Case Study: Trim-Tex designs for the future with Sage 100
Illinois-based manufacturer Trim-Tex utilizes Sage 100 and other Sage products and aligns processes to inform strategy across their business.
Trim-Tex is a privately-held company with 140 employees that specializes in drywall products and accessories. Founded in 1969, the company quickly outgrew its first location and now includes 220,000 square feet of space with a factory, warehouse, and corporate offices in the northern Chicago suburbs. Sage 100 is helping the company improve business processes and achieve a cultural transformation.
Key Outcomes:
- Reduced man-hours
- Saved hundreds of thousands in accounting fees
- Optimized inventory
- Supported 5x company growth
Committed to Sage 100
Trim-Tex has been using Sage 100 for over 25 years. Even after more than two decades, Controller Martha Kinzel says she remembers considering other ERP options and evaluating their usefulness.
“The business was growing to the point where they really needed a comprehensive accounting system where all the different modules would talk to each other. Sage today is an integral part of our business.”
Sage 100 aligns with change management
Four years ago, Trim-Tex underwent a leadership change. The new company president was driven by the need for data and very motivated to fully use Sage products. At the same time, Trim-Tex knew they needed to align business processes with the software for it to have maximum impact.
Dennis Fry, IT analyst, says that at that time the business was too segmented.
“Production was one thing. Maintenance was another thing. The front office, similar to production and maintenance, was siloed and there wasn’t a coordinated effort. What I’m seeing now is truly a company-wide effort. We make all of our decisions as a group as opposed to one department telling another department what to do.”
Greater transparency, better teamwork with Sage 100
From finance to operations, employees at Trim-Tex now feel like a cohesive team. They’ve overcome their silos and increased visibility across the business. Kinzel has been using Sage Intelligence and sees the value for budgeting and inventory reports. She says she appreciates the information gleaned through the new interface.
“I really like clicking into that dashboard and I have an instant look at what’s our highest selling product today, or yesterday, or year-to-date, who we paid the most money to year-to-date, what’s my expected cash in the future, because right now that’s a really important number to me.“
Customizations by MicroAccounting gain traction inside and outside the business
Sage’s business partner, MicroAccounting, has helped implement a number of customizations for Trim-Tex, especially within Sage CRM to support their sales force. That adaptability is proving to be more advantageous than they expected.
Kinzel says, “Customization is a really important feature of Sage 100. Some of the customizations they’ve done, and because of its flexibility, have actually been rolled out as major enhancements that other clients have actually purchased now going forward.”
The changes that Trim-Tex has implemented are having an impact. By bringing together teams and aligning employees to a common vision, they are experiencing a cultural change that will set them up for continued growth, especially as they fully launch Sage Production Management this summer.
“I see us moving forward in this industry as ultimately a leader in this type of production,” says Fry. “I see us as being really able to take advantage of information and being able to make those decisions that you have to make to be able to turn on a dime. Information is powerful. And the more you have, the better your ultimate results are going to be.”
