\\\ Manufacturing \\\ Success story
Best Theratronics puts in place a healthy IT regime with the help of QAD
B
est Theratronics, Ltd. is a leader in external beam therapy, used in the treatment of cancer, and self- contained irradiator products, used for the irradiation of blood to
prevent disease and for research purposes. Best Medical purchased Theratronics from MDS Nordian in July 2008, creating an extensive portfolio of radiotherapy and oncology products across eight divisions, as well as the newly branded company, Best Theratronics. The overall goal of the acquisition was to provide quality, affordable healthcare to a larger number of patients, including patients in developing regions of Asia and Africa. “We’re a business with a social agenda to revolutionise healthcare, to make it more accessible and affordable worldwide,” said Krishnan Suthanthiran, president of Best Medical. “This is another step towards achieving that goal. This also marks the beginning of our global fight against cancer.” Best Theratronics is now a valuable member of the TeamBest family of companies, manufacturing a wide range of radiotherapy products in locations around the world. In addition to its facilities in Ottawa, Canada, the TeamBest family of companies has manufacturing facilities in Dijon, France; Springfield, Virginia; Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Bristol, Rhode Island; Taunton, Massachusetts; Gilberts, Illinois; Nashville, Tennessee; and Norcross, Georgia.
Need for change
MDS Nordian centralised IT operations in 1998. As a result, divestiture of the Theratronics division in 2008 left the new business with no IT infrastructure – zero server, zero application and zero IT staff. “The president of Best Medical, Krishnan Suthanthiran, asked me to build an IT infrastructure for Best Theratronics in six months,” said Ron Gilmore, director of IT at Best Theratronics. “The infrastructure had to support current production as well as his plan to double production in a few years time.” With over 20 years of experience using QAD applications, Gilmore’s proficiency with QAD software gave him the confidence to lobby for the replacement of the existing business application suite at MDS Nordian with QAD Enterprise Applications. Gilmore added that he knew QAD would better support the company in the areas of configured products and job shop manufacturing.
Rapid implementation with continuous production and forecasted growth
Starting from ground zero, Best Theratronics evaluated its ERP options and the associated
“We’re a business with a social agenda to revolutionise healthcare, to make it more accessible and affordable worldwide.” – Krishnan
Suthanthiran, president of Best Medical.
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MANUFACTURING &LOGISTICS
IT December 2010
cost of servers and support staff. Best Theratronics was looking for a simplified implementation, quick deployment and turn key management to support its daily enterprise-wide operations in sales, production, logistics, services, purchasing, accounting and finance. To meet the urgent need for an enterprise solution that would keep production up and allow for rapid growth in the coming years, Best Theratronics chose to implement QAD Enterprise Applications using QAD On Demand— QAD’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering. QAD On Demand is a subscription-based application delivery model designed to reduce total cost of ownership and simplify applications management.
Best Theratronics deployed QAD Enterprise Applications using QAD On Demand and had the system up and running quickly through pre-defined application and environ - ment configurations to the medical equipment industry. The solution is secure and scalable, helping Best Theratronics to meet all the changing needs of its business. “We now have an IT staff of one supporting 70+ QAD software users,” explained Gilmore. “Our IT engineer’s job is not doing server and application maintenance – QAD On Demand does that well. I want my IT engineer to help users improve system utilisation so they can use QAD Enterprise Applications and all of its in-depth functionality with improved precision and accuracy. Thanks to QAD On Demand, now, that is what our IT engineer does.”
Easier manufacturing and instant productivity
By traditional ERP implementation standards, Best Theratronics completed its installation of QAD Enterprise Applications using QAD On Demand in record time and the company went live with its new system in January 2009. QAD On Demand is able to support >>
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