Early in 2008, the management of Neff Power, Inc. realized that the recent upgrade of their twenty year old software wasn’t meeting their needs. In fact, the distributor of fluid power, motion control and automation products found that the software was hindering the growth of their business, due to the lack of industry-specific features and inadequate support.
John and Loretto Murphy and Harry A. Heitmeier, the principles of Neff Power, put IT manager Kevin Hogarth in charge of finding a new software system. He knew that the solution he decided upon would have to have the right combination of industry-specific features and a personal and knowledgeable support team to back them up.
Since they were in a time crunch, having a team that would help them re-engineer their convoluted business processes and conduct onsite training was a must. After looking thoroughly at several alternatives, Neff Power selected the TrulinX Software System, and in just 4½ months, Neff Power went live on TrulinX.
Kevin summarizes the primary reasons Neff Power chose to partner with Tribute, Inc. and how TrulinX has helped their business become more efficient and profitable:
Timely and Personal Support
We used to have to call into a databank for support and never know who we’d end up talking to. Many times we’d have to explain our situation over again to someone new. With TrulinX, we know the support staff and we’ve built a rapport with not only the customer service reps, but the head of the division as well. We like that we get a response to a request within 15 minutes with a case number and if they can’t resolve it right away, they let us know when they’ll be getting back to us.
Networking with Tribute & Our Peers
We enjoy participating in the annual user’s group meetings and networking with TrulinX Support staff and our peers. These meetings allow us to learn more about the software and give us face time with our counterparts to exchange ideas on day-to-day operations.
Direction of the Software is Customer Driven
We like that customers determine the direction of the software. Customers send in requests for changes and updates and the Program Priority Assignment Board, comprised solely of TrulinX users, ranks the requests.
Better Inventory Management
We like that we have a much better handle on our inventory. We are able to review our low/no usage items, put in a separate location, and recoup expense by selling to surplus dealers. Our receiving process is more efficient. We have quick and accurate views: What do we have? What’s moving? What can we do with it? What is its value?
Better Reporting & Emailing Capabilities
We know the status of our inventory right away with up to the minute variance reports. We love being able to do custom POS reports and the ability to write our own EXCEL queries. TrulinX offers query tips via the weekly newsletter that we find very helpful. We like that we can email information from the system to customers and vendors and the ability to attach documents, specs and drawings.
Return on Investment
TrulinX more than paid for itself within the first year by our ability to analyze inventory, make better purchasing decisions, and other time saving features. We realized an immediate impact by a 15% cut in operational costs and improved inventory management.
Our annual inventory turns went from 4 to over 7, enabling us to lower on-hand cost of goods nearly 40%. We keep fewer items in stock and can more accurately predict usage. We are able to operate more efficiently on TrulinX and have reduced overhead costs.
We’ve implemented daily cycle counting with bar code scanners, improving our accuracy and eliminating the bi-annual physical inventory that required business to come to a halt for several days. And we are able to monitor our sample items much more closely, resulting in fewer inventory shortages.
By switching, we not only gained much better software, we gained a valued business partner. We are able to operate more efficiently with a more in-depth and accurate knowledge of our business, and have a support system that knows us and our unique needs.
Today’s distributor needs the best tools to compete effectively and operate efficiently. Tribute, Inc. provides a wealth of industry knowledge and the tools you need to streamline business processes, cut costs, save time, improve margins and most importantly, improve the ability to serve your customer and give you the competitive edge.
