Success Stories

Activant Acclaim and Trading Partner Connect Enable Distributor to Put Customers First

"Earning the rewards of being selected first by our customers and suppliers: and protecting the mutual, long term prosperity and satisfaction of our customers, suppliers, associates, and principals" is a portion of the mission statement of Midwest Industrial Tools.

Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, Midwest began operations in 1969 as a one-man branch office of a Minneapolis/St. Paul-based corporate group. It's only product - perishable tools. By 1982, when the company was acquired by current President and CEO, Allan Chartier, the company had diversified its product lines and services, grown to 17 employees, and required a 10,000 square foot facility to house inventory and operations.

A History of Growth

Today, more than three decades from its inception, Midwest Industrial Tools employs a large professional staff, operating from a 33,000 square foot headquarters, serving customers in ten states, and distributing a complete line of Computer Numerical Control (CNC), automated, and conventional machinery. Midwest also supplies a wide range of perishable MRO supplies, provides integrated supply services, and offers industrial and engineering consulting services to its customers.

Midwest prides itself on its ability to provide customer service from initial concept to finished part, recommending and supplying the machine, tooling, and inspection equipment required to complete a project. Their mission statement serves as the foundation of their success.

The Industrial Distribution Association (IDA) recently selected the company as Distributor of the Year.

An Affordable, Total Solution

To meet the needs of a growing company with an expanding base of products, services, and customers, Midwest Industrial Tools moved to a computerized management system early in its growth cycle. In 1986, Midwest became one of the first companies to use Activant's XL solution. They upgraded to Activant's Acclaim in 1998.

When initially choosing a provider for computer services, Midwest management identified a "wide variety of needs in software" and needed to find an "affordable total solution that provided value, was easy to work with...was well documented, and had world-class support and maintenance."

Like practically all distributors, Midwest has faced a variety of challenges on their path to growth and success. Midwest Director of Finance, Paul Bell, notes that in recent years, "Customers and suppliers both have reduced their qualified personnel, buyers, engineers, sales support, etc., leaving them with less knowledgeable and experienced personnel and leaving us to pick up those services." Bell notes that although these actions have created opportunities to provide additional service, customers have indicated an unwillingness to compensate distributors for the added responsibilities.

In addition, distributors are facing increasing competition from outside their traditional markets and systems contracts. As a result, many distributors have vanished over the last several years. And those that remain must be able to provide far more in the way of products, service, and expertise without raising prices. With margins already paper-thin, it's a very tall order to fill.

But, it's not impossible, as Terry Conder, purchasing manager and Activant systems administrator for Midwest Industrial Tools, points out. "By offering our customers a source for tomorrow's technology and more specialized services like integrated supply and our Eagle Consulting Group, we feel that we can offer those extra services that maybe the guy down the street can't."

Midwest President and CEO, Allan Chartier, agrees, "Our commitment to total quality means that we must deliver goods and services on time, error free, every time, in a hassle-free way. We must provide perfect service, which means total customer satisfaction."

The Trading Partner Connect Contribution

Midwest recently added Activant's Trading Partner Connect to its customer services arsenal in order to offer even greater value to current and prospective customers.

Asked to name the top three features of this new Internet trading network, Midwest cited:

1. The ability to view (real-time) inventory levels of other trading partners and suppliers around the country
2. A greater opportunity to move inactive inventory
3. Anticipated cost savings through the elimination of traditional value added network (VAN) charges.

Midwest, like most distributors, has noted an increase in demand for "one-call" order fulfillment from customers.

Since distributor inventories are limited by both physical and capital constraints, the ability to view and source products from trading partners makes it possible to offer an expanded product range without added costs.

Additionally, all distributors seek to eliminate inventory that is dead or inactive, taking up space, and not adding to bottom line profits. Midwest looks forward to the growth of Trading Partner Connect. As more distributors adopt this new tool, savings escalate. Like the telephone, the more that are "connected" the greater the efficiency.

Finally, VAN charges at Midwest account for more than $500 monthly in operating costs. Through the use of Activant's Trading Partner Connect, that cost can be greatly reduced.

Using the Internet for Support and Convenience

In addition to offering its own customers Web access, Midwest uses the efficiencies of the Internet for support purposes. According to Bell, "We seldom call Activant for customer support any more. The responses from the Activant Web site are very quick and almost always right. Plus, it's nice to be able to look at open cases, the current status, all the comments associated with that case, and the solutions offered by the Activant professionals. It's been a great help to us."

Conder often uses Activant's Web support from the comfort of his home on evenings and weekends as a convenient way to get needed information without a trip to the office.

Midwest also takes advantage of the services of Activant consultants to help educate their staff. They believe that "education is the key to world class service to our customers."

And, as the Midwest mission statement confirms, it's really all about customers.

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