Summers Industrial Supply

Summers Industrial Supply of Johnson City, Tennessee is the leading industrial distributor serving eastern Tennessee, southwest Virginia, and western North Carolina. Since its inception in 1893, Summers has consistently out-serviced the competition by providing its customers with quality products, competitive pricing, and outstanding service.

The company’s industrial sales division, which was added in 1974, provides maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) supplies to area industries. The 150,000 square foot warehouse stores an extensive inventory of 14,000 stock keeping units (SKU’s). These items are available for next day or even same day delivery if necessary. Even though Summers has a vast inventory of MRO, cutting tools, abrasives, material handling items, safety, and janitorial supplies, more than 40% of orders processed are for non-stock or special items.

Summers is a family business led by its owner, Glenn Shaw. The company prides itself on its ability to locate those rare, hard to find, and specialty items in a timely manner and at a competitive price. This is a sharp contrast from larger industrial suppliers who typically will not take the time to locate items that are not held in inventory; and the smaller supply houses who do not have the resources to help solve those special problems.

Summers has nearly 40 people who are dedicated to excellence in industrial distribution. Summers employees include many highly-skilled inside and outside sales people as well as factory certified product specialists, technical representatives, and engineers who specialize in manufacturing and operations.

In order to facilitate reliable and consistent service, Summers has a fleet of vans and straight trucks that make ten scheduled runs a week and are available for special trips as needed. Vehicles and personnel are available to handle emergency situations that may arise after hours or on weekends. Summers also offers vendor managed inventory (VMI) and automated materials vending.

A customer of Summers’ can expect reliable service of the highest quality, integrity in every aspect of business, and experience backed by quality products and services. Summers values all of its customers and views their challenges as their own. Today, Summers is a strong company with proven experience in helping its customers solve their problems as quickly as possible.

Summers Industrial Supply Seeks a New System

Summers’ legacy computer system dated from 1980. The software was written in a proprietary programming language and was supported by an in-house programmer for many years. In the mid 1990s, Summers wanted to reduce its ongoing maintenance costs by installing an ERP package from a nationally-recognized software developer. Unfortunately, the implementation proved disastrous when the developer failed to live up to its promises.

“It didn’t go well,” said Craig Shaw, who recalled the story as it was told to him by his father, Glenn. “When the system went live, the whole operation shut down. We couldn’t get orders out and there were people filling up the sales counter area because we couldn’t get their orders picked. That night, my father said that he and his partner were standing in the warehouse. The trucks were sitting idle. His partner looked at him and said, ‘This is the worst day of my life’ and walked away.” After many attempts to debug the system, Summers reverted back to its legacy system.

Craig had started work at Summers shortly after graduating from Georgia Tech in 2008. Craig’s studies in computer engineering, inventory management and industrial engineering had prepared him well for entering the family business. Craig spent the first six months at Summers learning firsthand how all tasks are performed, from accounting to picking orders to making deliveries and everything in between. “After I had gone through the process of learning about the business and seeing where the business needed to go, I saw the importance of Summers having a good foundation in a new ERP system,” stated Craig.

However, around the same time that Summers came to this realization, the Great Recession of 2009 arrived. Summers’ managers were forced to place the project of a new computer system on hold and make some tough decisions. “We had to make several decisions about how we do business, but because those decisions were made quickly and the relationships we have with our customers, we were able to survive the downturn when others did not,” said Craig. “When the situation started to plateau a year later, we decided that we needed to put the new computer system on the front burner. Our philosophy is that if we’re not making ourselves better - if we’re not going after new business - then we’re going backwards.”

In 2010, Glenn asked Craig to put his formal education and training to work by spearheading the selection process for a new computer system. “Jeff Hardin, who is our vice president, collaborated with me on the project,” said Craig. “It was felt that we had a good idea of how all the departments worked together, so we took the lead on specifying the new system.”

Of course, one of the consequences of the previous failed implementation was that Summers’ personnel had long dreaded the prospect of installing another computer system. “Several people still remembered the last experience of installing a new computer system,” said Craig. “They were more than a little apprehensive about getting a new system. In fact, some were terrified!” he exclaimed. Still, while Summers’ personnel had their reasons for wanting to continue with the status quo, it was becoming evident that Summers’ aging legacy system could not be sustained indefinitely nor could it provide the advanced feature/functionality the company needed to stay competitive in the 21st century.

After concluding that installing an updated version of the legacy system would not be a viable option, it was decided that Summers would need to procure a new system. Of course, Craig was keen not to repeat the previous bad experience and resolved himself to thoroughly review the market as best he could. With that imperative in mind, Craig turned to Smith Brown Wallace, a highly respected consulting firm who publishes a well-known guide to distribution industry software. “We looked over the guide to find the software we were interested in learning more about,” said Craig. “We wanted to know how the software was built including the programming language, operating systems, how much of the application was core versus third party integration, and so on.” At that point, Craig and Jeff together with others on the Summers selection team narrowed down the list and began reading marketing materials, speaking with representatives, and looking at online demos.

Among the companies that Summers seriously considered was Infor, the leading developer of mid-market software solutions for industry. “We attended an industry Webinar where Infor was mentioned and came across the Infor name several times when talking with other people, too. We wanted to learn more,” stated Craig. Infor immediately put Craig in touch with Jeff Sprowls at Earnest & Associates (E&A), the leading Infor channel partner in the U.S. supporting over 300 companies in the wholesale/distribution and manufacturing industries.

Jeff arranged an appointment and drove from E&A’s office in Greenville, South Carolina to visit with Summers at the Johnson City office. After a successful first visit, a discovery was setup in late July, 2010 where Jeff and E&A presales business consultant Dave Johndrow would have the opportunity to inspect Summers’ operations in detail. Information gleaned from the discovery process would allow Jeff to closely align an Infor solution with Summers’ unique business needs.

“We liked the way that Jeff and Dave invested time in coming to our facility and observing our operations,” recalled Craig. “They wanted to know, ‘How does this work?’ And without any prompting from us, Dave pointed out that the software wouldn’t be able to handle our unique zone picking requirements without a modification or extension, which had been one of the causes of the previous system failure. So we appreciated the fact that E&A was approaching us in a straightforward manner.”

Impressed with the level of professionalism displayed at the discovery, Summers made the decision to short list E&A. “E&A was not just about making presentations,” stressed Craig. “E&A was seriously talking to us, trying to figure out who we are and how we work. It seemed that E&A was intent on making the best software recommendation possible to us.” Meanwhile, Jeff Sprowls furnished a reference list of companies that were similar in size and industry, offering to take the Summers team onsite for a visit so that they could witness how E&A and Infor might provide a superior solution.

Over time, Summers diligently narrowed the number of potential candidates down to three companies. “We had scheduled demos, with some of the demos onsite and others via Webex. Then we met as a group to compare notes and discuss the pros and cons of each solution,” said Craig. “We took a vote and came to a consensus that it would be a good decision to go with Infor software from E&A.” The contract that was signed in September, 2010 called for a 23 concurrent user license for Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) with value-added consulting, implementation and support services provided by E&A.

Craig emphasized that Summers’ final decision was about more than software. “The reason we chose Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) was because we were comfortable with E&A,” asserted Craig. “In fact, we thought to ourselves, ‘Any of the software packages from the three finalists we selected will probably work for us.’ But even though E&A was not the cheapest option, we felt that E&A had a much better understanding of Summers. E&A was willing to spend the time to work with us. As a result, we were more comfortable with E&A and the support they were going to give us than we were with the others who were merely trying to sell us.”

An important dimension of the proposal was a lease-to-own option made available through E&A’s financial partner, Ryan Capital. “We chose to lease the software because we didn’t want to restrict our cash flow,” said Craig. “We looked at what our credit line might be with our bank versus the leasing option and decided it was in our better interest to lease.”

Shortly after the software decision was made, E&A submitted a bid and subsequently won the right to source Summers’ computer hardware. E&A would be responsible for supplying two Dell servers which would be used for the installation of Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise). As a single source for Summers’ software and hardware, E&A could reduce the hassle of dealing with multiple vendors while ensuring that the customer’s system would be appropriately sized and configured.

Summers implements Infor10 Distribution Business

The ISOC^TM philosophy represents E&A’s solution to enterprise systems management in the small to medium sized business space. ISOC marginalizes the threat of runaway ERP projects that fail to deliver on their promises. E&A’s approach resonated with Summers, who recognized that a successful software implementation would require a structured, coordinated effort.

“ISOC was the biggest selling factor that E&A had,” remarked Craig. “E&A presented a plan: ‘This is how we’re going to implement the system, and it is going to take anywhere from six to twelve months to do the job right’. This is in contrast to another company that said we’d be up and running in six weeks, which we knew wasn’t realistic.”

Jon Woodrum, who manages the Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) team at E&A, assigned Bill Pattie to the role of implementation project manager. Tina Wang, Leo Lang and Matt DeSalle would supply programming services while Tom Fitzgerald would provide contract management support. Jon’s team worked from Dave’s high-level discovery document to begin specifying the modifications and detailing the implementation plan, paving the way for the ISOC operations review with the Summers team in October, 2010. “We sat down with Tom and Bill to review the specifications,” said Craig. “We walked through all of our critical processes, from receiving to shipping to the warehouse, to gain a deeper understanding of how the software would fit us. Bill then wrote up the detailed specs and gave them to us for our input.”

The operations review helped to flesh out three major modifications to the software. The first was the need to print multiple pick tickets from a single order; and to print these tickets by zone. This modification was deemed to be most crucial as it was the issue that had derailed the previous implementation. The requirement stems from the unique attributes of Summers’ magnificent, multi-story warehouse and office building which dates from 1912. Summers stocks its inventory in designated zones located on different levels in the building and in adjacent storage yards and sheds. With a significant amount of vertical and horizontal movement necessary to navigate through the sprawling facility, orders would be almost impossible to process unless pick tickets are sent to just the right printers in the building. Although an advanced warehouse management system could deliver this same kind of functionality, Summers did not want or need the added complication and expense of implementing another software package, if it could be avoided.

The second unique software requirement pertained to special stock held, or items that major (usually manufacturing industry) customers expect Summers to have on hand at all times. These include frequently-used production line items and mission-critical items that oftentimes means the difference between large enterprises keeping production lines running or having them sit idle. “Our customers might purchase these items only once in a while but if they can’t get the product when it’s needed, a machine, a production line or an entire operation could be shut down. So that’s something we absolutely must do for our customers,” emphasized Craig.

Route management was the third major requirement. Pick tickets must be printed for customers located within specific delivery zones on the days when their deliveries are scheduled. However, since some customers need delivery more frequently than others, Summers must be able to assign some of their customers to multiple routes whose stop orders might also vary according to the delivery day. “That’s something that Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) didn’t handle out of the box,” said Craig. “We asked E&A to deliver a modification where we could manage deliveries to customers who get service, say, once a week versus others who might get deliveries from us every day of the week.”

As E&A began work on the modifications, Craig arranged with a local computer firm to install high-speed fiber optic cables and wireless network access points throughout the building. New Windows 7 PCs were ordered for the few end users in the office who did not already have them.

E&A’s Adam Team delivered and installed the two new Dell servers, configuring the machines to run flawlessly with the Summers network. A copy of Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) was loaded onto the servers and a virtual test environment was set up, in turn enabling Summers to create a learning lab where software could be tested and end users could master how to use the software prior to the go-live.

During the software implementation, Bill became the most visible E&A staff member and developed a close working relationship with Craig and the Summers staff. Bill came in for the ISOC conference room pilot, where he met with Summers department managers to compare and contrast their current business processes with Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise). “Everybody here really liked Bill, and we got along well,” said Craig. “We discussed how things could work better for us with the new system in comparison to how we did things before.”

Bill worked with Craig on importing data from the legacy system into Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise). Since Craig had previously built a number of extract programs to use for reporting and analysis, Bill helped map the reporting database including all of Summer’s customer, vendor and product records to an import file that fed the data into Infor10 Distribution Business. Summers could now create a realistic end user training experience where its personnel could work not with samples but real customer, product and pricing information.

One of Craig’s objectives was to simplify the user interface as much as possible. Craig was concerned that the migration from a character-based screen to a graphical system might cause confusion for some users; while on the other hand, Craig sensed ample opportunity for more logically structuring the system to improve Summers’ business processes and efficiency. “We thought we could gain a big advantage if we could customize the screen layouts,” said Craig. “It would help with the transition from the old to the new system by putting all of the information our end users needed right in front of them.”

Taking advantage of Infor10 Distribution Business’ (SX.enterprise) customizable user interface, Craig and Bill set up role-specific screens that would allow end users to quickly access information to get their jobs done as efficiently as possible. “We created hot buttons that allow users to access the specific information they need,” explained Craig. “We customized the labels and displayed the links in logical orders within the navigation screen: select this button for accounts receivable, this one for accounts payable, and so on.”

Tasks have been grouped and ordered so that users can perform their jobs step-by-step in Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise). “We group and order the buttons where the top buttons are going to be the first step, the next button the second step, and so on. For example, on the sales side we’ve grouped order entry before order inquiry. The goal was to make the system as logical as possible and to make the transition easier for the end user,” stressed Craig.

Craig recalled the challenges of training people who had worked for many years with character-based terminals and were unfamiliar with using a PC. “When we started doing training, we had not one but two people look at the mouse and ask, ‘What is that?’,” he said. “We knew right away that we needed to get everybody on board. End user training would be crucial to the success of the project.”

Craig scheduled the training sessions by department where the Summers sales team would practice placing orders, purchasing would practice buying non-stock items, accounting would practice invoicing and receiving, and so on. To make the experience as relevant as possible, Craig asked users to recreate the daily work that they were performing in the legacy system to learn how these tasks would be performed using Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise). “That way, our people benefited from having a parallel experience: here’s how we’re going to do the same thing we are working on now in the new system,” said Craig.

Summers made sure that every computer user gained competency with Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) during the weeks running up to go-live. “We didn’t take a day off but end user training was the biggest thing that we did right,” said Craig. “We made it mandatory for everyone to practice using Infor10 Distribution Business for an hour every day.”

As Summers personnel gained familiarity with Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise), Bill began testing Tina’s and Matt’s modifications. Bill then asked Craig to review the modifications, which were either approved or sent back for further refinement. This process continued through the time of the end user training, where Summers had an opportunity to test its personalized version of Infor10 Distribution Business using its own data. The readiness assessment confirmed that, apart from a few minor refinements, Summers was ready to go-live on Infor10 Distribution Business. A go-live date was scheduled and E&A and Summers prepared for the final push.

To make absolutely certain its employees were ready, Summers scheduled special Saturday training sessions on the final two weekends before go-live. “We wanted to get entire departments in here at one time so that we could run through scenarios together,” said Craig. “We’d give our people a scenario that they’d have to work through as a team. They learned to depend on each other to work through their problems.”

A few nights before go-live, Summers used the training room for a final walk-through of the warehouse pick ticket system and other mission-critical business functions. “Bill and I went through every scenario we could think of, and made sure the pick tickets printed on the correct printers,” said Craig. “When we were certain that everything was working correctly, we decided we were ready to go-live.”

Summers successfully went live on Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) during the third week of March, 2011. Bill was onsite but thanks to the thorough prep work by E&A and Summers the event went well and according to plan. “When we went live, we didn’t have any major hiccups,” affirmed Craig. “Although the first two were long days for the Summers staff, by the end of the week things were starting to work smoothly. Having Bill with us to provide support was a huge help.”

Craig came to value the ongoing assistance provided by Bill during the implementation process. “Bill was a friend and a resource,” said Craig. “If something wasn’t working the way we had anticipated and we needed help, Bill was there. We’d get on the phone and talk through the issue. In the end, it worked out well because we were on the same page.”

Craig commented on the support services provided by E&A to help Summers quickly work through the few unexpected issues that did occur during the implementation. “Support has been good,” said Craig. “When we contact the E&A help desk a representative will get back to us very quickly. For example, one of the modifications that we had ordered was loaded and tested before we realized that we had missed something. Within a matter of minutes, Bill Pattie and Tina Wang were both on the phone. It was late in the afternoon but we got the issue straightened out before the end of the day.”

Craig also credited the Summers staff for their enthusiastic support of the project. “I was really proud of our people,” beamed Craig. “Nobody griped. Everyone maintained a good attitude and came in to practice when we asked them to. They were all excited about it. ‘We are ready for this!’, they’d say. In fact, there’s not a single person who regrets going to the new system. We were able to make the transition successfully because our people put in the effort need to make it successful.”

Summers Benefits from Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise)

Craig believes that the customized screen displays and processes built into Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) by E&A has helped Summers implement standardized procedures that helps make the company work more efficiently than before. “We’re able to standardize where everybody doesn’t have their own individual ways of doing things,” said Craig. “We don’t want to get the corporate mentality of telling people how to do their jobs but we are setting out general guidelines. Our people have actually taken to that philosophy very well.”

One of the largest areas of improvement has been with handling non-stock orders which comprises 40% of Summers’ business volume. Prior to implementing Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise), the lack of visibility to non-stocks meant that Summers would use manual process to place many overlapping small orders to the same vendors or purchase similar items from different vendors. “Beforehand, non-stock information wasn’t stored in the system and it wasn’t assigned a part number. You’d have to put the non-stock item on a PO, email purchasing, and purchasing would print the PO and stick it in a file somewhere. You’d hope that when it came time for purchasing to buy it, they hadn’t forgotten about it,” said Craig.

Now, Summers uses Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) to cooperatively add non-stock items to their sales orders and purchase them more efficiently. “One of the things we like is how Infor10 Distribution Business handles non-stocks,” said Craig. “We can easily add non-stocks to orders and to the database so that if someone else on our staff wants to order that same item in the future, we don’t have to search for the information all over again and re-enter it from scratch.” Non-stock items automatically show up in the Infor10 Distribution Business buyers’ control center where Summers can make much more intelligent purchasing decisions, taking greater advantage of buying targets and discounts from suppliers. “It’s a whole lot better than it was before,” admitted Craig.

Summers has implemented a more disciplined cross-reference system to gain greater control over its database and improve customer service. “The pricing and cross-reference system in Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) allows the catalog to be visible to everybody, not just to the person who entered the item originally,” said Craig. “We came up with a standard nomenclature for how to assign a product number to catalog items. When we search for a particular widget, we can locate it quickly using a manufacturer’s part number or description. If it’s already in our catalog we can see the current pricing and what price we’ve sold it to other people for. It’s one of the big benefits for us because we have such a large volume of non-stocks,” he continued.

Craig likes that he can easily access information within Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) for reporting and analysis. Infor10 Distribution Business includes many pre-built reports for sales analysis, inventory management, accounting, finance and other critical areas as well as tools for users who want to generate customized views and reports. “Bill gave us a little tutelage on how to extract data whenever we need a report that’s not already standard in the system,” said Craig. “We can drop data into Excel or view the custom report on the screen.”

Craig told us that the open database connectivity features in Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) that allow him to massage data in Excel compares favorably with the hassle of straightening out information that has already been uploaded to the ERP system. “A big advantage with Infor10 Distribution Business is that we can test and play with data before committing the final changes to the database,” said Craig. “For example, our largest pipe fitting vendor has over 700 SKUs where Units of Measure is an issue. We always had trouble reconciling the information in our legacy system. It used to take forever! But now we simply download a price sheet from the supplier’s website, make a few simple changes and then upload the data into Infor10 Distribution Business. The fields are updated in seconds! So instead of spending three weeks doing it all by hand, we can take care of the update in less than a day.”

Glenn Shaw discussed how E&A’s solution has benefited Summers. “Customer service is critical to us,” said Glenn. “With Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise), it is very easy to navigate from place to place in the system. We have gained quicker access to information, vendors and customers. We can provide acknowledgments and copies of invoices to customers on demand. The sales and purchasing reports have also been valuable in managing the company,” he continued.

E&A’s ISOC Philosophy Benefits Summers

The ISOC approach makes sure that systems are properly fitted to the business environment. During the discovery, the utilization of electronic data interchange (EDI) to trade information with suppliers was not deemed to be a critical process in Summer’s operations; and accordingly was not fitted into E&A’s initial proposal. However, as the ISOC management process unfolded it became evident to E&A during the Operations Analysis phase that EDI played an important part in Summer’s maintaining its vendor relationships. E&A made its observation known and upon additional consultation in February, 2011 Summers concurred that it was important to include an EDI interface to the implementation scope of services.

“We came to realize that we needed EDI,” confirmed Craig. “We wanted to maintain discounts and buying power with certain vendors who do require us to trade with them using EDI.” E&A’s Scott Manley took the lead in getting Summers’ EDI solution up and running in relatively short order. Although EDI was not fully implemented in time for the go-live, EDI has since come fully online. EDI has benefited Summers by automating previously manual processes and sharing in the cost savings achieved through participating in its vendors’ electronic trading systems.

Summers Today and Tomorrow

Craig’s ambition was to set Summers on a solid footing to allow for its future growth and expansion. With Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) successfully installed and a good working relationship established with its technology partners at E&A, Craig believes that Summers has achieved its goal and is now ready to do more. “I feel like we have that foundation now,” said Craig. “Today, we’re focusing on improving service to our existing customers and others who are in our defined business territories. Tomorrow, we plan to start work on a B2B website where we can roll out additional services to our customers, with future plans to add a B2C front end to capture new business opportunities, as well.”

Summers has recently opened up a virtual private network (VPN) so that remote users can access Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise) from anywhere. “Our sales people love it!” said Craig. “We don’t need to install clients on the desktop. Our people can access the system through a secure login on our website and get full functionality just like they would if they were sitting here in the office. It’s been a big hit so far!” he enthused.

Meanwhile, Summers is working with E&A on implementing the Max Recall document imaging solution where scanned documents such as MSDS sheets and signed proof of delivery tickets can be accessed anywhere within Infor10 Distribution Business (SX.enterprise). E&A is also assisting with the implementation of the integrated bar code (IBC) module to enable Summers to virtually eliminate errors in its warehouse operations that might be associated with its receiving, shipping, and physical/cycle counting processes.

Glenn has been pleased with E&A’s responsive support. “When Craig was on vacation we had a few problems,” said Glenn. “We emailed E&A’s help desk with details and the problems were resolved in a matter of a few hours. We had believed that E&A would provide the support we needed after the implementation was complete, and they have.”

Craig praised E&A for its support with helping Summers move forward with technology to maintain industry leadership and competitive advantage. “E&A has taken good care of us,” said Craig. “With business, there’s simply no such thing as sitting still; if you are, you’re losing ground.”

To learn more about Summers, go to www.summersindustrial.com.