Case Study – Bariatrics of Alabama

“Naia had our first solution in place in a month. There was no training needed.”

Packaged software and a legacy system were simply not doing the job for Bariatrics of Alabama, a company which for two decades has helped people reach life time goals of fitness, good health and self confidence. Stalled by an accounting quagmire, antiquated equipment and unsuitable off-the-shelf solutions, Bariatrics staff members struggled to provide optimum care for existing customers, finding little time to grow the business.

“Our business combines the normal functions of a health facility with the functions of a retail company,” says Leslie Ellison, Bariatrics Practice Manager. “We were paying every month for software that didn’t really address our needs , and I was going through checks, credit card transactions and cash at the end of every day.

“I needed a patient database. I needed appointment scheduling. I needed retail, a point-of-sale system, and I needed inventory tracking,” says Ellison.

Accurate inventory and dispensation records for prescription drugs are required by law, and the clinic also has a thriving retail business related to its business. “We were tracking everything manually, sometimes entering information twice. It was a nightmare,” Ellison adds.

“We were wasting far too much professional staff time,” says Ellison.

“Naia came in and got a true feel for our business. They learned the process for each patient and how we prefer to do things.

“They assessed our entire operation, then broke down our procedures into elements that could be considered individually. They showed me how each fix would save us a certain amount of time, or how another solution would make our inventory control easier, more accurate, and safely manageable on the Web.

Results came after careful assessment, planning and implementation.

“We’re not a large business. They worked with me on the cost of solutions, and gave me definite delivery timelines. I prioritized the wish list, and Naia had our first solution in place in a month. There was no training needed. The information we entered in our notebook computers was the same as we entered before, only now we did it just once and had complete faith in the system.

“I noticed the difference on the first day. Now I look forward to coming to work, and I have time to care for patients and to get new patients in the door,” Leslie says. “And we’re not paying for that old worthless software and an antiquated system.”

The Bariatrics-Naia partnership created a system so accurate and efficient that the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, after a routine audit of clinic procedures, will use the Bariatrics prescription drug inventory system produced by Naia as an example for other medical facilities.

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Case Study – Southland Tube, Inc.

_“Steelnet is a custom Naia solution that allowed us to develop a system that supported our methods of operations and our choices of policy.” _

Southland Tube, Incorporated found itself wrestling with processes associated with inventory and order protocol after expansion with a state-of-the-art mill in 2005. The Birmingham, AL high quality carbon steel product manufacturer has a history of high level customer satisfaction. After doubling capacity, managers grew concerned about shipping errors, inventory issues and bottlenecks in the high quality carbon steel manufacturer’s sales, manufacturing, and shipping chain.

Tired of large write-offs, hazy sales visibility of inventory, and a cumbersome order process, Southland management took action to remove obstacles to becoming a better supplier and growing enterprise. Losing ROI in raw and finished goods inventory was money out of the pockets of the family-owned business. Their Macola software was not up to the task.

“Before we could do anything, we needed a system that gave us tight control over inventory: What we need, what we have, what state it’s in, where it is and when it was produced,” says David Langsdale of Southland Tube.

“We sell tubing in truckload quantities. There were limitations about the legacy system and a lack of faith in the inventory information that was reflected through the legacy system. As physical inventories occurred, there were large write-offs not only in finished goods, but in work in process inventories as well.”

Southland called on Naia to help lead them into a new era of success.

After assessing with Southland executives the solutions available to address pain points, Naia provided the company with a plan of attack that could be implemented sequentially, affordably, and without disruption to the $152 million business. Consolidating information scattered among company functions and facilities was a priority, as manual data entry was costing time and money, and was prone to errors. Managing some 4,600 different products, many of them custom-ordered, required change.

“We have a non-technical, mature product, which is steel fabrication” says Langsdale. “We differentiate ourselves in a competitive regional market by having available inventory and a reliable, frequent manufacturing schedule. We were growing, and there were some weaknesses in sales and visibility to products in inventory.”

Needing credible inventory information, Southland had no reliable information about when inventory was produced, and could not manage obsolescence.

Basing incremental custom solutions on Southland’s own methods and practices, Naia began building the SteelNet system.

“What we needed were information systems that supported the whole business – commercial, with operations, planning and execution; timely, with the flexibility to absorb last minute changes as opportunities became available,” says John Montgomery, Jr., Southland VP and General Manager.

SteelNet has continued to evolve, as each facet of Southland’s business is scrutinized after implementation of each autonomous functioning solution step. In place are support for production planning, purchasing, receiving, outside processors and mill operations. Solutions for saw, warehouse and shipping operations are currently underway.