NOVATO, CA -- 11/02/07 --
Located in Illinois, MIFAB Inc. is a plumbing
and drainage products supplier. They inventory, sell and distribute over
30,000 items from more than 65 warehouses.
MIFAB's previous inventory management and accounting system took up to a
week to ship orders. Their inventory accuracy was well below 50%. This
resulted in low fill rates and difficulty in planning stock replenishment.
Maintaining the stock in so many warehouses was incredibly problematic.
They needed a solution that would provide real-time accurate inventory
across their complete network of warehouses.
Dwight O'Brien from MIFAB explained that the company's management "wanted
to improve inventory accuracy to above 95%" and to process the information
immediately." What added to the complexity of getting this inventory
managed was that MIFAB had very specific pricing requirements. Their
customer pricing for each item varied as the market dictated throughout the
United States. They wanted to achieve exemplary inventory handling plus
improve communication with their customers.
MIFAB contacted Executive Concepts Inc. (ECI) a highly experienced
accounting and warehouse management software consultant to resolve their
issues and improve their operations. After careful analysis, Sharlene Pearl
of ECI determined that MIFAB would need several integrated and customized
systems in order to meet their unique needs. Her recommendation was to
employ AccountMate software as the foundation to manage their accounting
and inventory requirements in conjunction with two integrated ECI products
(ACCU-DART which is a radio-frequency bar-code data collection and DRP that
provides a Distribution Requirements Planning system). With the additional
implementation of Appfinity's WebSalesForce Web Ordering System, MIFAB's
remote offices would be able to process transactions immediately.
Each of these products provided the extra benefit of being customized to
fit MIFAB's specific requirements.
AccountMate has an excellent reputation as real-time, customizable
financial and business management software. It was the ideal solution for
MIFAB as it could dynamically manage the inventory tracking, bin tracking,
invoicing and other accounting transactions. And since AccountMate is a
source-code solution, it provided ECI the flexibility to modify the system
to conform to MIFAB's requirements. These modifications met stringent
pricing requirements to allow for the automatic sending of emails to
customers with information regarding statement, invoice and order
confirmations. The system also provided internal email alerting for
inventory issues such as notification to the warehouse manager when
specific bins would go negative.
The ACCU-DART inventory management solution integrates directly into
AccountMate. Using radio-frequency scanners, the warehouse staff can
instantly update inventory in the accounting system. For MIFAB, this
functionality is integral for maintaining inventory accuracy. It is used
to complete inventory transactions, picking sales orders, shipping orders
to customers and receiving purchase orders. Of equal importance is the fact
that it ensures that all users throughout the organization have the most
up-to-the-minute information. This gives employees the advantage to
quickly answer inquiries without having to wait for information to be
provided by anyone else in the organization. This accounts in large part
for MIFAB employees being able to meet deadlines and to exceed customer
expectations.
The Distribution Requirements Planning provides MIFAB with the assurance
that they have the right inventory at the right time. This DRP provides a
more effective way of managing inventory levels based on sales forecast,
safety stock and AccountMate's Purchase Order, Sales Order and Inventory
Control data. This planning system provides the option for MIFAB to create
purchase orders or quotes based on the required calculations. And since
this DRP is also a source-code modifiable solution, it was customized
specifically for MIFAB to include "Transfer Requirements Planning." In the
past, the MIFAB satellite warehouses used to place orders when they were
low on stock just to ensure their warehouses were fully stocked. Now with
the Transfer Requirement Planning functionality, warehouse managers can
accurately forecast what stock to transfer based on past sales and accurate
stock levels.
The WebSalesForce web ordering system integration has given MIFAB's network
of rep agents the capability to quote prices, place orders and check the
status on their transactions over the Internet. Order status, inventory
availability and customer's account information are automatically updated
at all times. This secure web ordering system assures that only an
authorized MIFAB rep can log in to the web site and bring up information
pertaining to their customers.
After working with ECI to implement these customized solutions, MIFAB's
operations have significantly improved. Dwight O'Brien explains: "All
inventory transactions are now in real-time, and inventory accuracy is now
in the high 90th percentile." Accounting procedures have improved by
incorporating AccountMate, while ACCU-DART ensures that transactions are
processed in the warehouse quickly and accurately. DRP allows MIFAB to
coordinate purchase orders and on-hand inventory over their many
warehouses.
About AccountMate
Since 1984, AccountMate Software Corporation has provided customers with
powerful and flexible accounting and business management software.
AccountMate provides the most stable and technologically innovative
modifiable accounting solutions for the mid-market. The accounting systems
are sold by the module which enables customers to acquire the software they
initially need and add modules as their business needs increase. The
availability of source code makes this software highly modifiable so that
it can be adapted to any changing business environment.
Contact:
Donna DeRosa
415-884-6548
Email Contact
