The Challenge

Royal Brass sales reps regularly visit customer facilities to check inventory and identify products that need to be replenished. Those locations can range from warehouses and machine shops to areas deep inside mines where an internet connection may not be available.

Traditionally, orders taken in the field had to make their way back to the office and be entered into the company’s system, adding time and another opportunity for errors.

The Solution

Since 2011, Royal Brass has been using Order Trakker to give its sales reps a simple way to build orders while they are at the customer’s location.

A rep can walk through the customer’s supply area and scan barcodes directly from products, shelf labels, or bin labels. They can also search for products and add additional items the customer needs.

When finished, the rep submits the order and it flows into Royal Brass’s ERP without office staff having to re-enter it.

If the rep is working somewhere without internet access—even underground in a mine—Order Trakker continues to work offline. The order can be submitted once a connection is available again.

Evolving With Their Business

When Royal Brass later moved to Microsoft Dynamics 365, they didn’t have to replace their field-ordering process. Longwell Technologies updated the integration from the file-based exchange required by their previous system to a new integration using APIs and JSON to communicate with Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Longwell Technologies has also continued to support the software, adapt to Android and Windows platform changes, provide rugged mobile devices, and develop new functionality as Royal Brass’s needs have evolved.

Today, Royal Brass has approximately 25 Order Trakker licenses used by its sales team as the company continues its 15+ year relationship with Longwell Technologies.

The Result

Sales reps can create orders where the work actually happens, orders flow into the existing ERP without being re-keyed by office staff, and the solution can continue working even where an internet connection isn’t available.