VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.), an ERP software provider, was named winner of the 2012 IBM Beacon Award for Outstanding Solution for Midsize Businesses. This honor is awarded each year to a select number of IBM Business Partners to recognize information technology excellence, commitment to skills attainment, industry knowledge and innovative solutions based on IBM technology and services.

“Achieving this prestigious award is such a tremendous honor for VAI as it supports our unwavering goal of providing the most advanced, flexible, and highly customized business solutions for the mid-sized enterprise market,” said Bob Vormittag, president and CEO of VAI. “As we continue to invest heavily in our technology, we look forward to furthering our long-standing partnership with IBM to develop truly innovative, next-generation ERP solutions, specifically designed to help our customers generate new revenue and save money while eliminating risk.”

The Beacon Awards are a central and vital element of IBM’s Business Partner recognition program. Announced at the IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, and selected by leading industry influencers and IBM executives from among hundreds of nominations, IBM's Beacon Awards recognize a select number of IBM Business Partners who have demonstrated business excellence in delivering IBM-based solutions resulting in client transformation and business growth. This year’s awards recognized Business Partner achievements across 27 award categories.

"Recipients of the 2012 IBM Beacon Award set the standard for business excellence, innovative solutions, ingenuity, and client transformation," said Mark Hennessy, general manager, IBM Global Business Partners and Midmarket. “We congratulate VAI on winning the Beacon Award for Outstanding Solution for Midsize Businesses and demonstrating its ability to provide value by incorporating a truly innovative, end-to-end ERP solution for the mid-sized market.”

(For more information about the IBM Beacon Awards, including information about winners and finalists, visit https://www-304.ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/ContentHandler/pw_com_prb_beacon.)

Meanwhile, VAI announced that Comax Flavors has implemented its S2K Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions to centralize its databases and information systems while allowing information retrieval from one source. VAI S2K Software has helped Comax improve the accuracy and speed of sales and inventory reporting as well as manage data in real-time across its manufacturing and accounting functions, the company said.

VAI, an IBM Business Partner renowned for its proven ERP software for distribution, food, retail and manufacturing industries, implemented the Comax solution on IBM Power™ Systems with IBM I operating system, featuring the following VAI S2K Enterprise applications:

• S2K Financial Management
• S2K Distribution Management
• S2K Manufacturing Management
• S2K Customer Relationship Management
• S2K Warehouse Management

Melville, N.Y.-based Comax Flavors is a world leader in proprietary flavors technology, offering a full range of both traditional and innovative flavors to thousands of food manufacturers worldwide. Comax specializes in flavor improvements for healthy foods and customized solutions for every food and beverage challenge. Given the nature of their business, Comax relies heavily on batch processing and requires a solution that can integrate large volumes of data from manufacturing, operations and accounting on a single screen.

“With VAI S2K software in place, our teams are all on the same page,” said Laura Ferrante, director of administration, Comax Flavors. “Previously, information from manufacturing, accounting and operations was dispersed on multiple spreadsheets. VAI S2K connects multiple data sets from different departments, which has significantly improved our forecasting and overall business results.”

“By integrating Comax’s databases, S2K software made data retrieval easier and faster while providing more accurate information for sales and inventory reporting,” said Tony Milano, eastern region territory manager, VAI. “We were excited to partner with Comax, a highly successful, family-owned Long Island business and we look forward to assisting them now and in the long-term.”

A leading innovator and manufacturer of flavors and aroma chemicals, Comax Flavors is a full-service, family-owned company which has served the needs of clients in the food and beverage industries for more than 30 years.

Comax offers a wide range of flavors, from sweet to dairy and from savory to bakery goods, along with specialized masking and good-health flavors. In particular, Comax has a well-earned reputation for commercial success in the area of health and wellness products. For more information, visit www.comaxflavors.com.