MasterTools Supports Continuous Improvement for Pro-Charging Systems
When Kelly Savage joined Pro Charging Systems in 2003, the company’s back office processes were kind of a mess. Since its founding in 1989, the LaVergne, Tennessee-based manufacturer of battery chargers had amassed a variety of software programs to help with each portion of their business. The problem was, each program operated independent of the others. “We were the company that had to do everything twice, if not three times,” she recalls. “Every time there was an order, we had to do one thing in one software, the same thing in another, and so on. It was not efficient.”
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One of her first tasks was to find a new program that could replace the cobbled-together system that wasn’t working. In a previous job, she was familiar with a software that she thought could do the job—but then she came across Online Computing’s MasterTools ERP software.
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“It was a hard decision, because I was so familiar with the other software, but there was no way around it,” Savage says.
“MasterTools was clearly a step above and exactly what we needed.”
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For Pro Charging Systems, which manufacturers about 35,000 battery chargers annually for the marine industry and rental equipment companies, a software platform that could seamlessly account for the dozens of components that make up a charger, as well as the labor and overhead that accompanies each build, was key.
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“Buying and selling an item is one thing, but when you’re buying 30 different items to manufacture and distribute one item, that’s a totally different thing,” she says. “With MasterTools, once we create the serial number for the charger, we have at our fingertips the documentation on each component and every aspect of the manufacturing and distribution process.”
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MasterTools also has enabled Pro Charging Systems to stay as lean as possible—an objective the company took to heart after the 2008 recession. “Following the recession, we really looked at doing things smarter instead of just throwing more labor at items,” Savage says.
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“MasterTools has helped us automate a lot of processes.”
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As an example, MasterTools interfaces with UPS, FedEx and the United States Postal Service, so there’s no need to separately keep track of tracking numbers. When a product ships, MasterTools automatically generates and sends an invoice, which isn’t just a time-saver, but a safeguard against human error, as well.
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When the company needed to create an additional way to add labor to a job, the MasterTools team delivered a solution.
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“They’ve been an important partner with us on our continuous improvement and putting new processes into place,” she says. “With MasterTools, you’re not boxed into anything. I can call them or give them a scenario and they’re just very open to helping come up with a solution. They’ll never say, ‘This is all it’s going to do.’ They’re always open to exploring new capabilities.”
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Savage appreciates that she benefits from MasterTools’ other users’ ideas, as well. “Everyone is asking for something, and oftentimes those enhancements are something we didn’t even realize we needed,” she
says.
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Whenever the software is updated, Savage receives a list of improvements. After a recent update, Savage was pleasantly surprised by one of the changes. “I said to myself, ‘Oh, they’ve added this? That was a great idea!’”
