21^st Century Systems Drives Operations for K.K. Penner Tire Centers

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For more than 80 years, K.K. Penner Tire Centers, Inc. has provided quality tires and service to its wholesale and retail customers.  The company serves the area from central Alberta to central Ontario, and from the Canadian/U.S. border to the Northwest Territories.  K.K. Penner relies on Sage Accpac ERP and 21st Century Systems to drive operations and help provide the products and services its customers have come to expect.

Ali Arc Industries LP's two largest trading partners are PACCAR, which installs its bumpers and truck accessories on Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks, and Costco, which purchases dock ladders. To provide these key partners with the best possible service, the company knew it needed more sophisticated customer relationship management, as well as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) capabilities.

Find A Sensational Solution

The need for compurterized inventory tracking drove K.K Penner to implement Sage Accpac back in 1991.  Recently, 21st Century Systems upgraded the company to the new Sage Accpac Extended Enterprise Suite, an integrated solution consisting of Sage Accpac ERP and SageCRM.

"Sage Accpac has worked sensationally for us all this time, " says Sylvia Balcaen, office manager for K.K. Penner.

Build Business Intelligence

Sales reports are of vital importance to K.K. Penner.  The company must submit detailed reports to its suppliers to show how many of what model were sold in a particular time frame.  Suppliers frequently offer K.K Penner rebates or bonuses based on their sales volume.  "Vendors want specific data and often change their reporting requirements, but we are able to get the data we need, " says Balcaen.

In addition to the strong reporting capabilities in Sage Accpac, staff at K.K Penner make extensive use of on-screen inquires.  "We can drill down and uncover information quickly, without the need to generate a printed report,' Balcaen says.  "It saves a lot of time - and paper."

Monitor Inventory Levels

Maintaining the right quantity in the right mix of products is the goal of every distributor - and it is crucial for K.K. Penner.  Bacaen says Sage Accpac helps the company determine what to order, and when.  "We've built a report that calculates a recommended reorder quantity based on past sales history, current stock on hand, and what's currently on order, "  she explains.  "And with the purchasing functions in Sage Accpac we have improved our efficiency.  Two people used to do this job.  Now that we are able to receive inventory and produce an invoice in one step, it takes only one person - and volumes are higher than ever."

Sage Accpac helps K.K Penner keep fresh stock on the shelves and identify slow moving items.  The FIFO (first in, first out) tracking in Sage Accpac allows the company to track when a shipment was received and at what cost.

"We can identify inventory that is aging and offer better pricing on those products or return them to our suppliers, " says Balcaen.  "This saves us money.  Our suppliers will accept retruns within a certain time frame, and with the software we can identify, in advance of its expiration date, which stock should be returned."

Tailor to Meet Business Needs

The K.K Penner retail stores use Sage Accpac at the workstations behind the counter.  "It's such a versatile system we can use it in our office and in our stores,"  Balcaen says.

21st Century Systems designed a custom inquiry screen the retail staff uses to quickly locate a particular tire by size, price, and quantity on hand.  The selected tires are automatically added to the sales order.  "This is vital part of our operation, and 21st Century Systems accomplished it beautifully," adds Balcaen.

Integrate CRM

Currently 21st Century Systems is implementing SageCRM for K.K Penner.  "We wanted a system to help us deliver even better customer service, " Balcaen explains.  "SageCRM will give our sales and service staff complete access to our customer data - from sales history, to open invoices, to conversations and notes.  Our goal is to become a truly customer-facing organization and we're counting on SageCRM to help get us ther."

K.K. Penner plans to use SageCRM to help it getter track tire warranty information, such as when a warranty claim is filed,, the suppliers' response, what action needs to be taken as a result, and any credits issued by the supplier.

Scalable Solution

"Since we started using Sage Accpac, the company has grown ten-fold and we've achieved that growth with only a minimal increase in administrative staff, " Balcaen says.  "We made the decision to invent sin technology and that decision continues to pay off.

21st Century Systems helps us think beyond the status quo - they help us to progress," she concludes.  "Their knowledge of the software and available technology has been of tremendous value to us.  With their guidance, we have invensted in our technology infrastructure, and that decision continues to pay off."