Epicor Enterprise Financials - The Anderson-Tully Company
Module
At a Glance: The Anderson-Tully Company Industry: Timber and land management Founded: Incorporated 1889 Headquarters: Memphis, Tennessee Solution: Epicor Enterprise Employees: 350
Business Challenge Current tier one system was too complex. Additionally, it could not be customized it to fit their needs.
Solution Chose Epicor for Distribution because it scaled to fit their needs and is customizable
Business Benefits * Customization capabilities * Implementation of plans is more effective * Reporting is easier and faster
Return on Investment * Shed 80% of IT staff while providing better all-around service to its users * Paperwork is processed in 1/10 the time * Implemented in three months * ROI was less than two years on the software * Lower operating cost
The Anderson-Tully Company was incorporated in Michigan in 1889. They began producing egg cases in 1896, purchasing the Vicksburg Box Company in 1899. In 1900 they built the first bandmill in Vicksburg which produced lumber averaging 14 million board feet per year. As Anderson-Tully continued to grow both organically and through acquisitions, they began to focus their production on high-quality, hard wood lumber, phasing out other operations.
Making protection and management of their timberlands as important as producing the highest quality lumber, the Anderson-Tully Company maintains a balance through careful selection of trees and in which tracks to harvest. The Anderson- Tully Forestry Department manages this balance along with practicing wildlife and habitat management. Over the past 100 plus years Anderson-Tully has built and acquired numerous mills, becoming one of the largest lumber suppliers in the renewable resources business.
Bigger Isn’t Always Better (or Customizable) “The tier one system we were running was just too big,” said Mike Gross, IT director for Anderson-Tully. “The lack of flexibility in the software became so unmanageable that we knew we had to find something that better suited our business needs.” Anderson-Tully could not customize the solution to get the information they needed. On top of the customization struggle was the fact that the system was very expensive to run, over $1 million each year.
After looking at several other midmarket enterprise systems and industry specific products, Anderson-Tully concluded that Epicor best met their unique business needs. Implementation was complete in three months creating an environment to see an immediate return on investment. Now, with the implementation of Epicor for Distribution, they are better able to manage their precious natural resource.
Operating at 100% with a Streamlined Organization Since the implementation of Epicor their business process has improved incrementally. Anderson-Tully will continue to see the benefits of Epicor for Distribution through lower cost of operation and lower overhead.
Because of the ease of use with Epicor for Distribution, their IT department has shed 80% of its staff. Now, a team of two people manage 150 users successfully. They are able to implement management’s plans more efficiently, reporting results much faster and giving answers in hours instead of days.
“We love our Epicor solution because it is easy to use, has a huge cost savings for us; we can run a much leaner staff and have a lower overhead,” said Gross.
Unique Business Practice Requires Unique Enterprise Solution Because Anderson-Tully is operating in such a dynamic business setting they are not able to operate as a typical manufacturer distributor, putting orders together and shipping them out. They use the distribution module to look down their order pipeline 30, 60, 90 days at what Mother Nature will be supplying them.
Product changes with each tree cut and processed. Depending on what track has been selected for harvest they can determine what types of wood will be will be available for their hardwood flooring products.
Working closely with production, the sales team reserves the product through Epicor for Distribution linking up customers and product. Keeping an eye on the real-time availability and meeting weekly, the production and sales teams keep a good grasp of their ever changing product and inventory.
Good Business Process is a Beautiful Thing The switch to Epicor was completed before the set deadline. Being in the renewable resources business, Anderson-Tully has very unique business needs. The paperwork for international deals alone is stifling. With Epicor for Distribution they now have a manageable business process which reduces processing time by 1/10 the time.
Compliance with the Smart Wood Initiative and the Forest Stewardship Counsel is demonstrated with ease. Epicor for Distribution utilizes a highly flexible Microsoft framework, including an integrated platform for custom reporting. With access to all the information they need within the enterprise system, Anderson-Tully has full-visibility of business decisions and compliance.
Epicor Enterprise Financials - The Anderson-Tully Company
