Success Stories

Activant Acclaim Helps Distributor Better Manage Inventory, Reduce Costs, and Increase Sales

Less than five years ago, employees at the Pennsylvania-based Friedman Electric Supply Company's main location trekked to the warehouse basement at least 10 times a day just to pick an order. Now, thanks to Activant Acclaim, those trips are few and far between - usually, less than twice a day.

"With Acclaim, we've been able to restructure our warehouse by SKU movement," says Jim Semyon, operations manager at the $50 million, 10-location, full-line electrical distribution business. "SKUs that don't move go to the very top shelves - or down to the basement. We've definitely saved in footsteps and labor."

According to Semyon, Acclaim has provided Friedman with crucial data for competing in a tight economy. "The information we've pulled from our solution has enabled us to look at where our gains and losses are, and has allowed us to strategically focus on growing," he says.

Because of that data, Friedman has grown 4 percent a year since going live on Acclaim in mid-1999. "That means an increase in sales of roughly 12 to 15 percent when you add it up," Semyon reveals.

One thing that's led to increased sales is improved inventory management. Friedman uses Acclaim to identify the specific SKUs within its inventory that make up 95 percent of its business. "We want to make sure that we maintain a great service level on these items," he says. "Now, we ship 97.9 percent of our items right away. There's almost no backordering." Tighter inventory control through Acclaim has also allowed Friedman to reduce inventory levels by 20 percent - resulting in a tremendous carrying cost reduction. "We're very pleased," Semyon says. "It's unusual to reduce inventory and increase service levels."

Something that has contributed to increased profit margins has been Acclaim's extensive pricing capabilities. "We're really competitive, price-wise, with our top selling items," Semyon testifies. "But, we can make extra profits - usually anywhere from 1 to 5 percent - on residual items, like tape."

Acclaim's Rebate Journal has allowed Friedman to streamline rebate collection processes. "As a distributor, rebates make up a good part of our profit," Semyon says. Prior to moving to Activant, rebates were being handled at the company's branches, by clerical staff. Unfortunately, people weren't paying as much attention to them as they should have been. Semyon notes that rebates that should have been filed in November of a certain year sometimes weren't filed until the following February.

Now, the company has centralized the process of collecting rebates from manufacturers. One person is now responsible for processing rebates for the entire company, and processes them, with Acclaim's help, within three weeks of receipt of the material. "With Acclaim, processing rebates is just a matter of running a report, pressing a button, and sending them off to the manufacturer," Semyon enthuses. "We now average roughly $75,000 a month from rebates; before, we were only doing about $40,000. Acclaim helps us get our money back quickly - and that means more capital back into the company.

"Activant has helped us optimize our total profitability," concludes Semyon. "There's no doubt about it."

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