business has continued to grow. It is
estimated that without the Microsoft Navision
solution, Harger would have had to add six
new employees.
Reduced Inventory Costs
"Our biggest savings is
in labor cost on the shop
floor. [Microsoft]
Navision tells us exactly
what we need to be
making for customer
demand. We have cut
out extra labor used to
manufacture items that
don't need to be made
now.”
Dala Raffauf, Former IT Manager, Harger
Lightning and Grounding
More accurate inventory data has allowed
Harger to reduce its raw materials in
inventory by $150,000.
Increased Productivity Through Reduced
System Downtime
With the old system, manufacturing lost three
hours of productive work time due to system
crashes each week. IT staff also spent time
rebooting and recovering lost data.
Ability to Deliver on Time
The old system was labor-intensive. Each
order had to be touched by several people.
The integration of sales with manufacturing,
along with the engineers' use of the product
configurator, has reduced the percentage of
orders past due to less than 10 percent.
Confidence in System Information
The sales force has confidence in what they
see in Microsoft Navision-unlike the previous
accounting package.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction has been increased
due to the fact we can now provide
customers accurate information in a timely
manner. In the E-Ship add-on product, Harger
can email the customer the moment the
package is shipped in Microsoft Navision with
the tracking information, how many
packages, and the method of shipping.
Customers love these features because they
are informed.
Raffauf describes the benefits in terms of
labor cost reduction, improved customer
service, and improvements in on-time
delivery. "Our biggest savings is in labor cost
on the shop floor. [Microsoft] Navision tells us
exactly what we need to be making for
customer demand. We have cut out extra
labor used to manufacture items that don't
need to be made now. Our production can
now be prioritized to manufacture what
needs to be manufactured now.
Harger prides itself on customer service and
the ability to deliver products on time.
[Microsoft] Navision has allowed us to live up
to that philosophy," Raffauf says.
One organization has estimated Harger's
return on investment at 191% with a payback
period of seven months. Three-year total
savings are estimated at $3 million.
For More Information
Microsoft Business Solutions
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft
Sales Information Center at (800) 4269400. In Canada, call the Microsoft
Canada Information Centre at (877) 5682495. Customers who are deaf or hard-ofhearing can reach Microsoft text telephone
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in
the United States or (905) 568-9641 in
Canada. Outside the 50 United States and
Canada, please contact your local
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information
using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com
Microsoft Business Solutions offer integrated
business applications and services that allow
small and midsize organizations and divisions
of large enterprises to connect employees,
customers, and suppliers for improved
efficiency. The financial management,
customer relationship management, supply
chain management, and analytics
applications work with other Microsoft
software, including the Microsoft Office
System and the Windows operating system,
to streamline processes across an entire
organization. This gives businesses insight to
respond rapidly, plan strategically, and
execute quickly. Microsoft Business Solutions
are delivered through a worldwide network of
channel partners that provide specialized
services and local support tailored to a
company’s needs.
For more information about ICS Advantage,
LLC products and services, visit the Web
site at:
www.icsadvantage.com
For more information about Harger
Lightning and Grounding products and
services, visit the Web site at:
www.harger.com
For more information about Microsoft
Business Solutions, go to:
www.microsoft.com/businesssolutions
Software and Services

© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case
study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Microsoft, Navision, BizTalk, PowerPoint, Windows, and
Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation or Microsoft Business
Solutions ApS in the United States and/or other countries.
Microsoft Business Solutions ApS is a subsidiary of Microsoft
Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their
respective owners.
Document published June 2005
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