LED Manufacturer Lights the Way to Efficiency with MRP Software

Arizona-based LED system manufacturer Anthem One provides a diverse range of industries with compact but powerful lighting and disinfecting solutions. With its production team in the US and its procurement department in Taiwan, the company needed a cloud-based ERP/MRP system to collaborate seamlessly across the globe.

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A film lighting company that pivoted to medical

Anthem One is an LED lighting system manufacturer based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Anthem One (Mark One and Mark Two) lighting systems were invented by Justin Eugene Evans. The company was founded in 2015 with a vision to replace traditional lighting systems used in the film industry with LED technology in order to reduce the noise and heat emitted by conventional production lighting. In 2020, the company expanded its product line to include disinfecting lights for medical applications. Today, they are an international team producing LED solutions for industries ranging from healthcare and hospitality to schools and the media industry.

While Anthem One’s media lighting systems provide a compact and powerful solution for filmmakers, allowing them to shoot anywhere in the world without noise, fumes, cable runs, or large crews, their disinfecting LED lights can be used in diverse environments to kill off pathogens in just a few seconds of being exposed to the light. This has been especially important in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Needed a solution that could be accessed from anywhere

With its manufacturing taking place in the US and procurement in Taiwan, the company relies on cloud-based software to coordinate and manage its processes.

“We had staff in two locations in the US, plus the procurement department in Taiwan, therefore we needed a system that could be accessed from anywhere,” says Dennis Lan, Supply Chain Director at Anthem One. “At one point, spreadsheets started hindering effective communication between sites so we decided to implement an MRP software.”

Apart from needing a cloud-based system, Anthem One also required strong inventory management functionality and a native integration with their financial system, Xero. They decided to try out MRPeasy, a manufacturing ERP software designed specifically for small manufacturers.

“We made use of the generous month-long trial that MRPeasy provided, which convinced us that this was the system for us,” Lan says. “I had previous experience with another MRP system and found the functionality quite similar. However, MRPeasy is so much more flexible and intuitive.”

Implementation took 2-3 weeks

As someone already familiar with the working principles of MRP systems, Lan took on the lead role in implementing the new software. With a plethora of online support materials and the system designed to be intuitively understandable to manufacturing professionals, no external consultants were needed to get everything up and running.

“We first put in the bills of materials and manufacturing orders, then implemented the CRM module. After we entered the inventory data, we could also integrate our financials in Xero very easily,” Lan explains. “Setting up the system only took 2-3 weeks.”

After a few knowledge transfer sessions with Lan, other employees picked up the new system quickly. “The software just makes sense,” Lan affirms.

“A wonderful system for small manufacturers”

As for the benefits brought on by the use of MRPeasy, Anthem One is seeing great improvements in inventory visibility, team communication, and record-keeping.

“We used to have three storage locations and before we implemented MRPeasy, it was hard to tell which part was where. Now, we know exactly,” Lan says. “In general, MRPeasy has automated a lot of processes and made our life much easier.”

He details how in the past, they used spreadsheets, and whenever international payments were transferred, he would have to record everything manually. 

“Now with the Xero integration, it’s so much easier,” he states.

Lan also praises the support offered by MRPeasy, as well as the month-long free trial that allows you to get a real feel of the system before making a commitment. 

“I’m very happy to be using MRPeasy, it is a wonderful system for small manufacturers,” Lan says as a final remark.

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