Amada Case Study

Outsourcing PHP application development for Infor System21

How Proximity support Amada’s UK operation with PHP application development for Infor’s System21

About the Company

Global metal processing manufacturer powered by Infor System 21

Amada manufactures metal cutting, forming, shearing and punching machines as well as software application, tooling and original spare parts for businesses right across the world.

Solving the resource problem

Having lost one of their main IBM i developers, Amada sought an outsourced, specialist IBM i provider

PHP on IBM i expertise

Unrivalled PHP on IBM i experience and expertise within Proximity's development team

Focus on other projects

Seen as an extension of Amada's IT team, the confidence in our IBM i services enables Amada to allocate resources to other projects

“The main issue that we had that we wanted to resolve was the resource problem. We needed someone that we could rely on, that we could contact anytime for support. We were looking for a team that could work well with the knowledge of the IBM i system, as well as PHP and (PHP Framework) Laravel.”

Amada

Infor System 21 powering operations

Amada’s UK operation managed through System 21

At the centre of Amada UK’s operation is Infor’s System 21, which handles, amongst other business functions, Amada’s accounts, sales and purchase ledgers, sales order processing, inventory management and stock control. A number of external, web-based third party applications also access data held in System 21.

Outsourcing IBM i support

Resolving Amada’s resource problem

Amada has used IBM i since 1996, but after losing one of their main in-house IBM i developers, Amada decided it would be more time and cost efficient to outsource aspects of their IBM i application development and support to an external specialist provider.

PHP application development

Expert in IBM i, PHP and Laravel wanted

Although Amada’s primary concern was ensuring that their chosen provider was familiar with the IBM i, they also wanted to find someone that could also develop applications on IBM i using PHP and web application Laravel in particular.

“Proximity had plenty of support staff that had the necessary experience that we were looking for PHP development. And we liked the type of companies that they were working with. They weren’t too small, but they weren’t too big. We’re confident that when we ask Proximity to do things for us, they get done. We don’t have to follow up on things and it just allows us to focus on other areas of the business.”

Amada