Curran

While most manufacturers realize the importance of becoming digital and more data driven, many still lack the expertise to build out a roadmap and execute on it. Manufacturers have been combating a growing talent gap across their organizations for years. Many organizations lack the necessary resources and knowledge around data architecture, data science, and cybersecurity to take advantage of the latest technology. Working with partners that can help with developing and executing the digital roadmap is an important step that the industry has started to embrace.

To ensure the success of its project, Curran worked with a consulting group that advised the company throughout the process, from building the RFP to summarizing workflows. Curran aimed to consolidate multiple legacy systems that ran its operations into a single ERP platform, Acumatica ERP Manufacturing Edition. ERP implementation can be a complex task, but the partner was described as critical throughout the project.

Curran also hired a new employee whose role was to lead and manage the ERP project internally. Curran spent roughly six months on implementation, with the go-live taking place during the third month of the pandemic (meaning employees had to work from home for the last stretch of implementation). Curran estimates that it has invested $300,000 in the project over the past three years.

Digitization has long been the backbone of operational effectiveness for manufacturers. Throughout the project, Curran identified key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success. Most of the metrics are around time saving and employee productivity, which are critical for a small but growing company such as Curran. In addition, Curran has been able to increase its sales without increasing its sales staff, with company revenue rising from $3 million in 2018 to $10 million in 2021.

Additional areas in which Curran has experienced benefits are as follows:

» Purchase order accuracy has increased. Employees used to enter information into the system manually; now purchase orders are generated directly from sales orders.

» Employees always have access to the most up-to-date data.

» Manual data entry has been eliminated, saving time and increasing data accuracy.

Most importantly, Curran views this as just a starting point. The company has built its digital platform for transformation and plans to keep adding more and more to maximize its efforts.

Curran feels its ability to maximize the value of data will open up new business avenues for the company as it starts to utilize years of historical data. There is also excitement around building an ecommerce platform (low-volume, high-touch/high-value sales) that will provide Curran with high visibility into all orders and customer experiences. Curran is in the planning stages with an ecommerce partner of Acumatica’s to build the platform. Also, while Curran does not operate its own warehouse yet, the company is looking into adding warehouse management capabilities over the next five years.