Mid-Coast Electric Upgrades Purchasing, Order Preparation Capabilities

Expanding South Texas distributor deploying supply chain management solution from NxTrend Technology

Expanding South Texas distributor deploying supply chain management solution from NxTrend Technology

Colorado Springs, CO — May 17, 2004 — Mid-Coast Electric Supply Inc. (MCESI) has selected NxTrend Technology, a supplier of enterprise distribution software solutions for supply chain management, to upgrade its purchasing and order preparation capabilities.

Mid-Coast is an expanding automation and electrical distributor operating throughout South Texas. Its products and services help power and control many of the industrial facilities in the area, and in the past 10 years the company has quadrupled in size, becoming a dominant distributor in its operating area.

For its five locations encompassing 75 users, Mid-Coast selected NxTrend's SX.enterprise package. NxTrend said its solutions are designed to enable distributors to implement best-business practices for inventory management, order processing, sales, customer service, warehouse logistics, electronic commerce and strategic business analysis.

From this installation, Mid-Coast is looking to realize savings from greater productivity in purchasing and order preparation. Already the company plans to redeploy one headcount from the buyer group to the field sales force, a move that Mid-Coast believes could increase sales $300,000 per year.

Utilizing the Palm Signature, Mid-Coast will be able to do away with picking tickets and scanning, thus eliminating signed paper at the counter. This benefit is expected to save Mid-Coast three to four headcounts, for annual savings of $160,000, according to NxTrend. One additional headcount planned in accounts receivable and payable will be avoided, saving an additional $40,000 annually.

Steve Barker, a vice president at Mid-Coast, said that his company based its decision to go with NxTrend largely on the provider's willingness to partner with its customers. "They demonstrated they would listen and that Mid-Coast could impact them," Barker said. "NxTrend showed concern and the desire to become lifetime partners."

Mid-Coast is estimating its payback period on the project will be 14 months, with a projected return on investment of 395 percent.

Latest