Rockwell Automation Increases Value With SPA

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), is dedicated to industrial automation and information. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 22,000 people serving customers in more than 80 countries.


Strategic Pricing Associates (SPA) provided Rockwell’s US, European, Asian, and Latin American businesses with their Product Sensitivity Profiling to build list prices using a market-sensitive approach focused on limiting discounting to products where discounting is demonstrated to produce results. Using SPA’s proprietary Price Indexing methodology, they helped Rockwell improve its contract renewal process by identifying leakage points.


SPA also developed a Distributor Strategic Pricing program for the Rockwell channel prices based on market value, not cost, resulting in increased profitability. Leading distributors, including OneSource, Van Meter, Codale, Reynolds Company, Fromm and Revere Electric have completed this program.


Said Tim McCarthy, Global Director of Contracts & Pricing, "Because a significant amount of our business is under agreements, we were going from year to year realizing little to no price yield, year over year. Within a 3-4 month period of starting the analysis with SPA, we saw significant gains. Now we are applying what we’ve learned to Latin America, Asia Pacific and are working through the process a second time for U.S. pricing. And we expect to see more improvements in our business."


To read more, visit the SPA Newsroom.


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Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Distribution Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Distribution_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016DSG

Manufacturing Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Manufacturing_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016MFG

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.

Rhee Bros. Drives Growth With Blue Ridge

Rhee Bros, a leading Pan-Asian food-service distributor, has selected Blue Ridge technology to improve demand planning, forecasting and inventory allocation to solve supply chain challenges associated with global food-service distribution. From food-service to retail, Rhee Bros. carries thousands of Asian products. Based outside of Baltimore, MD, they serve over 800 customers from independent Asian retailers to U.S. food distributors.


Said Kevin Rhee, director of operations at Rhee Bros. “To effectively manage the global sourcing and distribution challenges associated with short shelf life products, long lead times and seasonality, we felt Blue Ridge was uniquely qualified to provide supply chain planning technology that improves forecast accuracy and reduces overstocks, enabling us to meet customer demand.”


Blue Ridge connects the supply chain to customer demand, enhancing customer experience by ensuring products are available at the right time and place without excessive investments in inventory and logistics. With advanced technology and predictive analytics, organizations define specific business goals and receive a calculated, optimized plan with action-ready recommendations to improve financial performance and increase service levels. Food-service distributors benefit from a solution that automatically considers the effects of variable lead times, seasonality, perishables, deal management, promotions and other factors that impact today’s distributors.


Named a leader in the 2016 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning Systems, Blue Ridge provides cloud-native supply chain planning technology specifically designed for retail and distribution. To learn more about the Rhee Bros. implementation and read additional case-studies and white papers, visit the Blue Ridge Newsroom.


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Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Distribution Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Distribution_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016DSG

Manufacturing Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Manufacturing_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016MFG

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.

Brooks Forgings Makes Competitive Gains With ECi M1

Brooks Forgings, a leading manufacturer of forged, fabricated and machined components, is using M1 ERP from ECi Software Solutions to help its business evolve and succeed in a fiercely competitive marketplace.

Established in 1960, Brooks Forgings offers a diverse range of manufacturing processes from a new and dedicated 45,000 sq ft facility based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, UK. This is supported by a newly refurbished warehouse facility nearby housing over 2500 pallets of stock comprising standard items and specials for customer call-off orders. The company’s in-house manufacturing capacity not only ensures full traceability and quality of components, but also reduces reliance on subcontractors.

In 2003, Brooks replaced their existing ERP system with ECi M1. More than a decade later, M1 has become an integral part of operations at Brooks Forgings and, with the introduction of additional modules every year, is gradually automating greater parts of the company’s day-to-day business functions.

ECi M1 is an ERP software solution designed for growing manufacturers. It automates and integrates every business process from quoting through invoicing and point of sale (POS). The system is both flexible and easy to customize.


Competitive Gain

M1 has provided Brooks with the essential functions that help manufacturers achieve competitive gain. These include: scheduling production to efficiently make use of resources; managing production jobs through job costing; controlling inventory of raw materials, finished goods and sub-assemblies; analyzing pre- and post-sales activities; maintaining contact details for customers and suppliers; and ensuring quality and managing warranties.

Says Financial Director Adrian Brooks, “While it’s difficult to quantify the exact savings delivered by M1, there is no doubt in my mind that the software has helped this business achieve greater turnover in the past 10 years – during the worst recession in history – without vastly increasing our sales or clerical team. Furthermore, M1 will continue to be an asset moving forwards. We shall have more accurate data collection allowing us to move jobs around more quickly and plan for bottlenecks, while at the same time accounting for unforeseen costs.”


To learn more, visit ECi's Customer News page.


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(Direct link, http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2016_Mid_Year_Supplement.pdf)

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Distribution Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Distribution_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016DSG

Manufacturing Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Manufacturing_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016MFG

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.

King Plastic Protects Manufacturing Investments With Tribridge

Founded in 1968 and based in North Port, Florida, King Plastic is a leading manufacturer of polymer sheets, slabs, and massive shapes used in applications ranging from marine craft to food service products.


Seeking to centralize accounting and financial reporting, streamline its manufacturing operations, and improve customer service, King Plastic worked with Tribridge to implement Microsoft Dynamics® GP and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Founded in 1998, Tribridge is a technology services firm specializing in business applications and cloud solutions for mid-market and enterprise customers.


To maximize its return on investment, King Plastic also enrolled in the Business Ready Enhancement Plan and Software Assurance for Microsoft Dynamics. Through these offerings, the company gained access to CustomerSource, an online training and technical support resource. King Plastic uses the knowledge base and e-learning tools on the CustomerSource Web site to flatten IT support costs, increase productivity, and improve change management.

Additional Business Benefits Included:
•Predictable IT support costs
•Increased productivity
•Improved capacity for change management




To learn more about Tribridge's solutions for the manufacturing sector, visit the Tribridge Newsroom.


New Software Research Guides Available

Finding that you cannot keep up with all the changes in the latest software?

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Read our Mid-Year Supplements.

(Direct link, http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2016_Mid_Year_Supplement.pdf)

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Distribution Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Distribution_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016DSG

Manufacturing Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Manufacturing_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016MFG

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.

North Coast Electric Enhances Analytics With MITS

Seattle-based North Coast Electric, founded in 1913, is a family-owned electrical distributor with 34 locations across the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Arizona. The company, consistently ranked in the top 25 electrical distributors by Electrical Wholesaling, supplies a wide range of electrical equipment to the electrical contractor, factory automation, industrial maintenance/repairs/operating and commercial and institutional markets.


North Coast Electric decided to replace a 20-year-old legacy business system with Epicor Eclipse, a full-range enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution designed specifically for distributors. To ensure both security and efficient operation of their Eclipse system, North Coast requires all analysis and reporting be conducted on a separate server, housing access-tuned data to be synchronized daily with the operational system.


Fortunately, MITS’ solution can be deployed in this fashion, creating “hypercubes”—analytics-ready data environments—and “report sources” used for creating operational reports, all stored separately from operational data.


Results:
MITS Distributor Analytics provides North Coast with actionable information and insights. Business users are able to access, create and customize reports themselves, and convert them into Microsoft® Excel®, PDF files or e-mails, freeing the company’s IT personnel for more complex tasks. By moving the bulk of their report processing to a dedicated MITS Report server, 90 percent of North Coast’s reporting is now done away from the Eclipse server.


Many of the refinements to MITS Discover and MITS Report, made at North Coast’s request, reflect a proven business model that can be leveraged by other MITS customers in the distribution world and beyond.


To learn more about MITS Distributor Analytics, visit their Customer Case Studies page.


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Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Distribution Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Distribution_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016DSG

Manufacturing Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Manufacturing_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016MFG

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.

Chelford Farm Supplies Boosts Earnings With Vision33

Established in 1975, Chelford Farm Supplies provides equestrian clothing and footwear, farm supplies and feed, garden and forest machinery and shooting equipment, clothing and ammunition throughout the United Kingdom.


In addition to a brick and mortar outlet, Chelford also operates a successful online store. To keep up with the latest equestrian brands and farming products meant cycling through stock three times a year. However, by time the inventory grew to over 24,000 products the company needed a business tool to increase their capacity for managing more inventory without increasing the number of employees.


Chelford knew it needed a new business management application and spent time carefully evaluating many applications on the market. Say Sarah Kranz, finance director, Chelford Farm Supplies. “SAP Business One comes with a fantastic reputation; it really does what it says on the box. After seeing a software demonstration, we were impressed by its flexibility and ability to integrate with our retail and online business”.


Vision33’s dedicated support team mapped out the company’s requirements; integration points with its web store, MRP requirements and identifying manual processes that could be automated. The implementation took just a few months and after the go-live, the results were immediate. With full purchase ordering through receiving and invoicing the company has identified thousands of pounds in discrepancies. But for Chelford the biggest benefit was in the amount of time saved. “We can now spend more time on value-added tasks instead of things like manual data input”, explains Kranz. “If we were doing a payment run for our suppliers it used to take the whole day. Now with SAP Business One that same process takes half an hour”.


To learn more, visit Vision33's Customer News page.


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Finding that you cannot keep up with all the changes in the latest software?

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(Direct link, http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2016_Mid_Year_Supplement.pdf)

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Distribution Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Distribution_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016DSG

Manufacturing Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Manufacturing_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016MFG

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.

Europe Watch Group Selects NetSuite For Global Growth

Europe Watch Group BV, the official worldwide distributor of the CLUSE and Cortese watch brands to customers and retailers in 120 countries, has recently selected NetSuite OneWorld to support its global expansion plans. Europe Watch Group plans to run its mission-critical business processes on NetSuite including accounting, financials, inventory management, order management, multi-currency, reporting and analytics.

Founded in 2013 and based in Amsterdam, the company’s management quickly recognized that the rapid growth of the company was limited by software constraints. Accounting, fulfillment, and ecommerce were siloed processes, leading to a great deal of error-prone, repetitive and manual tasks.


After considering a variety of solutions, Europe Watch Group selected NetSuite OneWorld. NetSuite OneWorld will give the company insights into manufacturing operations in China and fulfillment partner and warehouse inventories around the world. The company is planning to open warehouse locations in Hong Kong and the United States soon, and NetSuite's cloud architecture will make it easy to deploy to new facilities.


Europe Watch Group now sells over 1 million watches annually and expects to multiply that volume in the near future. The centralized record keeping and analysis in NetSuite will make it easier for management to understand growth and demand patterns, and better respond to market opportunities.


NetSuite provides a suite of cloud-based financials/Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software that runs the business of more than 30,000 companies, organizations, and subsidiaries in more than 100 countries. To learn more, visit the NetSuite Newsroom.


New Software Research Guides Available

Finding that you cannot keep up with all the changes in the latest software?

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Please contact snelson@bswllc.com for more information about these latest editions.

Read our Mid-Year Supplements.

(Direct link, http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2016_Mid_Year_Supplement.pdf)

Developed through a partnership with Industrial Distribution, Industrial Supply, Contractor Supply Magazine and Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services, these 12 page Supplement Guides provide valuable, independently researched information. Each Guide details software company information, identifies vertical markets, highlights functions and technology features, new developments to the software package, shows graphs of the user range, basic entry price point, sales channel (how and where the software is sold), along with company contact information. The Supplement Guides provide everything you need to know when beginning your software selection and evaluation process.

Distribution Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Distribution_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016DSG

Manufacturing Software Guide: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/2016_BSW_Manufacturing_Interactive_Website_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadInteractive&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2016MFG

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard.