Sage > Case Studies > Golden Artist Colors Paints a Rosey Picture With Sage ERP X3 Process

Golden Artist Colors Paints a Rosey Picture With Sage ERP X3 Process

Customer Company Size

Mid-size Company

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Sage ERP X3

Tech Stack

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Customer Satisfaction

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Consumer Goods

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing
Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Manufacturing System Automation
Inventory Management

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

Golden Artist Colors, Inc. is a manufacturer of acrylic paints used in the fine arts industry. The company was founded in 1980 by the Golden family and began producing acrylic paint as a result of conversations with artists who needed new materials to help them explore more innovative ways of working with acrylic. The products that Sam Golden developed as the result of collaborations with these painters became his inspiration and central motif that he carried forward in the creation of GOLDEN. Now a global brand, GOLDEN operates a 100,000-square-foot facility in rural Columbus, NY. The company’s Custom Lab is the only facility of its kind, dedicated to designing products to the specifications of individual artists. Paintworks, the commercial paint and coatings division of Golden Artist Colors, provides commercial and OEM clients with paint-making technology, toll manufacturing, and integrated solutions. The company also assists customers with complex production, packaging, and regulatory issues.

The Challenge

Golden Artist Colors, Inc., a global brand that produces acrylic paint, was operating with several stand-alone packages. The company decided to invest in a true ERP solution to streamline the flow of information, improve inventory management, and enhance customer service levels. A committee of six key personnel was established to manage the selection process. They referenced the APICS buyer’s guide to select possible ERP vendors that appeared to be a good fit based on the industries served, functionality offered, and customer size. The committee came up with 12 candidates and narrowed the list to three–Sage, CSB-System and SSA (now Infor)–that would be more fully examined through formal product demonstrations and customer site visits.

The Solution

The company selected Sage ERP X3 for two reasons. First, the team valued the strength of the system’s planning functionality. Its MRP/MPS engine met their needs, and the shop floor reporting functionality was easy to use and made real-time updates. The committee also selected Sage ERP X3 because it offered the most functionality at the best price. By making configurations in key areas, GOLDEN was able to use the system to meet its unique customer service, marketing support, and shipping requirements. To help ensure a smooth cut-over, GOLDEN formed a team comprised of key representatives from each department within the company. The 14 team members were responsible for learning their area of functionality within the Sage ERP X3 system and providing test data in order to configure the system. The team developed 16 business process scenarios that were tested in a series of three conference room pilots during the implementation. Each time, the team revised processes and troubleshot for errors. Once the third pilot was complete, the team felt comfortable that the Sage ERP X3 system had been configured to correctly manage their business processes. After documenting the processes and user instructions, each team member trained the users in their respective departments. The system went live within six months.

Operational Impact

GOLDEN takes full advantage of one of the flexible parameterization features of Sage ERP X3 to configure key processes and functions without making programming changes. In particular, the company appreciated the ability to add new fields to tables, update screen layouts, and create record selection formulas that can be selected by users to filter data.
In addition to the parameterization features, Sage ERP X3 supported freight rate allowances, marketing support dollars for promotions, and co-op advertising.
Sage ERP X3 has played a significant role in improving GOLDEN’s business operations. The company is now able to monitor key aspects of its business that weren’t possible before, including lead time, supplier on-time performance, and purchasing performance.

Quantitative Benefit

On-time shipments now above 90 percent, up from 70 to 85 percent before Sage ERP X3.
Inventory turns increased from 5.4 to 5.96, an improvement of more than 10 percent.