Radwell International Overcomes Industry Disruptions With Epicor

Established in 1979, Radwell International is a family-owned company headquartered in New Jersey. Known for being an industrial distributor with a large line of industrial automation products, Radwell serves customers globally and has offices in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Radwell had multiple systems to support their needs, rather than something centralized. With information scattered all over the place, they knew that they needed a turnkey solution. That's why Radwell partnered with Epicor and implemented the Prophet 21 ERP system, a cloud-ready business system for distributors.

At the most basic level, Epicor allows Radwell International to scan, capture, retrieve and store documents digitally in a central location. Having this content stored and accessible electronically allowed their entire organization to improve collaboration, increase efficiency, and enhance security

"We've been able to process orders faster. We've been able to collect cash faster," John Janthor, Vice President of Information Technology, said. "We have been able to grow revenue more efficiently."

One of Radwell International's biggest challenges is competing with industry giants like Amazon. Yet now, with a 30 to 40% faster pick ratio, the organization can offer same-day shipping. As a result, the company can use the energy that was spent on picking and use it to scale the business. Now their stellar customer service makes them stand out from the big box competition.

"Now we're using robotics in our warehouses," Janthor said. "This is what allows us to place orders and ship the same day." Here's how it works: The system stores 50,000 bins in a small space. When an order comes through, it is dispatched to the Swisslog warehouse system through Prophet 21. It is in then immediately delivered to a picker, who stands at a station and the product comes to them. They turn around, put it in a box, and it goes to their automatic labeling and shipping system. "It's been a huge increase in efficiency," Janthor said.

Learn more on the Epicor Newsroom. 

For the 2019 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guide:

http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Distribution_Manufacturing_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Guide

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services at http://www.software4distributors.com and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard, visit http://www.software4distributors.com/compare/default.aspx.

Also, read our 2019 Mid-Year Supplements at http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Mid_Year_Supplement_Blog.pdf?utm_source=DownloadPDF&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Supp.

Developed through a partnership with 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.

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GEB Distribution Improves Margins With SPA

George E. Booth Co. is a $30 million distributor based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They have 40 employees and cover a four state area including Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. With a customer base of 1200-1500 in five major segments, they sell process instrumentation products and automated valves and piping.

Says Alan Peterson, General Manager of George E. Booth Co. about the company's experience working with SPA, "Clearly, everyone partners with SPA to improve margin and increase profitability. And we saw those improvements. SPA helped us shift away from cost-plus pricing to a more rational, value-based pricing approach that delivered immediate benefit. But there were other significant, longer-term benefits too. We now have a strategic process and plan in place for future pricing decisions, and we know how to do it. Additionally, going through this process has improved our culture and relationships and created closer connections between management and our employees. SPA has been a great teacher. They encouraged us to ask questions and always made sure we understood what they were doing. We learned a lot about pricing in the process, and we will continue to push forward and do this better with each pricing change." 

To learn more, visit the SPA Newsroom.

For the 2019 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guide:

http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Distribution_Manufacturing_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Guide

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services at http://www.software4distributors.com and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard, visit http://www.software4distributors.com/compare/default.aspx.

Also, read our 2019 Mid-Year Supplements at http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Mid_Year_Supplement_Blog.pdf?utm_source=DownloadPDF&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Supp.

Developed through a partnership with 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.

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Rutherford Controls International Hits Growth Targets With Blue Link

Rutherford Controls International (“RCI”) focuses on providing architectural hardware, locksmith, and security markets with the best in electric locks, door hardware, and access control products. RCI’s emphasis is on customer service, technical expertise and providing innovative electric locking hardware to the industry.

RCI set out to develop an infrastructure that would position the company for projected rapid growth over the next few years. The first challenge was to implement a distribution and wholesale software management system flexible enough to adapt to many of their unique business processes, which had become their competitive advantages over the years. The solution also had to be scalable in order to handle their growth. Current systems were functioning at an acceptable level, but management realized that if they were going to accomplish their significant growth targets, these systems had to be consolidated into one integrated application to reduce data duplication and human intervention.

RCI purchased Blue Link ERP as its business software management system. A key requirement of RCI was that their historical data had to be transferred to Blue Link. To accomplish this task Blue Link developed a data conversion tool to convert all of their data from their existing application.

Since the implementation of Blue Link ERP, RCI has been a success story and has achieved its growth targets, with Blue Link supporting them through the process. RCI has undergone several additional custom projects to map the system functionality to their changing business processes. RCI has been able to take advantage of new functionality as it is added to Blue Link ERP, completing two version upgrades incorporating their PerfectFit customization.

“Blue Link’s software and professional expertise have been major factors in the success of our company over the past three years. We have come to regard Blue Link as partners in our business.” – Andy McDougall, RCI Solution

Learn more by visiting the Blue Link Newsroom. https://www.bluelinkerp.com/case-studies/

For the 2019 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guide:

http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Distribution_Manufacturing_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Guide

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services at http://www.software4distributors.com and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard, visit http://www.software4distributors.com/compare/default.aspx.

Also, read our 2019 Mid-Year Supplements at http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Mid_Year_Supplement_Blog.pdf?utm_source=DownloadPDF&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Supp.

Developed through a partnership with 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.

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Sun Mountain Sports Optimizes Inventory With SYSPRO

Sun Mountain Sports is a golf industry pioneer that has revolutionized products like golf bags, performance outerwear, golf travel bags and push carts. The company markets the well-known Eclipse brand of outerwear, as well as 15 other brands. Additionally, through its embroidery division, Sun Mountain Sports is the partner of choice of more than 600 colleges and high-schools. The company has approximately 130 employees and 35 independent representative firms in the U.S. and Canada.

Rapid growth made it increasingly difficult to handle the greater influx of orders, many of which are customizable. It was time for the patchwork of smaller packaged and internally coded solutions to be replaced by a world-class ERP solution. Unnecessary manual processes, no automated integration of systems, and a lack of timely visibility into any of the company’s key performance indicators was holding Sun Mountain Sports back and sapping precious bottom-line profits.

Once Sun Mountain Sports was installed on SYSPRO, things started to change rapidly for the better, according to Vincent Chong, Information Technology Manager, who has been with the company for 20 years. Chong identified three key areas where the company can clearly substantiate manpower savings, namely, financials, orders/ inventory and shipping.

Improvements by Functional Area 

• Automated Sales Order to General Ledger Postings: “We saw a manpower savings of three hours a day by not having to manually post sales orders via Excel to the general ledger, so that was the first place we noted savings,” Chong said. 
• Bill-to-Promise Order Visibility/Accuracy: “SYSPRO gives us instant visibility into what’s available at any point in time in our warehouse for shipping, so that when customers place an order we can match up the promised shipping date and the billing date,” Chong explains. “So, for example if a customer wants 10 C130 golf bags by a certain date – we know if we can or can’t deliver by that date. This is both an efficiency tool AND a customer satisfaction tool. ”
• Better Shipping Management: As one of Montana’s largest shippers by volume, distribution of product to customers has a key impact on Sun Mountain Sports’ bottom line. “We use Federal Express Ship Manager and it used to be a manual process to write details of the shipping information back into our IT systems,” explains Chong. “With SYSPRO, shipping information is entered once for freight lines used and cost of each order.” 

Using SYSPRO ERP, Sun Mountain Sports estimates it has saved thousands of worker hours based on new efficiencies in the company’s sales order, inventory management, and shipping management. Additionally, new visibility into key sales data and trends has helped Sun Mountain Sports to better target its most profitable market niches by product and geographies, and accordingly adjust sales commission plans quickly and easily.


Learn more at the SYSPRO News Room.

For the 2019 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guide:

http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Distribution_Manufacturing_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Guide

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services at http://www.software4distributors.com and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard, visit http://www.software4distributors.com/compare/default.aspx.

Also, read our 2019 Mid-Year Supplements at http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Mid_Year_Supplement_Blog.pdf?utm_source=DownloadPDF&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Supp.

Developed through a partnership with 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.

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Ganz Streamlines Tax Processes With Avalara

Ganz is a Toronto, Ontario based wholesale company and manufacturer of gift-ware, home décor items and plush toys, that also sells goods and services through an interactive website with games, memberships, and affiliated products to youth markets.

Because Ganz sells interactive kids’ games, they must comply with complex sales tax regulations. Most of their interactive audience is in the U.S, but their international reach introduces different sales tax and VAT rules for all the jurisdictions.

Before partnering with Avalara, the company used a solution that was costly, tedious to maintain and had to be hosted on-site. Avalara's cloud-based solution was ideal as it required minimal maintenance and lessened the burden on system administrators. The process of implementing Avalara went smoothly; it was a seamless fit.

Says Adam Litvack, E-commerce Manager at Ganz, "Having Avalara in place allows us the freedom to focus on our business, not on sales tax management or burdensome maintenance. Having a sales tax solution that’s automated and takes care of itself is one less thing to worry about."

Learn more on the Avalara Newsroom.

For the 2019 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guide:

http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Distribution_Manufacturing_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Guide

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services at http://www.software4distributors.com and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard, visit http://www.software4distributors.com/compare/default.aspx.

Also, read our 2019 Mid-Year Supplements at http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Mid_Year_Supplement_Blog.pdf?utm_source=DownloadPDF&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Supp.

Developed through a partnership with 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.

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Jansen Ornamental Reaches New Customers With DDI

Jansen Ornamental Supply is a local, family owned business, that has served the wrought iron industry for more than 55 years. Many of their 26 employees have been with the company more than two decades. Jansen’s full line of products from many of the industry’s top manufacturers serve all of its customers’ornamental iron and gate automation needs.

Facing heightened competition and a rapidly declining data system, Jansen Ornamental needed a software solution that could tackle their unique operational requirements and take their business to the next level.

Jansen sought an ERP that could do more than just run their operations: they needed next generation business tools to make customer connectivity seamless and readily available 24/7. To do so, they turned to DDI System’s Inform ERP which offered a modern-day eCommerce solution coupled with an ERP.

Jansen is now capitalizing on its forward-thinking mindset with astounding results from Inform with eCommerce.

“By offering eCommerce, we’re seeing customers doubling and tripling their sales from previous years, and drawing a lot of new customers. We’re reaching contractors in other areas who don’t have access to a supplier like us." ~ Jansen Ornamental

To learn more, visit the DDI Newsroom.

For the 2019 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guide:

http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Distribution_Manufacturing_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Guide

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services at http://www.software4distributors.com and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard, visit http://www.software4distributors.com/compare/default.aspx.

Also, read our 2019 Mid-Year Supplements at http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Mid_Year_Supplement_Blog.pdf?utm_source=DownloadPDF&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Supp.

Developed through a partnership with 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.

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Smith Drug Company Expands Customer Base With VAI

Smith Drug Company is a $2.5 billion pharmaceutical wholesale/distribution firm that services over 1,000 independent pharmacies and long-term care facilities in 18 states throughout the southeastern U.S. Established in 1944, Smith Drug Company is headquartered in Spartanburg, S.C., and has two other distribution centers in Paragould, Ark., and Valdosta, Ga. Its inventory includes prescription and over-the-counter drugs, beauty supplies and medical equipment.

Without ERP software that improved inventory accuracy, distribution operations and customer service, the continuously growing company was confined to just two warehouses and unable to reach its potential. The primary reason for this was that employees had to manually enter inventory information—a time consuming task considering the high volume of orders received. Manual data entry also impeded Smith Drug’s replenishment process. This made it difficult for users to determine exact quantities of product in the warehouse.

With a strong need to expand beyond its two warehouse facilities, Smith Drug Company understood that investing in a state-of-the-art ERP system would allow the company to do this. VAI’s S2K for Distribution was selected as it offers integrated applications for warehouse, wholesale, purchasing and customer service management.

Upon implementing a customized version of VAI’s S2K for Distribution, Smith Drug Company began to experience an improvement in the efficiency and simplicity of its everyday processes.

• S2K fulfilled Smith Drug Company’s need for inventory accuracy by alerting employees of errors as they occurred and by tracking inventory movement more closely. With S2K, Smith Drug Company can easily check received item quantities during the put away process, and also check return quantities processed through its restock program. 
• S2K also provided Smith Drug Company with the ability maintain infinite locations for one particular item in the same warehouse facility. This was important because the previous solution only had the capability to accommodate two locations for each piece of inventory.
• S2K gave Smith Drug Company the ability for automated replenishment, eliminating the mistakes that can come with manual data entry. Moreover, the system schedules purchases before products runs out, ensuring that the company always has adequate inventory on hand to service its customer base. 
• Another issue solved by S2K was the accessibility of information, such as customer and shipping data. Such information is now readily available at employees’ fingertips, consequently improving customer service and virtually eliminating the need for employees to consult the IT department. 

Evaluation-Results and Benefits 
By implementing VAI’s S2K for Distribution, Smith Drug Company enhanced existing, and acquired new and valuable technological capabilities. Due to S2K’s user-friendly interface, employees can quickly create reports and retrieve customer and order information. As a result, calls to Smith Drug Company’s IT department dropped 75 to 80 percent.

“VAI worked to fully customize S2K to meet our needs and interface with our existing modules. The solution has helped improve the company’s efficiency in warehousing and distribution operations, thus allowing us to open a third location, one of our primary goals.” ~ Isaac Rogers, Vice President of Operations, Smith Drug Company

To learn more, visit the VAI Newsroom.

For the 2019 Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guide:

http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Distribution_Manufacturing_Software_Guide.pdf?utm_source=DownloadElectronic&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Guide

Visit our website to learn more about the Brown Smith Wallace Advisory Services at http://www.software4distributors.com and to use our Software Features Comparison Wizard, visit http://www.software4distributors.com/compare/default.aspx.

Also, read our 2019 Mid-Year Supplements at http://www.software4distributors.com/downloads/2019_Mid_Year_Supplement_Blog.pdf?utm_source=DownloadPDF&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=2019Supp.

Developed through a partnership with 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.

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