Community Summit Europe 2020 Preview: Taming a global supply chain with Dynamics AX

Editor's Note: MSDynamicsWorld.com is collaborating with Community Summit Europe and extreme365 Europe 2020 to explore the events taking place the week of June 29.

In June, Microsoft Dynamics and Power Platform users will converge in Barcelona for the Community Summit Europe 2020. Michael Leitgeb, managing director for Austria-based ERP services provider XALAX, spoke with MSDW about his participation in the upcoming event.

Moving forward with AX

Michael began his career in ERP in the mid-1990s, working first with Navision and then Microsoft Dynamics AX for XAL in Graz, Austria. XAL is a strong and growing company in the lighting industry that first invested in Navision, then upgrading to Dynamics NAV 4.0 in 2006, and ultimately transitioning to Dynamics AX in 2013, after also weighing SAP.

XAL has always been on the lookout for the perfect ERP system that offers enough options for customizations enabling the company to realize all ideas. Michael explained that his team's constantly improving expertise with AX as a client led them to begin offering ERP services to other firms:

In 2014 we started the AX 2012 project together with an external Microsoft partner. We did a lot of customizations. Now we are live with 38 companies worldwide on one database and the project is at the home straight. During that project we built up a very strong internal ERP team gaining more and more competence and experience in ERP. As a result, we founded XALAX as an additional business unit within the XAL Group with a main focus on ERP services. We are working on the final rollout of XAL’s Asian companies. The outbreak of the Corona virus forced us to postpone some final steps, but we are optimistic that we may continue and finalize the rollout soon.

Now XALAX serves customers in the lighting, commodity, and furniture industries with a main focus on supply chain processes. This year marks Michael’s second time attending Community Summit Europe —his first visit was in 2018 — and he presents the member showcase “Automated and Digitalized End-to-End Process at XAL Group”. He will present how XALAX designed the processes along the supply chain, from configuring a product on XAL’s webpage via production and logistics to shipment and invoicing. He explained: