“We have taken a big leap forward in the last few years and that would not have been possible without SAP Business One. This solution has supported our growth by helping us become better at what we do.”
OVERVIEW
THE COMPANY
- Products and services: Distributor of measurement, regulation, operations & personal safety products for the Canadian natural gas industry
- Locations: Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
- Annual revenue : $5 to $10 Million
- Employees : 38
OBJECTIVES
- Manage foreign currency purchasing
- Ensure better financial management
- Control inventory
- Visualize costs and selling prices
- Have better control over products
CHOSEN SOLUTIONS
- SAP Business One
- Produmex Scan from Boyum IT
WHY SAP?
- Support for growth
- Automation features and best practices
- Streamlining of business processes
- Real-time inventory management
BENEFITS
- Easier employee tasks
- Simple integration with other software
- Affordable cost per user
- Accurate information to make sound decisions
WHY FORGESTIK ?
- For timely recommendations
- For maximum utilization of the software
- For quick resolution of requests
- For after-sales service
FUTURE PLANS UNDERMINED BY A LACK OF FLEXIBILITY
Based in Cambridge, Ontario, CR Wall is a family owned and operated business that has grown from a simple garage in 1981 to its current 16,000-square-foot facility. The company distributes measurement, regulation, operations & personal safety products for the Canadian natural gas industry.
With rapid growth over the last couple of years, the company wanted to give itself the means to achieve its ambitions. However, the existing ERP solution lacked the flexibility they needed to ensure effective financial management and inventory control.
For instance, purchasing was done using foreign currencies, but the system was unable to manage this. As a result, the company started looking for a system that could support its operations at the financial level. The team was searching for a solution that would allow the company to visualize its prices and costs to have better control over its products.
SAP BUSINESS ONE: A ROBUST FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
With its growth now underway, CR Wall has decided to acquire a new ERP system in preparation of its forthcoming projects and challenges. This new system will support the company in the next steps of its growth, allowing it to perform a more accurate analysis of its operations and make informed decisions to maximize sales.
The company considered various software packages, including SAP Business One, which turned out to be the only one meeting its requirements. At the end of 2019, the company began implementing the solution and automating all its processes from scratch by relying on the features and best practices offered by SAP Business One.
CR Wall is moving forward one step at a time to turn the new software into a working platform for its future projects. Employees immediately responded positively to the new software and quickly made it their own, as they discovered new features and options to simplify daily business processes.
CR Wall can now better manage and monitor the status of its inventory in real time, as well as handle supply delays. Indeed, lead times have been getting longer and longer over the last 3 years due to supply chain disruptions brought by the pandemic.
A NEW MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TO MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS
Today, the company is moving into the software optimization phase. They are currently running the software at 70% capacity and hope to increase this to 90% over the next two years, which will in turn make the employees’ jobs easier.
Additionally, in order to leverage some of their industry-related products, they are incorporating an e-commerce software into SAP Business One to enter new markets. E-commerce is an important growth opportunity for CR Wall.
To date, the license cost per user has been reduced by approximately 30% as compared to the previous software used. Revenues, meanwhile, have doubled in the last 5 years and the number of employees has increased from 16 to 38.
“We have taken a big leap forward in the last few years and that would not have been possible without SAP Business One. This solution has supported our growth by helping us become better at what we do,” explains Michel Gagnon, Vice President, Finance & Operations.
Now the team is implementing Produmex Scan by Boyum IT Solutions, a robust and scalable barcode scanning solution. This advanced feature is built to automate warehouse and inventory transactions to handle high volumes of operations, while maintaining high performance. “For us, SAP is there to support our growth by providing more insight to drive more sales,” Mr. Gagnon adds.
FORGESTIK: CONSULTANTS BY YOUR SIDE EVERY STEP OF THE WAY
Mr. Gagnon feels that Forgestik’s consultants actively play a role in the company’s success. The team provided timely recommendations at each stage of the company’s growth to help maximize the use of the software.
Another key factor for CR Wall is the quick technical support provided by Forgestik consultants. “Forgestik’s turnaround time is always speedy, anywhere from an hour to a minute, and our requests are resolved within 3 hours. That is what I like about customer service,” concludes Mr. Gagnon.
