ACME Supplies

CHALLENGE

ACME’s business system couldn’t handle a changing business environment; making changes was a slow, expensive process.

SOLUTION

Greentree integrates sales and financial data, automates manual processes, and delivers real-time customer information and business intelligence.

RESULTS Time-consuming processes have been eliminated, orders and service jobs can be tracked instantly, invoicing can be tailored to a customer’s needs, and ACME now has the flexibility to handle future business demands.

ACME SUPPLIES LTD

$100,000? NO, THANKS

ACME had been using one system for sales and stock management, with a separate system handling financials.

“Any changes we wanted to make were very time-consuming and expensive,” Brent says. “Often we’d just make do because the cost of making changes was too high.”

The crunch came when ACME wanted system upgrades to equip itself for e-commerce. The price quoted was over $100,000. A new system was definitely the better option. Greentree was mentioned by another company, and that rang a bell – a consultant from Verde Group had been calling occasionally to see how ACME’s current system was performing. This time, they were ready to talk.

“Greentree had the forward thinking that we were looking for,” Brent says. “The size and diversity of its customer base appealed to us, as well as the quality of the product.

“Our requirements were simple: we wanted a sales order system, inventory, financials, and the capability for web integration. Greentree had just about everything we needed, straight out of the box.”

ACME also wanted its new system to cause as little disruption as possible.
“It was easy to make Greentree fit with minor tweaks,” says Brent. “Verde said it could be done, and they made it happen. The transition was very good.

SOLUTION TREES DELIVER EASILY MANAGEABLE INFORMATION

A.S. Wilcox is a long-time user of Greentree, and Bruce admits there’s still a lot more it could do with the system. When he joined the company, Greentree was being used purely for financial management.

“We used to do all of our sales reporting and grower payments outside of Greentree in an Access database, so I focused on making sure we could get all of that with the use of Greentree,” he says.

The Access database required a lot of manual work and reconciliation to ensure the integrity of the data that was being imported into the ERP system. Capturing the data in Greentree enabled Wilcox to greatly streamline the process, using the system’s transaction trees to handle all the company’s GL and sales reporting.

“We make extensive use of the trees,” Bruce says. “We report by customer group and product group. Each customer links into different trees and we also define the different products we sell by certain trees and classifications. We also use them to do our grower payment calculations.

“The trees give you a lot of flexibility and they’re quite user-friendly. You can change them yourself without having to pay a developer to do it.”

CUSTOMERS BETTER SERVED

The difference that Greentree makes is being felt throughout the business. Emailing of monthly statements has reduced a day-long task to an hour, and customers who want invoices weekly, fortnightly or even daily can be accommodated easily. An invoice can be generated automatically as an order is completed.

“From a customer service point of view we’re now capturing courier ticket numbers, which is a big plus,” Brent says. “With a glance at Greentree’s Workflow screen we can tell the customer the status of their order straight away.”

Workflow has delivered other benefits too.

““It’s a great tool. We can see what sales orders need to be picked and dispatched at any time. It takes the guesswork out of what’s outstanding or what extra resources are needed to fill the orders for the day.”

ACME’s workshop carries out repairs on equipment from customers nationwide. Workflow enables similar real-time tracking of repairs.

GEARED FOR FUTURE CHANGE

Greentree IQ*has reduced Brent’s monthly reporting tasks from two days to less than half a day. ACME’s on-the-road sales reps can also get the latest customer sales data before making a call.

With Greentree, ACME staff can alter the wording or layout of a form themselves, at no cost.

ACME plans to grow by acquiring new brands to add to its portfolio of products. Greentree makes adding to that products database a simple task.

“Our previous system was at a dead end,” Brent concludes. “Now we know that when we want to make any changes to our business, Greentree will be able to accommodate them.”

ABOUT ACME SUPPLIES LTD

The Wilcox Group of Companies is involved with growing, packing and distributing fresh produce throughout New Zealand with facilities at Pukekohe, Ohakune, Levin and the Waikato in the North Island, and Rakaia in the South Island. Companies within the group are privately owned by the Wilcox family, who have been associated with vegetable growing since the early 1930s. They manage a production base of 2,500 acres with 110 permanent staff.Their large growing and packing capacity and specialised marketing skills mean Wilcox can deliver and maintain a guaranteed sustainable supply to retail sectors throughout New Zealand and sustain a significant export demand.

For more information visit A.S. Wilcox

ACME Supplies Limited is the exclusive New Zealand importer and distributor of major international brands of quality office products and hand tools. ACME is named after the Greek word akmç, which means the highest point (or peak). “Striving for the peak of excellence and integrity in all that we do” underpins the business philosophy of ACME.

For more information visit www.acme.co.nz.

ACME SUPPLIES

MYOB Greentree puts stationery firm on the move

$100,000? NO, THANKS

SOLUTION TREES DELIVER EASILY MANAGEABLE INFORMATION

CUSTOMERS BETTER SERVED

GEARED FOR FUTURE CHANGE

ABOUT ACME SUPPLIES LTD

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