Acumatica Customer Eastmen Tire Supplies Drives Growth and Success With Cloud ERP

For over 35 years, Eastmen Tire Supplies, Inc. has been providing quality equipment, tools, and supplies as well as superior service to its tire dealer and auto repair shop customers. The family-owned distribution business, headquartered in Butler, Pennsylvania, uses faith, hard work, and commitment to meet—and exceed—its customers’ needs and expectations.

But Eastmen Tire Supplies’ team of knowledgeable and friendly employees—some of whom have been with the company for more than 30 years—faced a daunting challenge of maintaining and delivering on their promise of fast, reliable shipping and first-rate hands-on training and maintenance. Why? Because Eastmen Tire Supplies’ operations ran on an outdated, on-premises solution.

That solution was Great Plains (Microsoft Dynamics GP), and according to Warehouse Manager Caleb Thompson, it was difficult to navigate, not user friendly, and clunky. Former Office Manager Kim Strobel says the system wasn’t easy to connect to or to pull data from. According to Owner Dave Harrington, these shortcomings were why Great Plains was being sunsetted.

With Great Plains limiting their efficiency, Eastmen Tire Supplies decided to roll out a new, modern, and comprehensive system: Acumatica Cloud ERP.

How Eastmen Tire Supplies Became a Successful Acumatica Customer

The challenges Eastmen Tire Supplies faced from relying on a disconnected, soon-to-be unsupported ERP and accounting software solution were hindering the distributor’s ability to grow. Multiple databases filled with purchasing, receiving, and shipping data required the team to painstakingly gather information, which was a time-consuming process that led to inventory inaccuracies and limited visibility.

When Eastmen Tire Supplies made the decision to send employees out into the field to take orders via devices, the system they had in place simply didn’t work. So, with the help of AdCirrus ERP, a provider of customized ERP implementation services, they looked for a single solution that gave them the remote order entry capabilities as well as the inventory, shipping, sales, and financial management features they needed.

“We knew out of the gate that Acumatica—with its strong distribution foundation—was going to be a great solution for [Eastmen Tire Supplies],” says AdCirrus ERP President Nirav Shah.

He was right. After implementing Acumatica Distribution Management, the Eastmen Tire Supplies team finally had an accessible platform that provided real-time data flow between field sales and back-office operations. Information they didn’t have before was now available from a centralized database, helping them serve their customers better and make strategic decisions driven by accurate, organization-wide data.

“We had the FedEx database. We had the UPS database. We had the Great Plains database,” Strobel says. “What is wonderful about Acumatica is not only is there just one database, but now with [integrated shipping rate comparison tools], you can see exactly this is the carrier that’s going to be best for this package. That has allowed us a lot of time saving.”

Eastmen Tire Supplies: From Great to Outstanding with Help from Acumatica

By implementing Acumatica’s innovative, affordable, and cloud-based ERP solution, Eastmen Tire Supplies eliminated manual processes, streamlined workflows, and increased efficiency.

“When we were using our older system, a really busy day for shipping as far as packages that we got out if we had the full crew working on that? 30 was doing really good,” says Thompson. “Now, we’ve almost hit 200 in a day. That obviously reflects Acumatica and how it’s enabled us to be more efficient.”

Acumatica’s easy-to-use distribution ERP software has given the Eastmen Tire Supplies team advanced reporting that delivers insights into salesmen performance, popular items, and profit margins, while also allowing them to take advantage of third-party applications, like Skynamo, to eliminate connectivity and sales order processing for remote workers. And accurately determining costs, including non-stock items and landed shipping costs, is no longer an impossibility.

Additionally, and very importantly, Acumatica helped Eastmen Tire Supplies:

• Reduce inventory processing times by 50%.
• Cut payroll processing times by 75%.
• Decrease month-end closing from multiple days to 30 minutes.
• Streamline financial processes to save two hours daily on invoicing.

“I have used other software. I have taught other software. Acumatica, by far, is superior,” Strobel says.

Empowering the team with updated, easily accessed information and improving every workflow, from the back office to the warehouse to the field, is ensuring that Eastmen Tire Supplies can continue providing its customers with outstanding service, which is at the core of everything the distribution company does. Ultimately, choosing Acumatica has enabled Eastmen Tire Supplies to respond quickly to a changing market and thrive in a digital economy.

Says Harrington, “Acumatica gives us a competitive edge because we’re able to see what’s needed in the field.”

If you’re a small or mid-sized business (SMB) looking to hone your competitive edge in a complex, evolving marketplace, Acumatica’s award-winning ERP solution can help. Read our complimentary distribution ERP brochure to learn more, and contact our experts with any questions and/or to request a demo today.