In 1919,
the Eighteenth Amendment was adopted, the Grand Canyon was established as a
national park, and rotary telephones went on the market. It was a progressive
year in American history; a time when a fledgling nation stood on the dawn of
progress. World War I, then known as the Great War, was over and the country
moved forward, positioning itself as a world power and industrial leader.
That same year, Philadelphia, PA gave the nation a
preview of the Roaring '20s as the city's economy sped ahead into a robust
economic boom. Fueling that prosperity was Philadelphia's abundance of
manufacturing and textile industries. And it was in 1919 that Textile Commission
went into business, joining the advancement of American prosperity.
William Maen, founder of Textile Commission,
started his business by purchasing surplus material called cotton duck from the
Philadelphia Naval Yard. Textile Commission then resold the material to builders
for use in constructing houses and decks.
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Today, Textile Commission is one of the nation's foremost
wholesale suppliers of awning, marine, and industrial fabrics and supplies. And
though the company has stayed true to its main course of business, it has
undergone much growth and changes.
Rapid Influx of New Product
Orders
Two years ago, Textile Commission added a series of
retractable awnings to its catalogue. Business boomed. Owning an awning that was
easy to retract for maximum sun worshipping and easy to extend for shade or
shelter from rain quickly became a popular concept.
Retractable awnings are
assembled by dozens of individual parts. Furthermore, there are different parts
and different part sizes used in the various window, porch, canopy, and deck
awnings that Textile Commission has available.
“The influx of retractable awning
orders created an enormous warehousing challenge,” explained Textile Commission
Purchasing Agent Nancy Duda. “We keep a variety of parts in our warehouse, so
bringing them together per order was cumbersome and time consuming.”
So was inputting the order. Determining the various
components to a particular awning order took a minimum of fifteen minutes. The
more orders that came in, the more the company became bogged down in
detail.
“We knew almost immediately that we needed to find
a more efficient way of managing the new product line,” said Duda.
Textile Commission had been a MAS 90 user for
several years. The system served the company well and helped it maintain
efficiency. But the popularity of the retractable awning and the addition of
additional offices brought the company to a new growth level.
It was time for Textile Commission to reassess its
needs.
Solution for Greater
Profitability
“We called CompuData and shared our concerns,” said
Duda. “They've been our technology partner and advisor since the 1980s and knew
our business well.”
CompuData determined that Textile Commission's new
challenges could be satisfied by a software upgrade to MAS 200, a platform
change, the addition of Internet and e-mail capabilities, as well as the
addition of a secure firewall and Virtual Private Network (VPN).
The
infrastructure upgrades allow the Philadelphia and newest Florida office easy
and secure access to company information.
Additionally, the new MAS 200 software has been
optimized to fit Textile Commission's changing business needs. Orders can now be
input in a fraction of the time. When the order is placed, the warehouse is
immediately notified of all the parts that need to be picked to fulfill the
awning kits. The parts are then automatically deducted from inventory. When
inventories reach a set level, MAS 200 prints out an inventory replenishment
report.
That pleases Textile Commission CEO Steven G.
Weiss. “Automating inventory control has been a profitable bonus,” said Weiss.
“We have over $1 million of inventory on any given day. The system tells us when
we are high and when we are low. This helps us plan accordingly. We need to be
well-stocked during our busy season as well as minimally-stocked during the slow
season so cash flow is not tied up in unnecessary inventory. During times of low
inventory needs, we can now take that money and put it into sales
efforts.”
The MAS 200 upgrade has increased all around efficiency and
profitability, also contributing to greater sales power.
“Upgrading to MAS 200 has helped us increase
business period,” said Weiss. “We are able to allocate more of our focus on
business development.”
New Focus on Increasing
Sales
It doesn't stop there. Now that all the back office and
infrastructure is in place and efficiencies have been made, Textile Commission
will utilize its new infrastructure and back office information to further
increase sales. By introducing FrontOffice powered by ACT!, Textile Commission
will link ACT! sales force automation (SFA) software to its MAS 200 system.
Workgroup users operating within ACT! will be able to issue sales orders,
perform customer inquiries or view detailed orders and invoices, further
improving customer service and sales performance.
Textile Commission, according to Weiss, is
exceptionally pleased that Best Software's products are designed to grow with
companies and their evolving needs.
“The icing on the cake,” said Weiss, “is that the
latest Best installation is like having an extra salesperson on
board.”
Weiss refers to the technological tools provide by
CompuData as an investment. “Because of the added efficiency provided by
CompuData,” he said, “we are projecting a quick turn around on our return on
investment.”
