Success Stories

Prophet 21 Helps Dayton, OH-based Distributor Improve Inventory Management

Scott Umina's mission is to offer value-added services that go beyond common expectations. "We're trying to bring service back to the wholesale distribution industry," says the owner of Midwest Factory Warehouse, a Dayton, OH-based distributor of material handling supplies. "We want to lighten our customers' workloads by offering installations and assemblies in addition to products - the things they might not have time to worry about."

Umina realizes that focusing on service - instead of day-to-day logistics - can be difficult without the right tools and technology in place. That is why he chose to upgrade from Activant XL, a UNIX-based system, to Activant Prophet 21, a Windows-based, SQL Server solution. "We needed a system that was easy to use so we could move quickly," he says. "Prophet 21 gives us everything we need to respond easily to anything a customer might request."

On-Target Inventory Control

Maintaining excellent inventory accuracy is key to delivering outstanding customer service, Umina says "You have to know what's in your warehouse before you can promise to deliver," he charges. But, Umina admits that inventory accuracy rates were often less than stellar prior to investing in Prophet 21: "The system could be difficult to use, and people would invent work-arounds to avoid processes," he says. "As a result, counts would be off, and we were never really sure what we had."

Because Prophet 21 is a dynamic, real-time solution, Midwest Factory employees know that they must follow procedures to maintain accuracy. And, because it is so easy to use, they don't shy away from using Prophet 21 for all of their daily business processes. "Prophet 21 has really helped us improve our policies and procedures, and because of that, we've improved inventory accuracy by at least 75 percent," Umina says. "Now our people know that if our system says we have 177 pieces in stock, there's a 99 percent chance that there are 177 pieces sitting on the shelves."

Prophet 21 has also cut the time Umina spends on purchasing processes by more than 50 percent. "I feel more comfortable with what the system tells me, so I spend less time in the warehouse counting SKUs," he says. "And, I'm not always worried about overstocking because I can access detailed item histories."

Overall, Umina estimates that inventory levels dropped by about 10 percent within months of the migration to Prophet 21, saving his company tens of thousands of dollars, while service levels have gone up. "Prophet 21 gives us the information we need to manage inventory aggressively instead of passively," he says.

"Prophet 21 gives us a great foundation for growth," Umina concludes. "We can take on a lot of new business without adding staff or handling mountains of paperwork."

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