FORE! All Star Lineup for the AFS Texas Regional

Howdy from Texas,

Need to get my ten gallon hat and boots spiffed up for the AFS Texas Regional in September, along with my golf clubs cleaned and polished.  I probably ought to get in a few rounds before then as well so I don't kill anyone three fairways over.   September, probably my ten gallon straw hat will be best, be too early and too hot for the fur hat, even though it is my favorite.  Of course, there is always my fine UK made Bowler hat, that might be an interesting combination of boots, jeans, wide belt, and a bowler... :)  Maybe strap my six shooter on as well?  :)

The AFS Texas team has brought together an all star line up for the sessions which will include the AFS President, "Hail to the Chief" Chris Norch, Stephanie Salmon of the AFS Government Affairs Office, and my good buddy Leo Baran who is the AFS Director of Membership Services.

Details will be at AFS TEXAS WEBSITE

Until next time, see you on down the road...

Shane Allen
Head of Synchro ERP North American Operations

Team Synchro ERP Elected to Four Year Term

Good morning from Texas,

The Texas Chapter of the AFS, American Foundry Society, www.afs-tx.org and www.afsinc.org, had the annual board meeting and family outing.  Unfortunately, due to prior commitments, I was unable to attend.   However, by unanimous vote, Team Synchro ERP was elected to a four year term on the board of directors.  My name is simply a "place holder" for the entire team behind the company.   Here are the comments from Eric Meyers Presidents of both Oil City Iron Works and the AFS Texas Chapter .  Until next time, see you on down the road and be safe out there.

Shane Allen
Synchro ERP Head of North American Operations

To Texas Chapter AFS members:

First, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jerry Nagel for his dedication in leading our Chapter this past year. Jerry’s commitment to our Chapter and industry was truly outstanding and while his physical presence will be greatly missed at our meetings and events, his passion and wonderful personality will always be with us.

As we carry on the successes of the past, we must continue our obligation and pledge to the education of our youth. The Texas Chapter’s continued commitment to the future of our industry is why supporting the education of our youth, especially those with an interest in the Metal Casting Industry, is a top priority.

We begin with many amazing accomplishments over the past year. The Texas Chapter has proven its commitment to education by not only exceeding every education fund goal, but also by recognition and awarding of the most scholarships ever in the Chapters history. It is humbling to see the true support of membership base when it comes to the future of our Chapter and our industry.  

The FEF Texas AFS Endowment fund reached its initial goal last year and only continues to grow. This endowment fund will insure a scholarship to a student at the Texas State University foundry program every year.   

Our schedule this year will continue to focus on education and key issues in our industry.  One of the biggest events in the upcoming year will focus on both technical issues and key issues facing our industry, the Texas Regional. In September the Texas Regional will be held in Arlington and a summary ad is attached. Registration information, pricing, and sponsorship availability will be posted  to our TXAFS website soon. We will again hold the Annual Leonard P. Rigamonti Memorial Scholarship / Endowment Fund Raiser Golf Tournament in Corsicana in April of 2015. We are all looking forward to the continued success of these events as they are both vital to informing our members of key events in the industry and in raising money for our scholarship programs in the Chapter.

Involvement and ownership in our meetings and events is key to the future success of our Chapter so as we move through this coming year, I look forward to seeing all of our members and youth at Chapter events.

It is a great responsibility to serve as your Chairman for the next year and I am looking forward to the opportunity to do so. Our current officers and directors will all serve this chapter well, as they are key components to its success.

At any time over the next year should you have questions, comments, or advice, please feel free to contact me at any time. Thank you for support over the past three years and for this opportunity to now serve as your Chapter Chairman.   

Again thank you, and I look forward to seeing you at all of our events throughout this upcoming year.

Eric R Meyers, Chairman

Texas Chapter AFS         

2014-2015 TEXAS AFS BOARD

CHAIRMAN

Eric R. Meyers

Oil City Iron Works

ermeyers@ociw.com

VICE-CHAIRMAN

Dan Smith

Southwest Steel Castings Co.

dsmith@swscc.com

SECRETARY

Larry Bailey

Henderson Manufacturing Co.

larry@hendersonmfgco.com

TREASURER

Steve Hodges

Canfield & Joseph, Inc.

shodges@canfieldjoseph.com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

TERM TO EXPIRE 2015

Claude Fair

Paul Hall

Brett Morehead

David Staton

Sidney Wirsing

TERM TO EXPIRE 2016

Ted Keen

Peter Macler

Ben Riley

Richard Surguy

Daniel Westhoff

TERM TO EXPIRE 2017

Shane Allen

Dr. Laura Bartlett

Owen Daniel

Johnny Hill, Jr.

Raymond Hawkins

At Large Directors

Aaron Gunderson

Chris Cofer

LOUSIANA DIRECTOR

Matt Loerwald

DIRECTOR EX-OFFICIO

Shawn Ingram

TEXAS TROUBLE SHOOTERS

Ted Keen

FEF DIRECTORS

Eric Ryan Meyers

Dan Yrigoyen

AFS NATIONAL BOARD PRESIDENT

Christopher Norch

TCMA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dr. Clifford Smith

TXAFS COMMITTEES 2014-2015

Memorial Committee – Shawn Ingram, Dan Yrigoyen, Tim Purcell

Nominating Committee – Owen Daniels, Paul Hall, Dan Yrigoyen, Bill Riley

Finance Committee – Ted Keen, Johnny Hill, Brett Morehead, Larry Bailey, Eric R Meyers

Advisory Committee – Shawn Ingram, Dan Yrigoyen, Tim Purcell, Bill Riley, Tim Schulz

Education Committee- Owen Daniel, Dan Smith, Dr. Laura Bartlett, Bill Riley, Matt Loerwald, RJ Hawkins

Membership Committee – Claude Fair, Owen Daniel, Peter Macler, Dan Smith

Publicity Committee – Shane Allen , Ben Riley, Eric R Meyers, Steve Hodges

2014-2015 Schedule of Events

August 15th, 2014 – Planning Meeting – Corsicana Country Club – Corsicana, TX

September 24th - 26th, 2014 – Texas Regional - Hilton Arlington – Arlington, TX

November 14th, 2014 – AFS Board Meeting/General Meeting – Choctaw Casino – Durant, Ok

January 30th, 2015 – AFS Board Meeting/ General Meeting – Sam Houston Race Park – Houston, TX

April 10th, 2015 – AFS Board Meeting/ General Meeting/ Golf Outing – Corsicana Country Club – Corsicana, TX

June 12th – 13th, 2015 – AFS Board Meeting / Family Outing – JW Marriott – San Antonio, TX 

You can find all of this information and more on our website at http://afs-tx.org/ .

Also, make sure to find us and like the Texas AFS page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TXAFS

  

Getting to know you more - Simon Adlington ...

What effort do you make in your life to look after your health on a frequent / daily basis?

I have severe arthritis in my knees and upper spine so I am limited to what I can do but when home I try to walk the dog as often as possible.

If money was no object – what would you do with a few million?

Work a little less (not sure I could retire) and play a little more. Spend the winters in a warmer climate and make life easier for family and friends.

What is the very best service you have ever experienced?

A service rep for United in Houston airport spent over an hour trying to find me a hotel to stay in when trapped there over night.

What is the worst service you have ever experienced?

Getting absolutely no help to get a hotel when trapped in Newark airport by bad weather and being stuck in the airport for over 15 hours. ( I guess I spend too much time fying!!!)

If you could have 5 people (dead or alive) over for a dinner party who would you choose?

With all the travelling I do I read a great amount, I would like to have great writers that can transport you to another place or time, My list would include:-

 Conn Iggulden

         Wilbur Smith

     Timothy Zahn

     JK Rowling

        Robert Ludlum

What item on your desk could you not live without?

Nothing

What part of your working day do you love?

Does not happen every day but I like new challenges.

If you could have a one of these super powers what would you choose and why – able to fly, invisibility, X-ray vision, Read peoples minds or super strength?

Fly... I fly a lot in planes but to be able to defy gravity would be a real thrill, but the superpower I would most like would be to teleport from place to place, I could then sleep in my own bed every night.

What was your favourite childhood toy?

Monopoly.

Marmite – Love it or Hate it?

Hate, Hate, Hate (I spend a few weeks working next to the plant that makes it in Derby and the smell when they cook up a new batch is the worst smell ever)

Interesting: SAGE 50 Adopts Synchro ERP Pricing Model

Good morning from a warm and sunny Texas where the monsoons of late have abated!

I have been doing some research on accounting solutions, especially the SAGE line of products and came across an article regarding the 2015 release of SAGE 50.

For good reasons, Synchro ERP does not include financials and accounting within the core modules of the software.

(1)  We are metalcasters and not accountants!

(2)  We know metalcasting and it is all we do day-in and day-out!

(3)  Metalcasters need a focused solution only on metalcasting.

(4)  All of our energies and R&D are focused on the metalcasting sector.  

(5)  Precious finite resources are expended on metalcasting and not on GAAP.

(6)  Accounting in the USA is not the same as accounting in Mexico, Canada, UK, Australia, Zimbabwe, and everywhere else that the software is installed.

(7)  The scale of the metalcaster determines the needs of an accounting solution.  Small metalcasters have a different set of needs than the medium or large metalcasters and we provide software from the smallest to the largest metalcasters.

(8)  Sarbanes Oxley requires special financial solutions 

(9)  Payroll requires exquisite handling and is fundamental to the accounting process.  Payroll varies from nation-to-nation, locale, city, state, county, and region.  When evaluating a solution, insure that payroll is included in the accounting solution so that you do not have to bolt on a payroll software.  Having personally supported a payroll system for years at Citation Lufkin Texas Foundries, the "issues" of 401K, child support, taxes at different levels and from different entities, electronic payment rules and transfers, 1099's, W2's, employees working in one state and living in another, etc. creates a very fluid complex situation.

(10) Fixed assets and fixed intangible assets, also known as non-current assets, for some metalcasters, is a critical piece of the financial solution.  If you are needing to track the depreciation schedule of PPE to determine the book value ie. [purchase price - depreciation], insure that the financial solution of choice supports this.

(11) The world is full of financial - accounting solutions that are written, developed, and supported by the "pros from Dover" accounting and financial specialists that are up-to-date on all of the laws and nuances of GAAP.  Why reinvent accounting and expend the precious finite resources on accounting when we can devote 100% to the needs of metalcasters?  

(12) The metalcasting software solution that we provide metalcasters interfaces smoothly and seamlessly with financial and accounting solutions for your AP, AR, and GL transactions from sales invoicing into AR and PO receipts into AP.

(13) With Synchro ERP - have the best of class of both worlds - metalcasting specific software and your choice of a financial - accounting solution that meets your needs!
(14) Our philosophy is to focus on what we do best, metalcasting, and let the accounting-financial solutions focus on what they do best!  

The article I referred to above on the SAGE 50 pricing model change can be found at http://blog.bestbusinessstrategies.net/new-changes-ahead-for-sage-50-2015-accounting-software/

and more information on how Synchro ERP supports the financial - accounting needs of metalcasters - please see Synchro ERP Financial Solutions  

Until next time, see you on down the road!

Shane Allen

Head of Synchro ERP North American Operations

MMI 2014 - Metal+Metallurgy China ...

A quick note to let all our Blog readers know we're still as busy as ever here at Synchro towers and we wanted to share the latest exhibition pictures and write up with you ...

Beijing  2014 Summary

The MMI 2014 - Metal+Metallurgy China was held at its familiar venue at the Exhibition centre in Beijing. This show organised by the Chinese Foundry Association is a well-known and trusted event in China and as such attracts many businesses from the Oceanic region if not the world. It therefore provided the perfect Launchpad to the official start of the association between Synchro ERP and Sage Software (Shanghai) China and was the opportunity to meet and greet old as well as new potential customers.

We thank everyone for coming to see us and their loyal support and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Xie Xie Ni from Synchro ERP

Hope you all have a great week - We will be back next week with our Getting to know you blog - Who will it be this time??

Draining the Swamp

 

Howdy from Texas where we are approaching Memorial Day weekend where we remember all of those that served and died in wars and conflicts throughout the world.

I just got off the phone with a sales lead that I've been chasing for a very long time.  Our conversation focused on the needs to be able to schedule the facility.  They have nothing really in place other than some Excel sheets, and they are so busy with work that they are having problems with missed customer delivery dates, not knowing true capacity, etc.  It made me think of the old alligator allegory that you see above.  One of their issues is that they are so busy they can not see towards the future.  The way you start to get ahead is to just slap one alligator at a time and toss out one shovel full of swap as you are battling off the alligators.

 

This in turn, reminds me of my days actually working in a swamp.  Yes, a real life Louisiana swamp full of alligators, leeches, cottonmouth snakes, and everything else you don't want to think about.  I was in the Atchafalaya Basin working for Chevron GeoSciences field crew Party#5 as a college student intern one summer.  Actually, I worked in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi for two summers and did another summer stint in the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming.   I was "lucky" as the majority of my time was spent on the survey crew so we had a lot of additional benefits and a more relaxed work environment.  We were out looking for oil, Texas tea! 

But, being on the survey crew I was the "rod man" that got to walk ahead through the swamp and setup points to "shoot the shot".  Most of the time, the surveyor kept his feet dry with boats and drive arounds.   We could shoot up to about two miles in the right conditions.  So, I'd swamp through the swamp for two miles and then he would join me.  We used a state of the art TI990 (Texas Instruments) Transport System for recording all of our survey data and plotting it out.

Believe it or not, the entire summer was spent in the Atchafalaya Basin and for that entire summer I never washed my work clothes.  I wore the same clothes, everyday all summer long.  Why?  Well, when by 7am you are waste deep in swamp, there is no point in having clean clothes to start out in.   I did have to buy new boots about once a month.   The pay was awesome for a college kid, we worked 12-14 hour days fourteen days on and seven days off.  Overtime in the states starts at forty hours so I was wracking up almost sixty hours a week of OT.  Plus, in addition to that, we got paid a daily rate for food and motel.  I have stayed in some of the most low down places around, but when all you are doing is working, all you need is a bed and a shower.

I'll share some pics with you from long ago - 1982ish.

Until next time, see you on down the road.  And yes, I've always wanted to go back into the swamp.  Just never had the opportunity.  The most enjoyable thing about being in this line of work was getting to drive the great big giant swamp vehicles.

It's all about China!

A quick update of our latest news for you here and its mostly China based ....

Our next Exhibition is ..

Jean-Marie will be attending along with our new China partnership agent Nicholas Choukroun for more information about this exhibition please click HERE

We are also pleased to announce a new partnership with Sage China ..

Synchro ERP Ltd is proud to announce a brand new 

partnership agreement with Sage Software Shanghai.

Whilst the Chinese market is proving very attractive to many potential suppliers, it is not an easy one to enter even with great products. To develop this important market and address the local challenges Synchro ERP has successfully entered into an exclusive Partnership agreement with Sage Software Shanghai.

Initially the agreement is for 2 years and will see our new partner offer its customers a complete software solution comprising of an ERP and accounting software. 

Synchro ERP will continue to deliver its high quality implementation technique and training as well as support however it is anticipated the relationship will mature to see Sage Software Shanghai take over these aspects in order to offer an even more comprehensive local solution.

To be associated with such a dynamic and success proven company who also shares the commitment to deliver the best customer satisfaction possible is a great honour and we all look forward to many years of serving new customers.

For all of our contact details please click HERE

Hope you are all well and have a great week.

Team Synchro ERP