eterna Mode enjoys lower administrative costs with Informix Dynamic Server 11

eterna was founded in Vienna in 1863. The high-quality shirts and blouses made by eterna Mode GmbH today are sold under the name eterna EXCELLENT. Based in Passau, Germany, eterna Mode supplies 5,500 retail customers around the world. Shirts and blouses are exported to 33 countries. Sales in 2007 totaled approximately 92 million euros. A total of 1,000 people are employed worldwide.

The current collection has around 2,000 shirts, 800 blouses and 160 tie variations. Behind it, there is a complex classification system. The ERP system must be able to display all of the following continuously: items, colors, shapes, sizes and optional features. Intermediate collections contribute hundreds of additional variations.

eterna Mode maintains a close working relationship with special retail outlets. They are provided with the best service through high availability, reliability and speed. eterna Mode’s own stores and franchise stores are connected with the central warehouse in Passau via EDI. Every sale automatically triggers a repeat order. Almost every variation can be delivered within 24 hours (NOS - Never Out of Stock).

Updating the ERP system with a powerful database platform

The business processes at eterna Mode are highly standardized yet also highly flexible and individual. And fast. This must be true for supply availability and readiness as well as for the launching of new products on the market. The previous, internally developed ERP solution was no longer able to meet these requirements. The administrative costs were too high. The software and hardware were outdated. The capacity and availability were no longer sufficient.

“We were looking for a new, complete solution for our special requirements,” reflects Johann Dura, IT Manager at eterna Mode GmbH. “We put together a list of specifications and evaluated several providers. Our internal and external processes needed to be optimized—from design to production to delivery.

“We wanted to be able to generate reports ourselves, without support from outside. Our production facilities needed to be linked online. And the system needed to be able to run in the existing UNIX® environment.”

eterna Mode decided on the ERP system AVM CLIENT-ORGA from IBM Business Partner AVM GmbH & Co. Softbase KG based in Aschaffenburg, Germany. AVM specializes in the clothing industry and clothing wholesale. The system is based on the IBM® Informix® Dynamic Server V11.10 (IDS) database software. Johann Dura explains, “We were convinced by the extensive industry expertise and technical know-how of AVM. And the powerful UNIX database server platform with Microsoft® Windows® clients.”

AVM CLIENT-ORGA satisfies the requirements

With standard modules, the integrated software package AVM CLIENT-ORGA already supports all of the management tasks in the various areas of the company: from the organization of customer and product master data, to order management and inventory management, to production, shipping and billing. For example, order management provides the data basis for inventory control. In materials management, projections are made from which requirements lists are generated. Inventories can be monitored by location. For customer-oriented ordering/production, the goods are allocated to the order items identified in the order during the goods receipt posting. Johann Dura brings up another important aspect of the application: “The flexible reporting system allows us to carry out a multitude of detailed analyses and to generate statistics.” AVM also handled the online connection of the external production facilities in the neighboring countries and the connections to the suppliers. “Now we can do things such as access up-to-the-hour production figures and trace items.”

Informix Dynamic Server with integrated High Availability Data Replication

IBM IDS middleware provides the technological foundation for AVM CLIENT-ORGA. IDS is the strategic database for complex, fast online transaction processing (OLTP). Due to the high performance, the users of the implemented modules of AVM CLIENT-ORGA are reliably supported. IDS has been used by AVM for a long time due to its efficiency, reliability and ease of administration. IBM IDS is designed for very fast write and read access in connection with the UNIX server. Johann Dura explains, “We need a reliable and stable high-performance database for our ERP system. AVM with IBM IDS 11 gives us that.”

eterna Mode uses the IDS Enterprise Edition. In addition to functions such as simultaneous security and recovery or simultaneous queries on different partitions, it also offers HDR (High Availability Data Replication). “With its ERP system and IDS, AVM has put together a good package for us,” emphasizes Johann Dura. “AVM’s experience with IDS and the decision to use it and no other database are criteria that are important to us for the reliability of the whole system. The AVM technicians have a great deal of experience with IDS and can help us immediately in most cases if we have any questions. It is comforting to know that experienced IBM Support is available for really difficult cases.” The job of eterna Mode’s IT Department is made easier by AVM’s close proximity for database and application support. The conversion to AVM CLIENT-ORGA and IDS was seamless after meticulous preparation. The system is stable and runs smoothly. AVM regularly helps eterna Mode with additional optimizations and settings.

For more information

Contact your IBM sales representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit us at: ibm.com/Informix

For more information on eterna Mode GmbH, visit: www.eterna.de/content/en/start.html

For more information on AVM GmbH & Co. Softbase KG, visit: www.avmsoftbase.de/en