Case Study
Machinage Piché: Buyers 25x More Productive thanks to Axya and Genius ERP
Apr 7, 2025
Company Background
Established in Quebec, Canada, Machinage Piché is a leading designer and manufacturer of custom automated equipment for the wood processing industry. For over 40 years, the company has distinguished itself through its expertise and tailored solutions, optimizing every stage of secondary wood processing with innovative sawing and planing lines.
Problem Encountered
Before integrating Axya, Machinage Piché already used Genius ERP to manage procurement but sought to further streamline tasks relative to ongoing purchase orders (POs) and requests for quotations (RFQs). While Genius ERP provided a robust foundation for manufacturing operations, buyer’s day-to-day interactions with suppliers were primarily managed via emails, outlook tasks and archived by printing files or by storing thousands of files in their local networks. This fragmented approach made internal collaboration challenging, required a lot of manual tasks, and left important data living outside of Genius ERP, which made the implementation of supplier optimization strategies (processes and performance reviews) particularly difficult.
To complement Genius ERP and further streamline procurement operations, Machinage Piché adopted Axya, a fully integrated Genius third-party application. Axya is a collaborative platform designed for manufacturing procurement teams, to enable process automation, centralization, and improved supplier collaboration.
Objectives and Expectations
More concretely, Machinage Piché aimed to:
Reduce purchase order processing time
Improve visibility and centralize information
Simplify internal task delegation
Enable better supplier tracking and evaluation
Automate ERP data-entry
Optimizing Procurement Efficiency with Genius ERP and Axya
By integrating Axya with Genius ERP, Machinage Piché significantly increased buyer productivity through centralization and automation. The synergy between the two systems enhanced end-to-end visibility, eliminated non-value-added tasks, and ensured that Genius ERP maintained the most accurate, up-to-date information on ongoing orders and supplier part pricing. This enabled a smoother procurement workflow while maintaining full integration with Genius ERP’s core functionalities, and was achieved through four key improvements:
Smart follow-up automations trigger proactive email check-ins with suppliers, ensuring that all ongoing orders stay on track and that due dates in Genius ERP remain accurate and up-to-date.
Centralized dashboards consolidate all ongoing POs and RFQs with smart statuses, empowering buyers to stay proactive, collaborate efficiently, and engage directly with suppliers - all from a single, unified view.
AI-powered PDF reading technology to automate the interpretation of supplier files, such as quotes or order confirmations.
Seamless Genius ERP integration, enabling real-time data synchronization between Genius and Axya - ensuring that any updates from Genius ERP are instantly shared with suppliers, while supplier updates are automatically reflected back in Genius for accurate and up-to-date records.
Benefits and Results Achieved
Within weeks, the solution was successfully deployed with over four buyers. A few months later, Machinage Piché reported the following key improvements:
25x more efficient, thanks to process optimization (Reducing order processing time from 50 minutes down a couple of minutes).
Increased real-time visibility on order statuses and supplier KPIs, which facilitates Machinage Piché’s strategic planning.
Easier delegation among colleagues - buyers, supervisors, and operations staff.
No more manual data-entry, thanks to PDF reading and ERP integration.
A more intuitive and efficient procurement process, even for employees less familiar with technology.
Integration Process with Genius ERP
The integration of Axya with Genius ERP was completed smoothly and in just 45 minutes, requiring only minor adjustments. This seamless setup was made possible by the technological partnership between Axya and Genius. This enabled Machinage Piché to quickly leverage automation benefits without extensive training, nor the need for specialized IT support.
Testimonials
Maude Guénette, IT Business Analyst at Machinage Piché:
"Since we've been using Axya, even some of our suppliers have become more proactive! And most importantly, we save an incredible amount of time thanks to automated supplier PDF reading and process automation. It's truly magical."
According to Maude, Axya's customer support is also a major asset. Always attentive and responsive, it effectively supports the company in the continuous optimization of its processes.
Conclusion
The integration of Axya within Genius ERP’s core procurement functions has transformed procurement management at Machinage Piché. By optimizing processes, reducing manual work, enhancing visibility, and improving supplier collaboration, the team can now focus on strategic initiatives.
