SYSPRO Case Study: Lakeshirts Takes Out the Wrinkles with SYSPRO
Customer Company Size
Mid-size Company
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- SYSPRO enterprise software
- SYSPRO e.net solutions
- Microsoft .NET-based Product Configurator
Tech Stack
- Microsoft .NET Framework
- XML
- COM (Component Object Model)
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Productivity Improvements
- Cost Savings
- Customer Satisfaction
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
Applicable Functions
- Sales & Marketing
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
Services
- System Integration
- Software Design & Engineering Services
About The Customer
Founded 20 years ago by Mark Fritz and Mike Hutchinson in a home basement, Lakeshirts today is a full-service screen print, embroidery and dye works company that manufactures and sells products to resorts, golf and corporate entities. Lakeshirts maintains a library of more than 5000 stock designs that can be customized with the name of the resort or golf club, and applied to a variety of garments, including tee shirts, sweat shirts and golf shirts as well as caps. Lakeshirts, which has produced products for such prestigious events as the New York City Marathon, sells through a network of sales representatives.
The Challenge
Producing shirts for special events requires that the project be completed at exactly the right moment and that the order be 100% correct. There is no room for any variance on deliveries, order precision and quality. The challenge for Lakeshirts was to implement technology to facilitate order entry and maximize production efficiency. A primary goal was to enable Lakeshirts’ sales representatives to order on the Web with the ability to select from a complete sourcebook displaying all available designs and garments, enter the order, print a copy and review orders previously entered. Lakeshirts had been using a custom computerized solution which proved cumbersome and inefficient. The sales reps entered orders over the Web into a home-grown database program. The database was then used to create an import file for the company’s order entry system. A variety of databases was used to transmit work instructions and schedule production of the customized designs on the garments. Invoicing and inventory control were accomplished by an accounting software package, leaving many gaps and opportunities for errors in the chain from order entry through production and shipment to invoicing. In fact, as many as three days could elapse in getting an order to the production floor, necessitating the constant checking of orders by customer service to assure validity. The work of maintaining two systems was also costly and a drain on time and resources.
The Solution
Working with a team of six Lakeshirts employees representing accounting, customer service, line development, inventory and production, a business consultant established a system 'wish list' to meet the needs of each area. A software review process subsequently narrowed the selection to SYSPRO enterprise software, which embodied a majority of the 'wish list' functions and which was also within the company’s price range. RT Enterprises, the local SYSPRO reseller, accomplished the software installation during the company’s slow season to minimize disruption. Today, Lakeshirts exemplifies the fact that the application of technology can produce the efficiencies that a small business requires to compete successfully. SYSPRO handles all of the company’s accounting and production scheduling. A Microsoft .NET-based Product Configurator enables Lakeshirts sales reps to configure products over the Web. The configurator ascertains that all order criteria are captured. After selecting the design and type of garment, the sales rep is automatically presented with a list of the valid placements and the available colors and sizes of the garments. Because the configurator is rules-based, the rep cannot make incompatible choices. Component dependencies are based on options, and selections are dependent on other selections. Moreover, additional charges, such as bagging and tagging, can be easily selected from a list with the correct pricing automatically added to the order.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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