MAC-PAC XE™ and BuyDesign® Users Gather at 10th Annual TDCI Customer Forum

Perspectives 2007 Marks 10th TDCI MAC-PAC User Meeting

Perspectives 2007, held September 16-19 in Columbus, was by all accounts another very successful TDCI Customer Forum. With over 150 attendees from more than 50 companies, customer attendance once again grew over 30% from the previous year. The number of complementary solution providers was also up over 2006.

This year's Customer Forum was the 10th annual TDCI user conference. The first conference was the initial TDCI-run MAC-PAC user meeting held in 1998 shortly after TDCI took over customer support from Andersen Consulting. TDCI acknowledged several attendees who attended every TDCI conference throughout the 10-year period! Congratulations to those individulas!

New Location

This year's conference was held at the Columbus Marriott Northwest Hotel in suburban Dublin, Ohio – a new location attendees liked very much. The facilities, food and service all helped make the conference very productive and enjoyable.

Extensive Agenda

With a theme of ‘Making a Difference', the conference agenda featured:

• Update and direction presentations on TDCI, MAC-PAC XE, and BuyDesign.
• Over 30 sessions, including new solution demonstrations, existing solution tutorials, ‘hot topic' sessions, 3rd party solution overviews, roundtable discussions, and user input sessions.
• The annual MAC-PAC XE User Advisory Board (UAB) meeting, and a meeting to form a similar BuyDesign UAB.
• A Solution Center with over 15 TDCI and 3rd party solution demonstration stations.
• Optional Sunday classes on both MAC-PAC XE and BuyDesign.

A number of companies presented their strategies and successes throughout the agenda, including: Compac, Kolbe & Kolbe Millworks, Maysteel, Quaker Windows, and Watlow Electric. Case studies were also presented on: Metal Windows, Salton, Southern Staircase, and VT Industries.

Featured MAC-PAC XE and BuyDesign Solutions

Attendees were encouraged to ‘make a difference' within their companies with a number of new and featured solutions demonstrated at the conference:

For MAC-PAC XE users:

• MAC-PAC XE Priority Manager – an advanced production management solution that uses existing MAC-PAC XE data in new ways to provide clear visibility of demand-driven priorities, pull-based scheduling support, simulation and analysis.
• Insights for MAC-PAC XE Inventory Analytics – a new Insights application that provides the information to optimize inventory levels; understand and improve inventory turns; spot trends in inventory balances; consolidate and analyze inventory transactions; find excess, obsolete, and slow moving inventory; and more.
• BuyDesign Configurator for MAC-PAC XE – an intuitive new “point & click” browser-based configurator and visual rules development environment that integrates advanced configuration capabilities directly into standard MAC -PAC XE order entry functions.

For BuyDesign Users:

• BuyDesign 5.0 Channel Sales and Configurator – the newest release of BuyDesign, now available with many new or enhanced configuration, quoting, deployment, and system management features.
• BuyDesign Build-Your-Own and Spec-In - new applications to extend sales influence to end customers and professional designers.
• BuyDesign Flex2D – the newest BuyDesign visualization tool for g enerating display images, print images, AutoCAD design blocks, and annotated sales drawings.

Customer Showcase

Another special aspect of this year's conference was the ‘Customer Showcase' where many companies displayed examples or information about their respective products. Items shown ranged from equipment, machinery, and a variety of industrial products, to consumer products, building products, and luxury yachts. Participating companies included:

• A.T. Cross Company
• Ashworth Bros., Inc.
• Carver Boat Corporation
• Champion Aerospace
• Compac Corporation
• Cosmolab Inc.
• Draper, Inc.
• Eggers Industries, Inc.
• Kolbe & Kolbe Millwork Co, Inc.
• LASCO Fittings, Inc.
• Link-Belt Construction Equipment
• Maysteel LLC
• Plain & Fancy Custom Cabinetry
• Robertshaw Industrial Products
• The Ruskin Company
• Salton, Inc.

User-to-User Networking

An aspect of the conference that is always just as important as the formal agenda is the chance to network informally with other users, TDCI people, and solution partner representatives. This year was no exception with opportunities to meet and talk during the Sunday Welcome Reception, the Monday Solution Center reception, the Tuesday dinner event, meals and breaks each day, and the ever-popular hospitality suite each evening.

Customer Awards

In the closing session, awards were presented for various types of achievements and activities. Companies receiving awards included: Accurate Partitions, Ashworth Bros, CertainTeed Pacific Windows, Compac, Cosmolab, Draper, Eggers, ERICO, LASCO, Moss Supply Company, Ruskin, Therma-Tru Doors, VT Industries, and Watlow Electric.

10th Conference Celebration Dinner

The Tuesday evening dinner event was a celebration of a decade of annual TDCI user meetings. In addition to great food and drinks, and a short talk from TDCI CEO Rhonda DeMuth, attendees were kept laughing with roving entertainment and a fast-paced after-dinner comedy show.

A Valuable and Fun Event for All

All-in-all, the conference was a valuable and fun event for everyone involved. Attendee comments included:

“It's one of the best conferences I've ever attended, particularly when you consider the fee versus value received. The facilities and accommodations were excellent. I congratulate TDCI and its staff for a job well done in presenting Perspectives 2007. I would strongly encourage anyone in your customer base to attend the next one!!”

“I really enjoyed the TDCI customer forum in Columbus, Ohio last week. TDCI did a wonderful job coordinating it and the hotel was terrific.”

“Great opportunity to meet TDCI staff and discuss issues.”

“It was terrific!”

If you have any suggestions for future conferences, please send them to Sharon Binkley at sbinkley@tdci.com.

Plan now for Perspectives 2008

Be sure to plan to bring a team to next year's TDCI Customer Forum. Watch MAC-PAC XE eNews and the TDCI web site for dates and more information.