Lumber Dealer Operates More Efficiently and Provides Enhanced Levels of Customer Service with Epicor BisTrack
Headquartered in Nokomis, Florida, Kimal Lumber opened its doors in 1981 and has since expanded into six locations that include a design center and showroom, an engineered wood and truss manufacturing location, three full-service lumberyards—one that includes pocket frame manufacturing and an exterior window and door facility. In 2018 Kimal was acquired by Gulfeagle, a family-owned and managed Roofing Distribution company. Kimal is now part of the fourth largest roofing materials business in the nation, with 112 locations all across the US.
To operate more efficiently and provide an enhanced customer experience, Kimal Lumber upgraded from Epicor Falcon software to the powerful Epicor BisTrack solution. "When we decided to replace our aging software system, we wanted to give our company a technological boost that we didn't have previously," said Allen Bavry, Jr., Information Technologies-Corporate, Kimal Lumber.
"Additionally, we wanted to change our company systematically and procedurally. We used this new software installation as a way of convincing our entire team to embrace industry best practices. With the technology that BisTrack software affords us, we can already do tasks faster, more efficiently, and provide our customers with that extra level of service."
"We selected the BisTrack solution to enhance and streamline our best-in-class lumber, truss, and manufacturing operations," said Robert Hinman, general manager of Kimal Lumber. "We knew we wanted to fix, adjust, and improve many of our operational processes—raise our level of efficiency. We took the opportunity with the BisTrack implementation to improve our business overall, do things differently, and take advantage of the tools and resources that BisTrack software offers—such as business purchasing, processing orders, dispatch, and delivery. Those are all the areas we're certainly trying to automate as much as possible to create cost savings."
With an average of 25 different trucks making 185 deliveries daily, Kimal Lumber understands the importance of getting deliveries right. The easy-to-use, built-in dispatch and delivery capabilities of the BisTrack Journey Planner and BisTrack Delivery applications will simplify the critical tasks involved in the delivery.
"We currently have the stereotypical dispatch office—clipboards up on the wall representing each day, for every truck," said Hinman. "One of the great advantages we see with BisTrack software is it will enable us to optimize our truck and driver usage, boost efficiency, and minimize delivery errors. With BisTrack Journey Planner and BisTrack Delivery applications, we can generate real information for our team—and especially for our customers—as to when a delivery has been completed, providing pictures and documentation for each drop. We recognize this as a big advantage, and we're viewing it as not only improving our efficiency but also offering better service for our customers."
The great thing about BisTrack software is it gives more information than we could have imagined, and now we can get that information in front of the right people to make better business decisions. A competitive advantage for companies like yours is definitely creating a great customer experience.
"The hardest part of our business is maintaining profitability while keeping processes efficient," Hinman noted. "There are many technological advances that the BisTrack system offers us—many tied to the ability to provide information to our customers throughout the delivery process. BisTrack software gives us a competitive advantage over other lumber and building materials dealers."
"Our big focus is on enhancing the customer experience," said Hinman. "The BisTrack Delivery application plays into that focus very well because now I can have drivers take pictures at each drop site and mark orders delivered in the system. We can set up notifications so that our customers are notified when their delivery has been made in real time.
We have always assured them that we can deliver what has been ordered and on time, but now we can show them the proof."
"There are so many metrics tied to deliveries that we didn't even realize existed until we started using more robust delivery software," he continued. "The great thing about BisTrack software is it gives more information than we could have imagined, and now we can get that information in front of the right people to make better business decisions. I have an operationally focused role, so I like to see those delivery metrics and production numbers and check in on efficiency data to make sure we're doing things as well as possible. A competitive advantage for companies like ours is definitely creating a great customer experience. Taking steps to streamline operations—like that of our deliveries—to provide an out-of-the-box experience is crucial. Adapting new, innovative technologies—like BisTrack software—helps us tailor that experience to a particular customer and accomplish our goals."
Epicor Training on Demand help to provide a robust catalog of BisTrack software training courses—delivering application-specific education to dealers and their employees. Kimal Lumber has experienced the benefits of leading its team with high-quality training.
"When we were getting into BisTrack software, priority number one was to have good training before the actual go-live," said Hinman. "We were a little concerned, so we focused greatly on training and hired someone to create a positional program to cover training at each location before, during, and right after go-live. We depended on the Training on Demand solution to help us succeed. Our go-live with BisTrack went much smoother than we had anticipated because of the training we received within Training on Demand.
There are many technology advances that the BisTrack system offers us—many tied to the ability to provide information to our customers throughout the delivery process. BisTrack software gives us a competitive advantage over other lumber and building materials dealers.
"When you change an entire ERP system for a company with six locations, there's going to be some hiccups along the way," continued Hinman. "We were preparing for hiccups and hoping for the best, and the BisTrack team exceeded our expectations. The great thing about BisTrack software is that there are many different ways to get to your end result. We have started setting up functional re-training sessions with our leaders, dispatchers, purchasers, and accounting administrations to remain consistent. Training on Demand is a cost-effective method for exposing staff to new training and skills within our company.
"From an inventory perspective, BisTrack software has given us the ability to improve precision," said Hinman. "We've started using kits to help us account for a bill of materials products, which has really brought real-time accuracy to our business. Now that we are beginning to utilize cycle counting as a way to keep our data up-to-date and streamline the inventory process, we don't necessarily have to get 30 people together for two days to count the entire yard. We'll be able to trust that the information in the system is accurate. We've been able to increase margins because we know we have more consistency with how our price tools are set and have products delivered to the customers in a more focused fashion. We have seen great benefits with BisTrack software, and I know there's certainly more to come."