The software requirements were collected during the cross-functional interviews that led to simulation and process improvements earlier. The requirements were continually updated to reflect the changes and improvements. Three vendors were selected from written responses and were asked to demonstrate their products based only on the company's requirements, and were scored on their ability to fulfill them. Process improvement always means process simplification. Process simplification always reduces software complexity.
Less complexity eases the installation and training.
The savings in this case were estimated at being in the six figure range. Profits had eroded although sales had actually increased. A custom simulation model was created which identified key policies that worked against each other to create this situation. The company was receiving a growing stream of orders that could not be produced with the current manufacturing capacity. Lead times increased and should have corrected the problem by stemming the flow of orders as customers went to the competition.