Sealoflex® offers industry-leading waterproofing systems for virtually any building surface: roofs, walls, decks, below grade and Green Roof applications. Their flexible, fabric reinforced liquid applied waterproofing system creates a seamless envelope to repel moisture, resist environmental challenges and deliver a lifetime of dependable service with minimal maintenance. However, Sealoflex’s internal accounting and inventory control systems were requiring much more maintenance than the growing company wanted.
Exposed surfaces
Sealoflex had used Peachtree Accounting (Sage 50) for years, but the software was never robust enough to handle all of their needs. Sealoflex found themselves using spreadsheets and other tools outside of Sage 50 to manage basic functions like cost, bills of materials and inventory. The manufacturing and distribution groups were not able to automatically share information and both had slightly different ways of tracking information. “It meant that we had to double-enter all inventory data,” said Donna Tolar, Accounting Manager at Sealoflex. “Inventory wasn’t integrated with the other business systems that needed that data.”
Reporting was also challenging and time consuming for Sealoflex. Managing data in separate systems meant that reports were produced by merging data from multiple sources. Finding even basic information was a chore. In fact, month-end reporting and year-end accounting required too much time to produce the management reports necessary to close out the books. Sealoflex knew they had to make a change especially as their business was growing. They began the search for a partner who could provide a solution to better meet their needs and to help them build a more complete, cost effective system.
Sealing the deal
Sealoflex began their search and narrowed it down to several companies, one of which was Accounting Systems, Inc. (ASI). “The choice seemed clear from the beginning,” stated Donna. “We liked the fact that ASI was relatively local, and that Brian Kelly from ASI was also a CPA. We really valued that perspective and believed it would lead to better results.”
The proximity and availability of their new partner were also important. Given that ASI was less than two hours from the Sealoflex office, they knew the ASI team would be accessible and could be onsite if needed. ASI was selected and began implementing the Sage MAS 90 (Sage 100) solution that would address inventory, bill of materials, lot management, order management and reporting. “The project went just as expected,” said Donna. “ASI was onsite for the go live date, and everything went so smoothly we were up and running the next day.”
A Water-tight Finish
Results were tangible and almost immediate. The new system was set up with two divisions so the manufacturing side now shared data with the distribution side of the business. Having both companies on one system saves the entire staff time and ultimately money. Consolidating the information also means that Sealoflex is able to manage inventory, bills of materials, costs and global product pricing, all from within the central accounting system without doubling data entry. The physical counts are now accurate and Sealoflex has reduced variances in their liquid inventory. For the first time ever, Sealoflex could track product lots from finished goods to the end customer.
As part of the implementation, ASI convinced Sealoflex to replace their pre-printed dot matrix forms with custom designed Crystal Reports forms. Users can now print to any tray on any printer which has eliminated the need for expensive multi-part forms and noisy dot matrix printers. Additional forms and reports were designed to take further advantage of the newly implemented Crystal Reports. “We were able to eliminate forms including checks, sales orders and invoices,” said Donna. “The return on investment was almost immediate for these changes, and we were amazed at how easy it was to implement.”
Empowered by their new consolidated accounting tools, Sealoflex was able to access meaningful reports at will. Month-end accounting and year-end closes were much more efficient and required less resources than ever before. “We were really surprised by all of the improvements,” said Donna. “The information we get out of the system is much more powerful than we expected. We now have the ability to answer a question quickly, with more details. Data is easier to find and more accessible to senior management.”
The relationship between Sealoflex and ASI didn’t stop at implementation. ASI continues to provide ongoing support for the system as needed. “We have a long term relationship with ASI, and they are always there when we need them,” said Donna. “Response time is great and we have a solid business relationship with them. When ASI comes to our office, everyone here knows them. Sometimes when they are in town, they’ll stop by just to see how things are going. I have complete confidence in ASI.”
In fact, Sealoflex is so happy with ASI and the system, they hope to implement a barcode solution with handheld scanners sometime soon. They expect to reduce physical count time by 70%, and streamline shipping by having the ability to scan pails and pallets.
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