Growth Made Easy with Epicor Vision Distribution Management Solution
With 110 stores and five distributions centers across three states, as well as a delivery fleet that employs hundreds of drivers, it’s safe to say XL Parts is an immense and complex organization. And, as one of the fastest-growing B2B aftermarket parts distributors in each of its markets, new challenges for managing the enterprise—from the warehouse to the customer’s front door—present themselves every day.
Since 2011, XL Parts has relied on the Epicor Vision distribution management solution to keep things running smoothly. There are few activities within the organization that don’t incorporate one or more Epicor Vision tools, which are built with flexibility in mind for growth-focused businesses.
“Since we first implemented Epicor Vision, we have nearly tripled in size—both our physical footprint and our revenue,” said Iyad Kayyali, Chief Technology Officer, XL Parts. “As our growth accelerated, we recognized that we needed an all-encompassing solution that would be able to keep up and grow with us. Epicor Vision has been instrumental in helping us continue to evolve with minimal disruption.”
With operations as vast and multifaceted as those of XL Parts, simplification is vital across the organization. The Epicor Vision solution enables this by tying together virtually every aspect of the enterprise. Today, the company uses a full suite of Epicor Vision tools to manage operational functions like warehouse management, call center logistics, and dispatch and delivery, as well as more strategic activities including forecasting, pricing, inventory planning, and much more.
“With competitive pressures from larger national chains, we need to ensure we’re growing our bottom line by maximizing the value of every transaction,” Iyad said. “Epicor Vision gives us the business intelligence and flexible pricing tools we need, and integrates them with the Epicor PartExpert® eCatalog, multiple ordering platforms, and robust warehouse management capabilities to ensure we consistently have the right products in the right places and at the right price points.”
Along with continuing growth, major change also came in late 2015 when XL Parts was acquired by Japanese conglomerate, Marubeni Corporation. In the five years since, while continuing to operate independently, certain XL systems have been consolidated with other partners under the Marubeni umbrella—most recently the combination of accounting systems with fellow parts distributor, The Parts House (TPH). Once again, Epicor Vision solution offered the answer courtesy of the newly introduced Financial Management module, which was implemented in mid-2020.
Knowing we can count on Epicor after all these years to continue addressing our needs and finding new and unique ways to help us leverage our Epicor Vision software has been invaluable.
“Between our need for consolidation with TPH and our own planned growth, we required a system that was more robust and adaptable than what we currently had,” said Iyad. “The new Epicor Financial Management module gives us everything we need, including general ledger, accounts payable, analytics, tools for planning and budgeting, and more. With great back-end support from Epicor, it’s helping us put the structures in place that will allow us to expand our business seamlessly.”
According to Iyad, one of the greatest benefits of the Epicor Vision solution has been the close relationship Epicor has maintained with the XL Parts team, providing a critical level of trust.
“Knowing we can count on Epicor after all these years to continue addressing our needs while, finding new and unique ways to help us leverage our Epicor Vision software has been invaluable,” he said. “The bottom line...it works.”