Overview

pSince 1981, PGT Trucking has been a leader in flatbed transportation. Operating with a fleet of over 1,000 vehicles, they serve the steel, building materials, machinery, oil and gas, raw materials, aluminum, and automotive industries. Their service area includes the United States, Canada, and Mexico./p

Supernova Award Category

Tech Optimization and Modernization

The Problem

pPGT Trucking faced the challenge of extending the life of their legacy AS/400 ERP system. They did this by buying off the shelf solutions that ultimately caused disconnected processes and limited their ability to effectively customize the critical areas of their business that required differentiation to succeed./p pThese disparate systems ultimately created or exposed critical business process gaps, forcing PGT to explore several technical and non-technical solutions in hopes of resolving the need for manual interventions to complete business processes./p pA new off-the-shelf ERP technology would have been too costly and cumbersome to implement. Committing to continual customization of their outdated legacy systems would have further complicated their systems landscape. Hiring expensive highly skilled resources or up-skilling their current team on a number of additional technical tools was not going to scale and they would continue falling short of meeting the demand for modern streamlined digital processes they were experiencing throughout the business./p

The Solution

pAfter researching several low-code/no-code application development platforms, PGT chose Zudy to pilot an initial core application built in Zudy’s platform Vinyl™. Using Vinyl’s Lite Integration™, they were able to connect to their primary AS/400 system, and in minutes their business-critical data was being read in a relational format for the very first time./p

The results

pWeeks later, Zudy assisted PGT in deploying their first no-code solution – a cost and revenue accrual application that featured a standardized data model that became a gateway to integrating with many of the other third-party applications used by PGT.  Over the next several months with coaching from Zudy’s App Dev experts and with online and in-person training, PGT Trucking’s lone developer was empowered to build, manage, and maintain all their Zudy applications – whatever the implementation or use case. Today PGT has over 20 applications that span the enterprise, including a companywide intranet built entirely by PGT’s developer. These custom-built applications have realized hundreds of hours in time savings and have allowed PGT to unlock crucial insights from data leading to meaningful increases in margin and productivity./p

Metrics

p85% More efficient processes that took days down to hours for critical customizations./p p400% Faster building those customizations in Vinyl over existing legacy ERP systems./p p20 applications that span the enterprise, including a companywide intranet built entirely by PGT’s developer./p pConnected to AS/400 and six other core systems using Lite Integration w/no-code./p pCustom-built intranet accessible on any device, leveraging Vinyl’s responsive design./p pSeamless user authentication and provisioning with Active Directory./p pAutomated workflow and approvals using Vinyl Bridges./p pComplex financial reporting from multiple disparate systems all on one screen./p

The Technology

pstrongVinyl:/strong A no-code platform, Vinyl's built-in, patented Lite Integration™ allowed for connections to multiple data sources and integrated the data to the UI layer. Applications built on Vinyl can connect to web services and provide full CRUD operations to all data sources. Vinyl provided authentication with all security models as well as identity management, role-based security and Reach. In addition, there is full life cycle management with Dev/QA/Production release management./p

Disruptive Factor

p“Vinyl has enabled PGT to extend the life and enhance the value of our existing legacy systems while allowing us to take advantage of modern technology. We are now solving problems and accessing our data in ways that we previously didn’t think were possible”-GERRY HICKLY, Chief Administrative Officer/p

Shining Moment

pOver 200 internal users are now able to access a custom-built intranet that is accessible on any device on a single platform./p