“We needed an upgraded, all-inclusive system,” Mike Potthoff, Christensen Lumber’s Chief Financial Officer said. “We decided to start from scratch and implement Agility to gain the efficiency we were lacking.”
A customer since 1999, the Nebraska-based company ran DMS+ software before making the switch to Agility in 2009. Christensen prides themselves on being focused on service and staying ahead of technology.
“Now our customers feel that we’re a proactive, tech-friendly company,” Potthoff said. “We’re seen in a new light.”
Agility provides Christensen Lumber with easier, more accurate inventory management. “Our real-time visibility has increased significantly,” Potthoff said. “We can trust item stock availability and quantity on hand.”
This increased visibility also applies to non-stock items. “The bill-of-materials (BOM) structure lets us easily quote doors that we don’t carry in inventory. It allows our walk-in customers to get real-time pricing and availability on special order configured doors.”
Agility has helped Christensen Lumber improve their overall operation from customer service to administration.
“We use the suggested purchase order features extensively,” Potthoff said. “The ability to link a sales order to a purchase order has been a big improvement from the way things were done before. We are really becoming efficient at managing our reorder points, which has allowed us to free up significant amounts of cash without compromising service.”
Processes that were once timely and manual are now simple, a change that has made an impact on productivity.
“Agility has helped our month-end billing process,” Potthoff said. “Before, we printed a statement and then manually matched up invoices to the statement and then mailed it to the customer. Now, a statement prints, and all the invoices follow suit. What was once a day and a half project now takes half a day.”