Unreliable ERP Systems Fail to Manage Production, Inventory and Accounting for Fast-growing Company
When Business Systems Need a Lift — Softengine and SAP Raise the Bar
- Name: Rough Country
- Location: Dyersburg, Tennessee
- Industry: Automobile/Off-road/Consumer Product
- Products: Suspension Systems for Trucks, Jeeps, and SUVs
- Website: https://www.roughcountry.com/
- System: SAP Business One, Magento, Solid Commerce, Production
Rough Country (originally known as Heckethorn Products, Inc.), was founded in 1986 by Patrick and Michael Heckethorn in Dyersburg, Tennessee. While initially focusing on manufacturing steering stabilizers, management expanded its product portfolio in 1992, acquiring the suspension system inventory and intellectual property of Rough Country, a California-based, branded off-road products manufacturer. Over the last 15 years, Rough Country has greatly expanded its suspension system product offerings, and its consistent growth has catapulted the company into an industry leader. Rough Country offers best-in-class service and value to its enthusiast client base, with offers that include 100% same-day shipping, 90-day satisfaction guarantees, and a limited lifetime replacement warranty.
Unreliable ERP Systems Fail to Manage Production, Inventory and Accounting for Fast-growing Company
As sales grew by leaps and bounds, Rough Country’s existing business software couldn’t handle the increasing accounting, inventory management and reporting demands. According to Rough Country CFO Patrick Just, “Syncing the inventory and accounting systems also presented a growing problem as the number of transactions grew. This task had to be performed at night while neither system was in use and, if any problems arose, we had to wait until the following morning for our in-house team to troubleshoot. Given the strain already evident on the system, we resisted other automation projects such as importing orders directly from our website. We knew we had to get to a place where some of these tasks could be built in without worrying about crashing the system.”
When Business Systems Need a Lift – Softengine and SAP Raise the Bar
Management decided that an industrial-strength ERP solution was the answer and research revealed a clear winner – SAP Business One. They discovered Softengine, an SAP Gold Partner, who had the expertise to not only implement the solution remotely but who had developed a number of tools that could add flexibility and deliver seamless integration throughout the entire system.
Priorities for the new system included:
- Inventory, production, and shipping management from multiple warehouses,
- All operational and financial software needs to be integrated under one platform,
- Fully automated customer fulfillment and communications that would make the customer ordering experience as fast and reliable as leading e-commerce platforms
- Ability to automatically import online orders from the company’s Magento-based site and third-party marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.
As the design of the new system crystallized, a rather complex chain of add-on products was included to ensure adaptability for future growth and seamless two-way interaction between all connected pieces.
Following is a snapshot of a few of the key system add-ons:
- Magento eCommerce Connector — Enables Rough Country’s retail (consumers) and wholesale (resellers) customers to buy suspension kits and parts directly off their website. The eCommerce Connector add-on links the communication between Magento, SAP Business One, and the customer. Softengine performed a modification in the Magento logic that also enables the system to determine which warehouse has the order items in stock and is located nearest to the customer to facilitate quicker delivery of products ordered.
- Solid Commerce Marketplace Connector — Facilitates transactions of products for sale on eBay and Amazon. When Solid Commerce is integrated with SAP Business One, updates appear dynamically, almost in real time.
- Softengine Mailer One for SAP Business One — According to IT Manager and Marketing Director Chad Enochs, “We wanted our customers to enjoy a rapid and seamless ordering experience. We ship over 99% of our orders on the same day they’re placed and we want our customers notified right away at every phase of the process. Customers should never have to wait.” To make that goal a reality, the Softengine implementation team installed their Mailer One tool that enhances the core functionality of SAP’s Business One Mailer program.
In addition to the aforementioned add-on programs, Softengine also integrated other SAP Business One to customize the system even more.
Practice Makes Perfect – In-house Training and SAP eLearning Curriculum Gets Management and Staff Up to Speed
A key to the success of the rollout was Rough Country’s commitment to training and intensive practice prior to going live. Led by Chad Enochs, Rough Country required department managers to attain a high level of understanding of all the core functions in the system. To accomplish this, an internal SAP team was established to oversee hands-on training for each department. The training regimen included SAP Business One’s online eLearning modules. Enochs’ staff also ran a series of tests to simulate appropriate actions to take when responding to a wide variety of business scenarios. “We trained managers to the point that they could perform the essential functions that comprise 80% of their time. We called in Softengine to provide additional training for the other 20% – the more robust features and capabilities that each department needs to address specialized situations.”
Fully Integrated Systems and Lightning-fast Customer Communications Create a Smooth Ride for Rough Country
According to Enochs, the primary goals set for the new ERP system have been met and additional features will be activated over the coming months. “We really enjoyed working with Softengine and think they did a great job on the implementation of the new system,” expressed Enochs. “We can be very demanding in terms of knowing what we want and expecting our technology partner to deliver. We needed Softengine to design and execute the rather complex integration and perform all the customizations we desired. Moreover, if we discovered something that needed to be added or changed in the system, the Softengine technical team would listen very carefully and execute the game plan quickly and according to our specifications. I would rate the combination of SAP Business One and Softengine as an unqualified success.”