LBSi is proud to be a partner of Action Industries, Inc. a national manufacturer and distributor of garage door parts

1. SAP Customer Success Story
Wholesale Distribution
Action industries
Maintaining 98% SaMe-Day DeliverieS
With SaP® BuSineSS One
Quick factS
“Implementing SAP Business One was Company Implementation Highlights
• name: action industries inc. • tailored software to meet specific needs
one of the best business decisions I have • location: cleveland, Ohio • integrated third-party applications to round
made in my 15 years running the com- • industry: Wholesale distribution out the solution
• Products and services: garage door parts • created a stable environment that has
pany. It would have been impossible • revenue: uS$7.5 million satisfied needs for years and is expected
• employees: 35 to continue doing so for many more
to accomplish all we have in the last • Web site: www.action-ind.com
• implementation partner: long Business Why SAP
two years without SAP Business One.” • excellent fit for a midsize company
Systems inc.
Pat Marron, President, action industries inc. • Powerful demonstrations and presentations
Challenges and Opportunities • Scalability to support years of growth
• Provide a single source for all business data
• integrate business processes Benefits
• Provide more complete costing and better • Supported move to 4 business entities,
cost control remote warehouses, and years of double-
• increase visibility of business information digit growth
and confidence in its accuracy • automated and shortened the order-to-
• improve warehouse control shipment process, allowing same-day
• accelerate the order-to-delivery process delivery 98% of the time
• automate manual processes • cut invoice creation time from 7 hours to 1
• Strengthen planning tools • cut purchasing staff by 1 fte while reducing
• reduce cost of customization and add-on inventories
software • Supported use of landed costs
• Provide a foundation for many years of rapid • Provided real-time sales reports
growth • increased sales efficiency, allowing sales-
people to handle a 15% increase in call
Objectives volume
replace legacy software with a powerful, • reduced outside accountant costs by 80%
comprehensive, integrated, and scalable
business solution well suited to the distribution Third-Party Integration
business • inventory Planner from valogix inc.
• B1 usability Package from Boyum it
SAP Solutions and Services • lBSi enhance from long Business
SaP® Business One application Systems inc.
• credit card solutions from tWBS

2. One of the claims to fame of action industries inc., a distributor of Business One stood out above the rest,”
reports Marron. “the demonstrations
garage door parts, is its record for 98% same-day order fulfillment. and presentations we saw were impres-
as the firm’s growth exceeded its legacy software’s ability to keep sive. as a midsize firm, we didn’t want
the cost of big-company software, but
pace, this delivery performance level became ever more difficult we had already learned not to go with
to maintain. “We moved to the SaP Business One application, which something too small. SaP Business One
was just right.”
helped us continue our record by greatly accelerating the order-to-
delivery cycle, improving inventory management, and performing for implementation assistance, action
industries engaged long Business
smarter purchasing,” says Pat Marron, the firm’s president. “and Systems inc. (lBSi), which installed SaP®
that’s just the beginning.” Business One and the firm’s own lBSi
enhance package of enhancements. to
address the particular needs of action
Exceeding Legacy Software’s our orders within a day, we need very industries, lBSi customized the solution
Ability to Cope intelligent warehouse management and by implementing three complementary
purchasing, but we got very little help applications, developed and preintegrated
for 30 years action industries has dis- in either respect from our software.” with SaP Business One by SaP software
tributed garage door parts to customers solution partners:
near its cleveland, Ohio, home and the legacy application’s vendor tried • inventory Planner from valogix inc.
nationwide. the company’s product cat- customization to help, but that just drove maintains histories of purchases the
alog contains thousands of name-brand up action industries’ costs and left it company has made and uses them to
standard parts that the firm augments having to pay even more for recustomiza- suggest items to purchase that are
by performing light fabrication, assem- tion whenever an upgrade was installed. necessary for maintaining proper
bly, and custom engineering services. “Worse, the customizations were just inventory levels, a feature that action
baby steps that moved us ahead only industries has found very helpful.
its focus on customer service has helped incrementally until we reached the next • the B1 usability Package from
action industries grow at a double-digit barrier,” Marron continues. “finally we Boyum it allows action industries to
clip even through difficult economic times, realized that if we were going to become tailor the contents of the screens in
to the point where it has now split into the kind of company we wanted to be, SaP Business One so that users see
four business entities and has opened we had to just get rid of the old and bring only information that is appropriate
distribution centers in Wisconsin and in some new software that we could to their job function – also very useful
arizona. “none of this growth would have count on over the long haul.” for the company.
been possible with our legacy software,” • credit card solutions from tWBS
says Marron. “We had business infor- Finding the Right Fit in SAP® provide secure storage of credit card
mation in multiple systems that could not Business One numbers, boosting sales by enabling
talk with each other. Data accuracy was customers to make purchases over
always suspect. Many of our processes action industries went about its search the internet and pay for them safely
in the order-to-delivery cycle were paper- diligently, speaking with industry experts and conveniently.
based and manual. to fulfill almost all and evaluating several alternatives. “SaP

3. “As a midsize firm, we didn’t want the cost of big-company software, but
we had already learned not to go with something too small. SAP Business
One was just right.”
Pat Marron, President, action industries inc.
Fitting Company Needs Improving Purchasing, Warehousing, Boosting Sales by Boosting Sales
Hand-in-Glove Accounting, and More Staff Effectiveness
lBSi worked extensively with action Marc calcaterra, action industries’ vice having customer relationship manage-
industries to tailor the implementation to president and day-to-day operations man- ment integrated with the rest of its busi-
the company’s specifics. the integrator ager, cites several of the improvements ness software for the first time has helped
is still in close contact, continually sug- the company introduced based on the action industries greatly improve its sales
gesting ways to improve business pro- new solution. “With thousands of Skus operations. Management and salespeople
cesses. “the help we receive from in our product catalog, providing same- alike have fast access to customer data
our lBSi consultant is much appreciated,” day delivery without busting the budget and completely up-to-date reports on
says lisa reading, action industries’ is a monumental challenge for purchas- sales figures, broken down by territory,
office manager, who was closely involved ing,” he begins. “SaP Business One has state, and customer. “in our monthly one-
in the implementation. “She is just made an exponential difference in mak- on-one meetings with the sales force, we
outstanding.” ing our purchase planning process more can pinpoint areas of success and areas
fluid and accurate. We have been able that need attention – everyone sees the
“all the work the team did matching to cut our procurement staffing require- same numbers and knows exactly where
the implementation to our precise needs ments by one and reduce inventories.” they stand,” says Marron. “Our relation-
was well worth it,” adds Marron. “We ship with salespeople has never been
really have it down now, which makes “We have better cost control as well,” better, and they are more productive than
for one less thing to be concerned about calcaterra continues. “One big reason is ever before. in fact, our call volume per
when we’re trying to grow the company. that the solution lets us work with landed salesperson is up 15% since we imple-
i belong to a business group with 11 other cost for the first time, which is important mented the solution, but our people have
been able to absorb the increase easily
because the software makes them so
“I belong to a business group with 11 other Cleveland-area company owners. . . . much more efficient.”
Action Industries is the only one of the group that is experiencing double-digit
unlike many businesses, action
growth, and I believe that SAP Business One is an integral part of that growth.” industries manages all its operations in
Pat Marron, President, action industries inc. SaP Business One and the third-party
applications that are integrated with it.
the company uses no satellite software
cleveland-area company owners. Some because the cost of a part’s freight and for data massaging or other special pur-
of them spend 20% to 30% of their time handling sometimes exceeds the cost of poses, and it is glad for it. “implementing
worrying about their business software, the part itself. Our invoices are going out SaP Business One was one of the best
whereas we have complete confidence the same day as deliveries because invoic- business decisions i have made in my
in our SaP Business One implementa- ing now takes less than an hour, not six 15 years running the company,” Marron
tion. action industries is the only one of or seven hours like it did before. in the concludes. “it would have been impos-
the group that is experiencing double-digit past we used outside accounting services sible to accomplish all we have in the last
growth, and i believe that SaP Business several hours a week, but now we’ve two years without SaP Business One.”
One is an integral part of that growth.” been able to bring most of that in-house.”

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