Single, Centralized Platform
Acumatica centralized Additive-X’s transactions and workflows into a single business management solution eliminating the company’s reliance on spreadsheets. Acumatica Manufacturing Edition significantly improved daily operations with integrated workflows providing executives with a powerful forecasting tool, improved data access, and new ways to reduce costs.
Acumatica’s open API strategy facilitates third-party application connectivity, making it easy for Arcus Universe to link Ship Theory with the core business system. “The quickest win was the Ship Theory integration,” says Young. “From day one, we started printing labels so no one had to key in addresses. That saved time right away. Then we were able to automatically handle customs invoices when Brexit requirements were implemented.”
Acumatica’s intuitive user interface allowed employees to be more efficient with less training, Young says. “They find customer information, invoices, payment history, and other data instantly without hunting through several programs and spending a lot of time searching. Now they can easily drill down to find more information when needed,” she says. Acumatica’s dashboards are easily configurable to individual roles with KPI preferences and real-time, actionable information.
Automated Workflows Save Time
Acumatica offers automated workflows for bank statement reconciliation, native document storage for customer warranty attachments, and seamless printing for labels and customs paperwork. Young estimates these features will offset the equivalent of four team members, including one in the company’s warehouse operations.
Digital document storage and outsourced backups by Arcus Universe eliminated manual filing and physical storage costs and time for as many as 18 bankers’ boxes of documents annually. “We’re virtually paperless.”
The ability to add notes to invoices and other paperwork “was massive, Young says. “I can’t tell you how excited my staff is about the notes they can put in the system everywhere. They can put notes on products, customers, and transactions and everyone can see them. We no longer have to figure out why something hasn’t shipped because we can put a note on it, and everyone knows what’s happening.”
Overall, she estimates the finance team has seen a 10 to 15 percent increase in productivity due to Acumatica’s automation. Additive-X also shaved some 25 percent of the time it previously took to prepare for an audit because the information is housed in one single solution, and they no longer spend time importing and exporting information.
Going through an audit is also easier because “The auditors have access to the system and can do the research they need on their own rather than handing us a long list of the data they need,” she adds. “They can simply access Acumatica and drill down right within the system to see the document or file they need.”
Improved Inventory Management
Acumatica Distribution Edition improved Additive-X’s inventory management giving the company instant transparency. When an outsider approached the business about renting warehouse space, for example, Young was able to instantly pull an aged stock report of parts aged 40 months or more, find the stock location, talked to the warehouse manager, and authorized him to clear it to make room for the potential tenant – all within a few minutes. “I then created the inventory issue, did an adjustment of 3,300 parts, cleared it, scrapped it, released it, and it was done,” she says.
Previously that task would have taken several days and a lot of manual work.
“Acumatica is also very good for maintaining replenishment levels. New reorder levels are uploaded automatically, and we are reviewing them more frequently than ever before,” Young says. “There’s much less devaluation of stock because we’re adjusting buying profiles in real-time, so we don’t get stuck with items leftover, eliminating waste.”
When a supplier sent notice that they were closing a warehouse for the holidays, Additive-X quickly “examined inventory levels, pulled account history, estimated needs, created a purchase order, and within an hour had the right stock on order in time to meet crucial deadlines,” Young says. The business agility that Acumatica provides also helped them optimize inventory levels even during global supply chain challenges.
Improved Customer Service
Acumatica Cloud ERP helped Additive-X improve customer service with fewer stock-outs and significantly improved order fill rates, which helped elevate the company’s brand name and customer loyalty.
“I can now say yes to things that customers ask for related to their unique business,” Young says. “I can quickly find the information they want right from within Acumatica or reach out to our excellent partner resource in Arcus Universe to fulfill the requests if it’s something I can’t find on my own.”
“I used to cringe when the old system went down,” she adds. “It felt so unprofessional. Now we are projecting a much better image to our clients. We’ve linked to our Magento web store which automatically feeds orders to Acumatica, streamlining the customer’s order process and order fulfillment.”
Employees spend more time catering to customer needs thanks to workflow automation and self-service options in Acumatica. The customer refreshes reports themselves rather than waiting for a scheduled report, which they had to do previously. “We are quick to answer questions because we get timely and accurate information faster than ever before,” Young says.
Improved data accuracy and speed provide Additive-X with a competitive edge with customers and suppliers.
Boosted Staff Engagement
Acumatica’s easy-to-use and intuitive user interface coupled with improved data transparency have increased staff engagement. Employees now understand how their jobs fit and interconnect with the entire process, from selling a 3-D printer to manufacturing and fulfilling the order through to customer service after-sale support. “We’re now able to have people work in multiple areas, sometimes in the warehouse, others in finance because Acumatica is so familiar to all our staff,” Young explained.
In the past, everyone was siloed and kept in the dark about what other departments did. “People have grown in their roles since we’ve moved forward with Acumatica,” she says. “Acumatica is future-proof, and the system is reliable, so people have confidence in it, which is important.”
Easily Expand into the Future
Additive-X plans to add Acumatica’s CRM, Field Service, and other modules and create advanced workflows in the future. “We can grow with the solution by continually implementing existing features and utilizing new system enhancements,” Young says. “I’ll be surprised if there ever comes a time in 5 to 10 years where I will say, ‘Oh gosh, Acumatica can’t do that.’”
Additive-X has “just scratched the surface with Acumatica,” Young says. “I know if we want to expand with more warehouses, I can easily do it; if we want to expand to new countries, I can do it easily with Acumatica.”
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