Power Bolt and Tool: A Small Company Soars

When a small company makes a big purchase, they want to be certain they’re doing the right thing. As was the case with Power Bolt and Tool when they bought Eclipse. But, with the economy in an unexpected slump, and the system not working to its fullest capacity, their confidence crashed. When Zerion came to them with the idea of an E.Z. Support program (to provide support for small companies), it proved to be all the company needed to re-gain its flight, and its belief in Eclipse. Lane Garrett, owner of Power bolt and Tool, remarked, “As soon as Tony stepped onboard, I knew we’d made the right decision. I knew that Eclipse would work for us, and my confidence was totally restored. We could do everything we dreamed. Now we could fly our Boeing 747.” Download their story …

Eclipse Tip: Using Auto Apply Mode in SOE

In a special order deposit situation, you’re taking money before the product is available.  As such, there’s an open ticket for the product with a deposit. This control file in Sales Order Entry automatically applies the deposit to the ticket when it’s printed. For each location of your company, you can select whether the system applies sales deposits and/or credit balance invoices to the A/R when the next order segment ships and creates an invoice. If you leave this record blank, the default is D. Here are all of the options to consider:

• N-No Auto Apply – Displays all deposits as unapplied receipts in the Cash Receipts program. Users must manually apply the deposits.
• D-Deposits Only – Auto-applies any deposit received prior to an invoice segment being shipped.
• A-All Credit Bals – Auto-applies all deposits and credit balance invoices.

Note: Each of the above options only applies to deposits and credits occurring on the same order number transaction. We recommend that you assign one of the choices to each branch.

Roll Out the Big Welcome Mat

We have lots of new customers to be excited about this month! Let’s get right to it … We welcome Neill Supply, a New Jersey-based pipes, valves and fittings supplier for whom we’ll be doing an operational audit; B&K Electric in southern California, where we’ll be providing integration to Dynamex (a routing program); American Stainless & Supply, an industrial distributor in South Carolina who will receive training and support for Blue Volt; BAC Sales, a fireplace and hearth distributor in Hudson, New York who needs support for a new Eclipse conversion; and, electrical supplier Miami Breaker, who hired us to provide Eclipse consulting services. We also have a new monthly customer for our E.Z. Support program: Nassco, a maintenance and packaging supplier in Wisconsin. Whew … we’re going to be busy, but it sure feels great!

Industry News: Customer Spotlight on Hunzicker

Congratulations to Hunzicker Brothers and Jack Henderson! Jack, the company’s executive vice president, was recently appointed the Chairman of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED). This is a big job and a great honor; and, he was featured in a cover story for the May issue of TED Magazine. Having been with the company for 40 years, Jack’s story is a testament to the strong history and leadership behind Hunzicker.

Hunzicker became a customer of Zerion last year when we provided project management and training for their conversion to Eclipse.  Since then, we have also provided purchasing consultations. We’re proud to be associated with a company led by such an established figure in the electrical industry!

In related industry news, Modern Distribution Management (MDM) announced its top 25 electrical distributors list. Zerion customers (past and present) who made the list include number 1 Sonepar, as well as HD Supply, Independent Electric, Border States and North Coast. Congrats to all!

You can get more industry news on our web site all month long.

Cool Down with Hot Training

What better way to cool down during this hot summer than to let someone else work for a few hours? The Eclipse Users Group (UFO) and Zerion are offering a variety of classes this summer that will allow you to sit back, chill out in the A/C, and learn something new. July’s offering will include web-based training on Eclipse and Sequel Servers, as well as two Warehouse Techniques options. In August, there will be three (online) Purchasing classes to choose from; and, we’ll be gearing up for another set of regional roundtables at the end of the month. This time, we’ll be going to Kitchener, Ontario to talk about Report Writer and User Defined Screens. To see the UFO’s complete class schedule, or to register for classes, members can log on to eclipseuser.com.

Look Who’s Training Now

Zerion is proud to welcome some more new faces to our Eclipse services team. This month, Susana Armstrong as well as Steve and Peggy Gonter joined the ranks as Zerion Consultants.

Susana is an old friend from our days at Hughes (now HD Supply). She was part of Hughes’  IT department and worked  as an Eclipse support technician for six years. Prior to that, she learned the system while working in the Accounts Payable department.

Susana will primarily be responsible for teaching our web-based learning classes, both for Zerion and the UFO. She’ll soon be releasing a brand new, ongoing schedule of low-cost remote learning opportunities for Eclipse users.

Steve and Peggy are a long-time husband and wife team in the distribution IT arena. They’ve spent the last 12 years providing implementation, programming, support and project management services to businesses using Eclipse software. They also each have 10 years experience supporting SHIMS Software on UniVerse.

The addition of Steve and Peggy extends our services to include more comprehensive programming for Eclipse users.

Eclipse Tip: Tracking Inventory Adjustments

If you ever notice inventory adjustment comments being too vague, or incorrect (in the inventory adjustment register); or, if you’re allowed to type anything in the Header Comment field of an adjustment, here’s a tip for you. There are two control files that can increase your tracking on inventory adjustments. From Control File Maintenance, you can turn on Validate Inventory Adjustment Comments (change to “Yes”), and set up Valid Inventory Adjustment Comments. Once you do this, all adjustments will have to have a specific reason in order to be created. Also, note that you can tie each adjustment comment to a specific GL account.

We Love New Customers

In May, we gained two new clients. Gulf Eagle Supply brought us onboard to provide Eclipse training for its regional managers. Gulf Eagle is a distributor of residential and commercial roofing and building products,  headquartered in Tampa, with  over 50 locations nationwide.

Allied Fastener & Tool hired us to provide some programming services for data extraction. They’re converting off of Eclipse to a new system that’s a better fit for them (see, we weren’t lying when we said we’re unbiased!). Allied offers professional fastening systems, power tools and other construction products. They have seven locations throughout Florida, with their main office in Miami.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

We may not know our way there, but we’ll have to figure it out real soon! By now I’m sure you know about the regional roundtables that the Eclipse Users Group is doing. We’re officially kicking off sessions on Report Writer and User Defined Screens with our next set of roundtables. We’ll be joining the UFO in San Jose, California on June 9th and 10th to facilitate the workshops. If you’re in the area, or within driving distance, get signed up today!

June 9th’s roundtable is titled “Getting the Information You Need From Eclipse” and will cover
Advanced Report Writer, Excel with Eclipse  and Eclipse Reports. June 10th’s session is titled “User Defined Screens, Class Files and Advanced I-Descriptors,” and it will provide an overview as well as specific information on each of those topics. UFO members can see a complete class outline by logging in to the UFO web site.

And don’t forget, the UFO is always offering cost-effective online training options with Zerion instructors. June’s schedule includes classes on RF Warehousing and Eclipse Hidden Gems. To register for the roundtables or webinars, visit the UFO’s web site.

Stepping into the Modern World: Laser Printer ROI

On your way to the office this morning you probably passed a billboard advertising an Android (phone), saw someone reading their morning paper on an iPad, and heard the radio personality going on about the benefits of “the (computer) cloud.” It’s like we’re living in some futuristic, techno-crazed, more complicated adaptation of the world we once knew.

Then, you arrive at work; and, on the way to your desk you grab a cup of coffee from the counter area. You stop to peruse the carbon copy tickets from yesterday that are piled up and waiting to be filed. Looks like sales are starting to pick up. Good deal! You go along your merry way. Sccrrreeeeeeeccchhhh. Hold the phone. Wait a second here. Carbon copy tickets? Didn’t those go out with the Yugo?! Or the French roll? How could we live in such a technologically savvy, “green” 2010; but, yet still need file cabinets full of duplicate and triplicate pieces of colored paper to run our operation? How can we be able to read a book, send an email, and listen to music all from the same device at the same time, yet we can’t figure out a better way to print invoices and keep proof of delivery? It probably sounds pretty silly when you think about it that way, but most wholesalers believe they have an incredibly valid reason: MONEY.

Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s quite possible you’re wrong. Okay, well you’re not completely wrong. It’s not free to switch your warehouse to laser printers and digital signatures. But, you often can get your money back in as little as 12 months; and, by 24 months, you usually can be SAVING thousands of dollars per year.

Want to know more? I thought you might. Eclipse is set up to handle laser printers. That’s no secret. But many of our customers think that the process and value of converting is a bit of a mystery. As such, we developed an ROI tool to prove it’s worth it. And, we want to share it with you. If you spend a few minutes to complete this simple form, we’ll email you a customized report showing what YOUR company’s return would be on converting to laser printers.

The report will take your yearly spend on carbon copy paper, an estimated cost of new equipment, and the cost of ongoing maintenance into account to determine how long it will take you to break-even. It will also tell you how your cost per ticket will change, and how much you’ll save each year.

Most of the time, the cost per carbon copy ticket is from .03 to .09 per ticket.  Laser printers can bring that cost down to .01. Meanwhile, you’ll be saving the time it takes to file paper tickets as well as storage space, and you’ll have an electronic proof of delivery. Not to mention that you’ll be released from the Stone Age!

As for the implementation part, it’s pretty simple. It goes something like this:

1. Acquire the printers.
2. Set up the print queues.
3. Set up the correct control files for Open Order Statuses.
4. Review the billing process and billing control files.
5. Define your new paper flow for counter sales orders.  (This is important since you will most likely have 2 tickets now.)
6. Train your personnel.
7. Flip the switch.

The process usually requires a little help from someone like us to get it done; but, our ROI estimates INCLUDE that cost. And you can still save up to eight cents per ticket!

Get your FREE, no obligation report now (offer expires May 31) and consider becoming a better, greener, and more modern version of yourself!