Pilot Brands, headquartered in Lake Tahoe, is a leading importer of lamb, goat and seafood products for the US market. The company maintains two warehouses and five region- al sales offices across the US to sell meat and seafood products to the food service industry.
Today, 20 concurrent users use the Syspro software on a daily basis. Almost immediately after installation Pilot began to see improvements in every phase of the business, including: tight real-time integration of sales orders and remote location inventory for order fulfillment and invoicing; more timely invoic- ing with better visibility, accuracy and management of inventory levels; the abil- ity to accommodate growth without an increase in staffing levels; live inventory access for sales people in the field with a subsequent elevation of customer satisfaction; and month-end procedures that took hours as opposed to days
In addition, Syspro’s paperless invoicing enables Pilot to scan all back-up documentation and attach it to sales and/or purchase orders. Custom- designed reports, work documents and even photos are all attached to customer, supplier and stock query screens via the multi-media option. At the click of a button these are available to every staff member.
With the new software in place, field sales personnel are able to access current inventory figures, enabling them to provide customers with accurate delivery schedules. “We no longer have a disconnect between sales order entry and the warehouses,” notes Saunders, who takes special pride in the custom warehouse system which ties directly into the Syspro software database.
The custom-designed Warehouse Management System, designed by S2 Solutions, uses portable scanners to locate and store the respective products and pallet positions within the warehouse. It has greatly facilitated inventory tracking and expedited customer shipments.
Saunders points out that the month-end close now takes a mere two days whereas it previously took four to five days. Should additional time be required (as with year end), Syspro offers the flexibility to close off and re-open indi- vidual sub-ledgers, thereby minimizing any interruptions to the business.
Commenting on cost savings, Saunders says: “The biggest advantage would be improvements in staff efficiency and our ability to outsource tasks to under-utilized staff anywhere in the country. The second biggest improvement is having a live system available to any and all staff with Internet access. This has enabled all staff members to make informed and subsequently improved decisions with regard to day-to-day transactions – and that’s priceless.”
“I liked the real-time integrated nature of the vari- ous Syspro modules and appreciated the ability we have to customize the various inquiry screens without having to change the source code”
— Gary Saunders Vice President of Operations, Pilot Brands
The company’s existing accounting package was outdated and no longer meeting its needs. With warehouses and offices across the country, Pilot wanted an integrated solution.
Gary Saunders, Pilot’s Vice President of Operations, realized the time had come to implement an ERP solution. After extensive reviews the choice narrowed to Syspro. “I liked the real-time integrated nature of the various Syspro modules and appreciated the ability we have to customize the various inquiry screens without having to change the source code,” he says.
Syspro e.net solutions and associated Business Components also give Pilot an advantage by enabling it to tailor the software to meet the exacting demands of the food service industry. Pilot purchased the system from Syspro reseller S2 Solutions and implemented it on Microsoft XP.
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