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case study:
Cardinal
Carryor/
Cardinal
Integrated
Systems
Client Profile
Founded in 1947 and based in Louisville, KY, Cardinal
Carryor is a full-service material handling dealership
that serves Kentuckiana (Kentucky and Indiana). They
provide rentals, leasing and maintenance on new
and used equipment from Clark, Crown, and Doosan.
Their sister company, Cardinal Integrated Systems,
also in Louisville, handles warehouse planning, systems design, installation,
project management, preventative maintenance and repair plus all industrial
engineering services.
Cardinal Carryor became the only authorized Clark forklift dealership serving
Kentuckiana in 1962, which they still are today. They are also an authorized
Crown equipment distributor since 1983. The third-generation family-owned
and operated company has experienced 50% real growth in the last decade with
fewer employees. In 2012, Cardinal added Golf Cart World to their mix to achieve
diversity and increase profitability, while staying within their core competencies
around “everything industrial or commercial with wheels,” says Brad Baker, VP
and Treasurer for Cardinal Carryor and CEO for Cardinal Integrated Systems.
“I recommend EquipSoft all the time - more than the
software, it’s the people there… When they told me
something will get done, it got done… I always felt like
I was their most important customer”
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Brad Baker, CEO, Cardinal Integrated Systems;
VP, Cardinal Carryor
The Challenge
Cardinal had been using a Unix-based software called MTA since 1978
when that company dropped support of the system and subsequently
went out of business. As well, their legacy software wasn’t good at
getting information out of the system, such as reporting, although
Cardinal employees enjoyed its ease of use.
“They liked that you could change
anything anytime without an audit
trail,” says Baker, who has been
with the company since 1982.
“But if you wanted to know what
happened… good luck!”
Starting around 2008, Baker began
researching vendors of enterprise
resource planning (ERP) systems
for equipment distributors,
including DIS, Minitrac, EBS as well
as EquipSoft, which is built on the
Microsoft Dynamics NAV platform.
“The more I checked into NAV, the
more I liked that it was a Microsoft
product, that I wouldn’t have to be
captive to any one partner.”
Baker adds that “with EquipSoft
and Microsoft Dynamics, we have
full assurance that our investment
can be leveraged for as many years
as we need it.” He also likes the
integration of the EquipSoft system
with other Microsoft products such
as Excel and Outlook.
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The Solution
The Benefits
“After an initial decision to
implement the system ourselves,
we quickly realized we needed
the expertise and experience
of EquipSoft who have years
of experience working with
equipment distributors,” says Baker.
He has nothing but high praise
for the EquipSoft team who came
in to implement at this point, in
particular Oliver Lamaca, who
was one of the first employees at
EquipSoft. “At one point Oliver told
me, ‘I will put this on my back and
I’ll make it happen on time and on
budget,” says Baker. “He got us live
and it was tremendously smooth.”
Baker says their EquipSoft system
has improved efficiencies so
much that they’ve been able to
cut costs dramatically in the parts
and accounting departments. In
general, the two sister companies
are processing more orders with the
same number of staff, so productivity
is way up. Reporting is a “huge thing”
within EquipSoft, notes Baker. “Before
the system, they didn’t have exact
information on inventory turns, cycle
counts, automated replacements,
and much other data critical to
making good business decisions.
“We’ve been able to
achieve significant cost
reductions in the parts and
accounting departments
by using EquipSoft”
Brad Baker, CEO
Cardinal Integrated Systems;
VP, Cardinal Carryor
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Within EquipSoft’s rentals
functionality, Baker says the
availability tree is a big improvement,
making it easy for people outside
the rental department – such as
sales people – to easily see what
equipment is available and what
is not. Cardinal is also effectively
using the customer relationship
management (CRM) system built into
EquipSoft for contact management
by its sales resources.
Baker appreciates that the EquipSoft
system can treat service vans like
they’re “warehouses” – something
they could never do before. Cardinal
has many vans on the road; they
used to have to manually track all
the inventory in all those vans before
they got EquipSoft.
The Future
“The number-one project on my horizon is to implement mobile technology for
our service technicians,” says Baker. To that end, he is looking at the MobileFrame
integration within EquipSoft; in particular he is seeking a system where there
can be multiple resources working on a single service order at once, with up to 10
employees on a job. Baker adds, “when we start dispatching electronically, GPS
will be a key component” to keep track of technicians on the road. EquipSoft can
deliver this as part of their equipment distributors ERP system.
“I recommend EquipSoft all the time … even more than
the software, I recommend the people. Every time there
is a problem, they come to the front and fix it and don’t
over-charge. The team at EquipSoft is honest: When I
am told something, it gets done … I always feel like I am
EquipSoft’s most important customer”
Brad Baker
CEO, Cardinal Integrated Systems
VP, Cardinal Carryor
About EquipSoft
EquipSoft delivers software and services for the equipment distribution industry
to help improve efficiencies in rentals, service, sales, parts, and fleet management
aspects of your business.
www.equip-soft.com
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