Success Stories

Activant Acclaim and Implementation Consulting Save the Day

Wayne Pipe & Supply, headquartered in Fort Wayne, IN, is a rapidly growing distributor serving customers within a 100-mile radius of the city. More than a century old, Wayne Pipe began operations as a pipe, valve, and fitting house, selling a wide range of products ranging from cast iron tubs, to copper fittings and mill supplies. Their first deliveries were via horse and buggy.

Over the last decade, the company has enjoyed a nearly 50 percent increase in sales volume. With 70 employees, Wayne Pipe & Supply is also an efficiently run company that uses technology to keep costs in check while improving the level of customer service.

A Computing Emergency

Wayne Pipe & Supply joined the Activant family in a rather hurried manner when the local company that had been providing all of their computer services suddenly announced they were closing their doors.

They informed Wayne Pipe & Supply that they would have to find an alternative service provider within 30 days. However, by paying the salaries of their soon-to-be former computer services supplier for an additional month, Wayne Pipe & Supply negotiated a vital 30 additional days to find a vendor and install a system.

In spite of the short amount of time to investigate alternatives, Wayne Pipe & Supply managed to research five vendors. The recommendation of a colleague at another distributor, who had been an Activant customer for more than 15 years, proved instrumental in the choice.

From Scratch to Live in Sixty Days

Upon selection as Wayne Pipe & Supply's enterprise software solution provider, Activant staff immediately got to work. Just 60 days later, after downloading all of the files from the old system onto a new Activant Acclaim system, Wayne Pipe & Supply was ready to go online. According to Sales Manager Rick Bada, the move was not without some apprehension. "We downloaded everything from the old system, and got it up-loaded to the new system, and then flipped the switch and hoped everything went fine," recalls Bada. "It did! It was such a nice, seamless move."

After several years with Activant, Bada reports, "We've been happy with Prophet. Acclaim has been very user friendly and we've had very few problems. We know, if there is a problem, we have support - and if it's an emergency, we have it in a few minutes."

Far Better Inventory Control

Bada is especially happy with the improvements Acclaim brought about in Wayne Pipe & Supply's inventory management. Prior to Acclaim, warehouse people would literally walk to the appropriate storage area to be sure an item was in stock.

Additionally, information is entered "just once" and travels throughout Acclaim's various components, making it possible to cut the time, error-rate, and cost of each transaction. Efficiency is vastly improved, as is reporting of information for planning purposes.

New Services for Customers

Wayne Pipe & Supply has also evolved into a company able to provide inventory management services. Within a year of implementing Acclaim, Wayne Pipe & Supply's inventory increased from $2 million to $4.5 million by providing management and warehousing services for their largest customer. This integrated sales, inventory management, and warehouse approach has allowed Wayne Pipe & Supply to provide even better service and save customers the cost of inventory warehousing and staffing.

Bada believes that Wayne Pipe & Supply is utilizing only about 20 percent of the capabilities that reside in Acclaim. Like most users, in an effort to learn more about the product and to share ideas with others who have purchased and use Activant solutions, he is a member of a users' group. The monthly Fort Wayne meetings allow participants to learn more about Acclaim's capabilities and operation through an informal exchange of ideas.

Bada has also taken advantage of Activant's training opportunities. He and other Wayne Pipe & Supply staff have taken several courses to facilitate more rapid learning of Acclaim and its features.

Staying Current to Control Costs

Wayne Pipe & Supply recently upgraded to the latest version of Acclaim to take advantage of the newest features and efficiencies offered by the popular Activant solution. Bada believes that it is necessary to continually update technology to take advantage of operating efficiencies in order to reduce costs. Customers are "constantly" seeking better prices, and the ability to lower the cost of business transactions is quickly reflected in the bottom line.

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