T&J Furniture Manufacturing Ltd., a family-owned furniture manufacturing company based in Ontario, Canada, was facing challenges with its original UNIX-based accounting package. The company had outgrown this system, resulting in data integrity issues and difficulty in accessing information. The standalone systems used for manufacturing and distribution were not Windows®-based, making data integration difficult. Field representatives did not have easy access to order information, making it challenging to answer customer queries. The company decided it was time to update its business systems to match its high-tech manufacturing processes.

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) was facing a significant challenge with their existing Blackbaud and RaisersEdge software. The software could not support sophisticated manufacturing processes, coordinate multi-location recording schedules, or manage finances. The organization, which operates like a major corporate manufacturer, was relying on an antiquated accounts payable system, a financial package designed for small nonprofits doing donor management, and scheduling processes. The organization needed a solution that could manage everything from sales and inventory to back-end financials and scheduling.

Andex Industries, a manufacturer of consumer product packaging, was looking to replace its old AS/400 platform with a flexible, integrated ERP solution that could adapt to its manufacturing model. The company had been using a mix of custom programs, legacy applications, and industry-specific software, which was not efficient. The company hired an independent consultant to help them find a new solution. They evaluated five packages and arranged demonstrations of Sage 500 ERP and Made2Manage. They needed a solution that incorporated all the functionality they needed, including planning and scheduling, credit card processing, business monitoring and alerts, core accounting, plus payroll and human resource management.

Newrent had been using a proprietary non-Windows® billing system that required duplicate data entry and plenty of manual support. The system couldn’t distinguish between inventory; the team had to hike through the 8-acre parking lot to figure out which trailers were for rent or for sale. Answering customer inquiries quickly and accurately was quite a challenge. As Newrent grew, its system began experiencing glitches with alarming frequency. It simply couldn’t handle the increase in rental volume. Staff members eventually lost confidence in it. Its utility was now little more than an adding and accounting machine. The firm couldn’t afford to continue this way any longer, so Fitzhenry began searching for a new automated package.

Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. (CBN) is a large television ministry that relies heavily on donations. The organization was facing challenges with its financial and planning systems. The systems for purchasing, cost accounting, inventory, and budgeting were from different vendors or home-grown, leading to redundancies and inefficiencies. This lack of integration was hindering the organization's ability to manage expenses effectively. The organization needed a project-based budgeting model to align the budget process with business drivers and strategic goals.

Namco Cybertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Namco Limited of Japan and the largest video arcade operator in the United States, was facing a significant challenge. With over 500 stores, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the company to provide managers with the data they needed to measure and analyze store performance. The resources to budget at the store level were limited, making it difficult for district and general managers to track and analyze store performance. At a corporate level, management lacked insight into which stores were underperforming, or why certain stores were doing well. The company needed a solution that would allow them to develop detailed budgets for each of its 500+ stores, without adding more staff.

Narron Construction, a road construction company based in North Carolina, was facing challenges in tracking job cost data for better analysis of time and material charges per project. The company had been using Sage 50—U.S. Edition as its accounting package during its startup years. However, with growth came the need for more complex cost-assessment capabilities. The company needed a solution that could automate the tracking of job cost data, streamline data entry tasks, and ensure greater accuracy throughout the company.

St. Joseph Paper and Packaging is a busy distributor with a large and well-stocked warehouse. The company requires tools to effectively and efficiently manage its inventory as well as modern sales tools to enable its sales representatives to close more—and more profitable sales. The company implemented Sage 100 ERP nearly a decade ago, selecting the solution primarily for its strong inventory management and warehousing functionality. The company’s 35,000 square-foot warehouse houses more than 8,500 different items. “We need software that helps us effectively manage all that stock,” says John Giczewski, purchasing manager for St. Joseph Paper and Packaging. “Keeping the right mix of products on hand without costly overstocking is key, and Sage 100 ERP helps us do that. It’s quick and responsive software that provides us with a great deal of insight and control over our inventory.”

Hubert Glass Oil Company, a fuel and oil distributor in eastern Texas, was facing challenges in managing its inventory. The company needed to ensure it carried the right mix of products in the right quantities to satisfy customers’ demands without overstocking. The company was using various tools and reports for making purchasing decisions, which was not efficient and did not provide accurate usage figures and forecasting ability.

GCI Outdoor, a company that designs, manufactures, and distributes a variety of outdoor chairs, was facing challenges with its entry-level QuickBooks accounting software. The software was unable to track future orders and lacked sophisticated inventory-control features such as multiple warehouse and material requirements planning (MRP) functionality. The company was relying on dozens of spreadsheets to track sales and stock levels, which was becoming unmanageable. The order processing time was long, often taking 24 hours to get a new order out the door. Return processing was also a cumbersome manual process involving three-ring binders and much paper shuffling. The company needed a solution that could streamline these processes and provide accurate supply and demand data for lean operation.

Kasco, a distributor of BG Products, wanted to automate its sales force, which was 20 strong. When salesmen visit customers, nine times out of ten they have the required products in their van. It makes sense, therefore, to deliver an invoice at the point of sale—to avoid duplicate data entry at the head office and speed up the revenue stream. For ten years the company had been happy using Sage 50—U.S. Edition as its business software. But it needed an application that would integrate with the Route Management System (RMS) on its salesmen’s hand-held computers. Other BG distributors used an interface between Sage 100 ERP* and the RMS designed by Quality Data Products, a Sage licensed developer.

M6 Concrete Accessories, a company comprising three separate departments - concrete and masonry distribution, steel fabrication, and equipment rentals and sales, was struggling with its legacy system. Each department was on a different business system, leading to data duplication and difficulty in obtaining consolidated reports. Some reports, like detailed margin reports, could not be created at all. The company was in need of a unified system that could manage all its operations seamlessly.

Packaging Specialties, a company providing creative and innovative packaging supplies to retailers, required a robust, full-featured ERP solution that could provide core accounting and distribution functionality while supporting specialized reporting requirements and remote access. The company's business is largely seasonal, necessitating the ability to forecast demand based on prior year sales to ensure proper stocking levels are maintained. The company also needed a solution that could support its sales-driven approach and provide robust sales analysis tools to help refine its forecasts and product mix.

Premier Marketing, a car audio system distributor, was facing challenges with its existing accounting system. The company had initially selected a DOS version of Sage 50—U.S. Edition as their accounting system, along with a parallel bookkeeping system. However, as the company grew and added a distribution services division, it needed a more robust software to manage the distribution side of the business and handle increased transaction volume. The company migrated to Sage BusinessWorks Accounting, but by 2001, the remote operations had become more sophisticated, and dial-up communications were no longer acceptable. The company needed a solution that could manage distribution, handle huge increases in transaction volume, and permit greater remote access.

anDea Chocolate and Supplies, a chocolate manufacturer and distributor based in Ontario, Canada, was facing operational challenges. The company, which generates 40% of its revenue from five major trade shows every year, was struggling with a cumbersome and inefficient order-taking process. At each trade show, the team had to manually take orders and build relationships with customers. After returning from the trade shows, they would spend at least two weeks manually adding up orders and entering them into their old software program. Additionally, processing batches of credit card orders could take up to 45 minutes during the busy season, as numbers had to be entered twice for preauthorization and final authorization. The information in anDea’s business system was so inaccurate that reports had become meaningless.

Alloy Polymers, a market leader in the thermoplastics industry, required a process manufacturing solution that could accommodate its unique compounding operation. The company's production model differs from many process manufacturers as it does not manage the formulas or supply the raw ingredients; instead, its customers do. Many ERP applications do not offer the flexibility needed to manage this production model effectively and efficiently. The company also wanted a manufacturing and financial application that was customizable, quick to implement, scalable, and cost-effective to implement and maintain.

Tropical Sno, a division of Pioneer Potato Company, Inc., is a family business, with a family culture that’s inclusive of dealers, employees, and young-at-heart fans. A major priority is keeping satisfaction high among these diverse groups with consistent, top-quality products and efficient service to customers and distributors alike. Meeting service and internal management goals had become particularly difficult given Tropical Sno’s previous accounting package. The behemoth standalone product was based on DOS and was awkward, clumsy, and too difficult to use. In addition, it couldn’t support the company’s growing inventory management needs. As Debra Didier, Tropical Sno’s comptroller, puts it, “We definitely wanted a change.”

Satellite Industries, a global supplier of portable sanitation equipment, was struggling with financial reporting across its multiple locations, divisions, departments, and currencies. The process was time-consuming and laborious, often taking more than 15 days for month-end closing. Additionally, the company was seeking to reduce the days sales outstanding of its receivables. The large chart of accounts and the need for real-time, actionable data for decision-making added to the complexity of the situation.

The Wisconsin Early Autism Project (WEAP) was facing a challenge in tracking staff hours to prepare accurate paychecks due to the rotation of therapists and many of them working part-time. The organization was using three separate information systems - Sage 100 ERP, a custom SQL database, and The Medical Manager. However, none of these systems were integrated, leading to a time-consuming and error-prone process of data entry for billing, payroll balancing, and payroll system. The challenge was to integrate these separate information systems and automate business processes through one dependable platform.

Hoya Vision Care of the Americas was constrained by an aging legacy application that was no longer capable of supporting the company’s fast-growing transaction volumes. The system limited the team to creating only 100 invoices per day, and Hoya required a new system that could handle an unlimited number of transactions, customers, and pricing options. They wanted a more user-friendly system that could automate processes that were controlled by Excel® spreadsheets. Additionally, they were seeking a warehousing application that would enable them to increase their capacity and speed, provide better physical procedure control, and be tweaked to fit their specific business needs.

Sonnax Industries, a Vermont-based company that designs, produces, and supplies components to the automatic transmission aftermarket, was facing challenges with its nearly decade-old enterprise software. The software was struggling to keep up with the company's steady growth and meet the requirements for fast turnaround of more than 40,000 shipments a year. Sonnax knew that the system would not be able to handle the increased demand for aftermarket parts that it saw coming in the next decade or process orders quickly enough to keep its customers satisfied. Updating the system to the current version would require a major investment in hardware, software, and integration. Therefore, Sonnax decided to look for alternatives and replace the system with new technology.

Sonnax Industries, a Vermont-based company that designs, produces, and supplies components to the automatic transmission aftermarket, was facing challenges with its nearly decade-old enterprise software. The software was struggling to keep up with the company's steady growth and meet the requirements for fast turnaround of more than 40,000 shipments a year. Sonnax knew that the system would not be able to handle the increased demand for aftermarket parts that it saw coming in the next decade or process orders quickly enough to keep its customers satisfied. Updating the system to the current version would require a major investment in hardware, software, and integration. Therefore, Sonnax decided to look for alternatives and replace the system with new technology.

Bonnell Industries, a leading truck equipment distributor and manufacturer of snowplows and spreaders, was struggling with an avalanche of paperwork. The company had been using DOS-based software designed for the truck equipment industry but was still on manual systems for its manufacturing business. This made obtaining reliable financial data a nightmare. The company also faced challenges with inventory management, as it was difficult to stock the correct amount of inventory due to the long intervals between usage of certain items. Additionally, the company needed to ensure that they did not receive a truck body before the chassis or truck itself.

CRP Industries, an importer and high-volume distributor of automotive and industrial products, was facing challenges with its legacy software system. The system was not allowing the company to keep inventory and service rates in balance, particularly as part numbers and sales volumes increased over the years. The company decided to replace it with a packaged solution. The business drivers for change centered on the company’s desire to improve inventory fill rates while reducing inventory levels, ship orders faster and with greater accuracy, and reduce costs and streamline operations by automating more processes, particularly in the finished goods warehouses.

Power Distributing LLC, a distributor of a well-known brand of premium energy drink in northern Illinois and Indiana, has been using Sage ERP solutions for nearly a decade, migrating to more powerful solutions to meet its growing needs. The company's operation involves a fleet of 80 trucks visiting more than 1,000 convenience stores, warehouse clubs, big box retailers, and drug stores every day. As the business grew, the company needed a flexible platform to integrate with its new route management software. It sought a solution with open architecture and comprehensive development tools.

Consolidated Transmission Parts (CTP) experienced significant growth, expanding from 25 customers to over 1,500 in just nine years. This rapid expansion led to the company outgrowing its Sage 50—U.S. Edition accounting software. The company needed a more robust and scalable solution that could handle its increased customer base and provide more sophisticated business insights. The challenge was to find a replacement software that could ensure a smooth transition from the old system, maintain the integrity of the data, and provide the necessary business perspective that the company needed to manage its growth.The company also needed a system that could provide up-to-the-minute information on inventory to allow for a more strategic approach to management. The ability to know exactly how long a part has been in the warehouse and when to reorder was crucial. Additionally, the company needed a system that was easy to use and could be quickly learned by new salespeople.

A change of management at Craftique in 1997 prompted a thorough operational audit. The existing business software was clearly inadequate, especially with major growth on the horizon. The firm’s CPAs recommended Sage 100 ERP, offered through an expert reseller. The reseller showed Craftique how it could start with basic accounting functions and then add on other financial and business modules as warranted in the future. It was a good thing that Craftique brought in Sage 100 ERP when it did. The company’s sales more than doubled in just three years, and having powerful business systems in place was crucial to success.

A.M. Leonard, a company with a multifaceted sales channel that includes a busy call center handling phone and mail orders, two websites, and channel sales through Amazon.com, Search.com, and Newegg.com, was seeking to replace its older, inflexible application with a customizable and scalable ERP solution. The company needed a system that could handle its complex pricing structure, streamline order entry, and improve inventory handling. The company also wanted to enhance its team’s ability to access information across the enterprise, which would lead to better decision making.

A.M. Leonard, a company delivering tools and supplies to professionals in the horticulture industry and home gardening enthusiasts, was seeking to replace its older, inflexible application with a customizable and scalable ERP solution. The company operates through a multifaceted sales channel that includes a busy call center handling phone and mail orders, two websites, and channel sales through Amazon.com, Search.com, and Newegg.com. The company's previous system was time-consuming and led to longer wait times for customers, especially when obtaining freight quotes for larger orders. Additionally, orders received from Amazon.com were printed and hand entered into the software, which was a slow and inefficient process.

Hayden Concrete, a manufacturer of precast concrete products, was facing challenges with its existing accounting system, Sage BusinessWorks Accounting. The company had grown significantly over the years, and the original software could no longer support the company’s growth. For instance, the company had a huge line of manufactured parts that required manual inventory counts, taking over 30 man-days. The company was also spending a significant amount of time on payroll processing. The company needed a more robust and efficient system to handle its growing needs.