CoorsTek is a global leader in engineering ceramics, with manufacturing, sales, and research facilities worldwide.
The company needed a better way to manage complex sales order activity across global teams and multiple QAD environments. They run four versions of QAD across the 20 sites worldwide. With large orders, frequent due date changes, and manual coordination between locations, the company wanted a solution that would improve efficiency, accuracy, and consistency without adding extra work.
32 Soft’s Multiple Sales Order Data Loader helped CoorsTek simplify those processes and create a more streamlined workflow across sites. As a result, the team improved collaboration, reduced manual effort, and gained better control over critical order updates.
The Challenge
Bob Sendek, IT Director of the Global ERP, Manufacturing Execution, and Supply Chain Portfolio at CoorsTek, explained that one of the biggest challenges was the manual effort required to update and coordinate large volumes of orders. The team also needed a smoother way to handle buy-sell transactions between facilities and keep MRP data current.
“We had had a large volume of sales orders, and because many of our customers send sales orders for the entire year, some of those orders can run 500+ lines. On top of that, we had to update due dates in the system, and we also needed to be able to link purchase orders to sales orders.”
The Solution
To address these challenges, CoorsTek turned to the Multiple Sales Order Data Loader. The solution gave the team a practical way to update sales order data more efficiently, reduce duplicate work, and keep information flowing across global teams.
Bob explained that “32 Soft’s Data Loader has been a tremendous support to our organization as we move to standardize our processes and data in several different QAD environments.” That standardization created a stronger foundation for consistency across the business. To address errors that can occur with high data entry volume, Coorstek also wanted to tighten rules around data entry. The Data Loader allowed them to do that.
A particular area where they wanted to improve communication was in the buy-sell transactions among the planners, purchasers, and sales teams at the US and Japan facilities.
“The sales order and accompanying purchase order had to be keyed in separately,” said Cindy Kong, Principal Business Analyst for CoorsTek Inc. “When the quantities or due date changed, the sales and purchase orders needed to be changed. It was very hard to coordinate. QAD should be able to do this, but we have so many customizations that it was hard for QAD EMT to process.”
Cindy also explained that at the end of the year, they had to review all open purchase orders to coordinate with Japan and then update the revised due dates in QAD. This process could take them a week or more. Another hurdle was that the Japan facility does not use QAD.
The Results
Using the Multiple Sales Order Data Loader has improved coordination between the US and Japan teams and made it easier to communicate changes across facilities. The US facility downloads the updated transactions from QAD to the Data Loader and sends them to the Japan facility. Likewise, Japan can send any updated information on their end to the US via the Loader for upload to QAD.
“With the 32 Soft tool, we decreased the coordination time between sales orders and purchase orders by at least 60%,” says Cindy, “and the end-of-year Sales Order due date entry went from 40+ hours to 6 hours or less.”
CoorsTek also had difficulty running MRP in QAD. “As you know, MRP is driven by due dates,” Bob explains, “It was very difficult, based on the number of sales orders, to keep due dates current to drive MRP correctly. Consequently, due dates were ignored, and MRP wasn’t used. With the Multiple Sales Order tool, it is easy to keep the due date current, which keeps MRP up to date. We can now use MRP successfully.”
Data Loaders also allow CoorsTek to standardize processes across the globe. Using the same Data Loaders in the four environments can make Sales Order processing more standard, which they wouldn’t have been able to do without the Multi Sales Order Loader. CoorsTek has also adopted additional Loaders that help them standardize other processes throughout the company.
“We’ve also embedded validations in the Data Loaders that actually keep people from making mistakes and automate some of the information,” Bob said. “We have found that nothing is impossible when it comes to 32 Soft. We use a number of their tools, and they have been an incredible success.” In addition to the Multi Sales Order Data Loader, CoorsTek uses the Purchase Order, Cycle Count, and Forecast Data Loaders. They are investigating some of the other 80+ available Data Loaders.
“Not only have we gained efficiency, accuracy, and consistency, but everyone you talk to within our organization who uses 32 Soft tools has given good feedback.”
Why It Matters
CoorsTek’s experience shows how a focused automation tool can deliver meaningful operational value. By simplifying order updates and improving consistency across teams, the company achieved a faster, more accurate, and easier-to-scale process.
For manufacturers managing complex order volumes and multiple systems, this kind of efficiency can make a real difference in day-to-day operations. It also gives teams more confidence in the data they rely on to plan, collaborate, and serve customers well.
Find out more about Multiple Sales Order Data Loader
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