Activant Prophet 21 Helps National Distributor Improve Internal Processes

Wondering how a traditional bricks-and-mortar business can use the latest technology to improve customer service and move forward in the coming century? Colonial Saw Inc., based in Kingston, MA, demonstrates a few of the many ways that Activant solutions can help your business leverage technology to improve the already outstanding value you bring to your customers.

Special attention to customer service - supported by the capabilities of Activant Prophet 21 - has allowed Colonial Saw to continue its position as a leading distributor in the woodworking industry. With a nationwide presence, Colonial Saw presents some logistical challenges not faced by the average distributor, yet Prophet 21 has enabled the company to improve their internal processes and manage a successful enterprise that works efficiently all across America.

Colonial Saw, a distributor and exclusive U.S. importer of industrial woodworking machinery supplies, has served the wood products and metalworking industry throughout the United States for more than 50 years. In addition to the home office in Massachusetts, they also operate a West Coast facility in the Los Angeles suburb of Ontario, and authorise reselling agents in major metropolitan areas throughout the country. In 1999, senior management decided to upgrade their enterprise system to Activant Prophet 21 as a way to better manage their growth. As an exclusive agent in the United States for much of the machinery and many of the parts that they distribute - which generally come from factories throughout Western Europe - their customers have many unique needs that Prophet 21 helps Colonial Saw address efficiently.

The New Challenges of an Evolving Industry

The past 10 years have seen some drastic changes in the woodworking industry, including a heavy push towards automation. With a declining number of candidates in the labour pool, woodworking equipment needs to produce the same product with less workers. Woodworking machinery manufacturers have adapted to this need by making increasingly computer-controlled equipment, thereby increasing the woodworking manufacturer's reliance on the machinery operating smoothly.

Colonial Saw was looking for an enterprise system to manage its continuing growth and to help negotiate the difficulties of running a business with some special demands. After evaluating several enterprise solutions, Colonial Saw turned to Prophet 21 to guide its business to new levels of productivity.

Improved Customer Service

The rise of automation makes customer service a critical issue for Colonial Saw and is one of the chief advantages of running operations with Prophet 21. According to David Rakauskas, director of finance and operations for Colonial Saw, "As the exclusive U.S. agent for many products, Colonial Saw customers rely on us as a focal point for any machinery we sell them, almost as if we're the manufacturer. The machinery in our industry has become more and more automated over the past few years, so our customers' operations may be down until we get them the part they need. The Prophet 21 Order Entry screen provides us with crucial information about whether we have parts in stock and where they are. It even lets us track the shipping easily. Customers are leaning on Colonial Saw's customer service more than ever and Prophet 21 is helping us meet their demands. "

Not only must Colonial Saw provide information to its customers, meeting their timeframes is paramount as well. "Before Prophet 21," says Rakauskas, "emergency orders would disrupt our whole batching process. Now with emergency orders, we can sometimes cut a whole day of shipping off the old delivery time, and process the order more conveniently. "

Added Value

Colonial Saw has used Prophet 21 for other unique applications. "Sometimes, our customers want to rebuild or refurbish a unit rather than buy a completely new system. With Prophet 21, we can find all the necessary information about what parts they need and how much they will cost. It helps the customer make a quick decision about whether rebuilding is cost-effective, and it lets us know what we should charge for the materials. While this isn't an intended application of Prophet 21, we couldn't do this so easily without the information we get from it. What used to take days now takes hours."

Spanning the Continent

Being a transcontinental organisation presents additional challenges. "Prophet 21 has helped us to improve the corporate culture at Colonial Saw, as far as linking our different locations," Rakauskas says. "Before Prophet 21, the West Coast office had no access to realtime information. They would be updated once a week and work off outdated information; now, they have access to accurate, current data. Consequently, the West Coast office is now autonomous. This feature has improved the West Coast customer service dramatically." Prophet 21 also allows Colonial Saw sales representatives to enter orders in real-time, 24 hours a day, regardless of where they are. "The sales reps know these orders will be processed immediately and fulfilled when the factories open the next morning just as if they were entered at the home office. Our sales reps don't have to wait for the next business day to phone the orders in," says Rakauskas.

Continued Growth

Colonial Saw has used Prophet 21 to negotiate many of the challenges unique to their business: from the extreme responsiveness demanded of an exclusive dealer to the logistics of connecting the far-flung offices they operate. "In 2000, we celebrated 50 years in business," says Rakauskas, "and we flew in our West Coast workers for the occasion. Just seeing how connected we had become as an organisation was great. I see Prophet 21 as the facilitator for this new dynamic, and I expect Colonial Saw to keep using Activant to grow our business through e-business initiatives and what ever else the future may hold. With Activant as a technology partner, I know we'll continue to be one step ahead of the game."

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