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Until a short time ago, Richart Distributors would have been an unlikely subject for a software company case study. It was because Richart, an Oklahoma City manufacturer and reseller of the FLOMORE brand of oil field pumps, valves and gauges, kept an open mind to new possibilities and practices, that it was able to take a big step forward. The company traded in its outdated, clunky inventory program for a powerful, state-of-the-art enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that is transforming its ability to compete and service its customers.

"Our old system ran on DOS, and was very cumbersome," recalled Brenda Jameson, Richart's office manager. "It couldn't do many of the things we needed to run our business."

Many of Richart's key products are high-value wellhead components, made-to-order to customer specifications. These items, along with many others, are held at the company's five warehouses across North America; Richart needed real-time inventory tracking across the multiple warehouses, by serial number.

After talking with Xtreme Technologies, its outside IT services partner, Richart decided it was time to look for a new ERP solution. The company focused its search on manufacturing-oriented packages, with a reputation for ease-of-use and excellent customer service. As Jameson noted, "We're in the oil business, not the software business. We need something easy to use," she said.

Simplicity Hides the Power

That search led them to OpenMFG, a flexible and user-friendly ERP solution built with open source software such as the PostgreSQL database and the Qt graphical development framework. Jonathan Williams, Chief Technical Officer for Xtreme, was initially drawn to OpenMFG for technology reasons; he noted, "OpenMFG's rich graphical client hides an incredible amount of power and sophisticated manufacturing functionality underneath a simple, intuitive interface." But what sold him on becoming an OpenMFG partner was the strong, ongoing support for both partners and end-user customers: "They have great customer service both before and after the sale."

As Jameson and her team learned, OpenMFG is an integrated, end-to-end application that covers every aspect of a manufacturing business, from ordering raw materials to shipping the finished product. Because it includes fully integrated accounting modules, it could also put critical customer information at Jameson's fingertips-something she sorely needed. "Until OpenMFG, we never had the ability to call up customer credit histories," she recalled. "Now, at the time we're taking the order, we can see if credit holds were placed, along with details regarding who, what, and why."

Almost immediately after implementing OpenMFG, Richart realized the benefits it was seeking. Up-to-the-minute pricing and accounts receivable information could be called up with a click of the mouse. The richer, more intuitive user display made data entry much easier, and the ability to track serialized items meant that the sales and customer service staffs could, for the first time, see where a finished product was, and who had it, in real time.

All these capabilities were important. But as time went on, Richart began to spot other ways OpenMFG could lead to greater efficiency and productivity. According to Mike Atherton, the project consultant from OpenMFG who supported Xtreme in their first customer implementation, it was Richart's willingness to embrace these possibilities that really added value to the platform.

"The first thing Richart did was integrate its demand side, in the form of sales orders, with work orders and production scheduling," Atherton said. "Very quickly the company was able to institute Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) - fully integrated purchasing, shop floor scheduling…the complete manufacturing process. Other OpenMFG customers have opted for a more gradual phase-in of new functionality - but Richart embraced MRP from the beginning, and it's already paying dividends for them."

Barcoding Leads to Change

Not long after, during a team meeting with Richart and Xtreme, Atherton demonstrated OpenMFG's ability to work with barcodes. "I was explaining to Brenda how Richart could initiate inventory cycle counting, and how barcoding could expedite the process," he recalled. "She was so enthusiastic about the idea that she asked if a barcode scanner could be express mailed overnight. That was the beginning of the change."

Richart's typical inventory regimen consisted of an annual, wall-to-wall inventory count - which was as costly as it was time-consuming. With OpenMFG's barcoding support, however, the company realized it could quickly, and very easily, initiate periodic cycle counts. The new system would establish better controls for everything from raw materials and purchased items to finished goods.

"OpenMFG barcodes most key documents such as work orders, invoices and purchase orders," noted Williams. "By generating a count tag report, all the inventory team has to do is scan the barcode on the report and then enter the physical count." After it converted to the new system, the Richart team was able to scan and count all the items in the main warehouse in 2-1/2 hours-a task that used to take two weeks to complete.

But the company didn't stop there. With Williams and Atherton showing the way, the company also began using OpenMFG's reporting capability to generate new and powerful reports based on both cycle counts and other integrated information. The OpenRPT report writer, which is a freely available piece of open source software in its own right, is fully integrated with OpenMFG. As Williams notes, "the OpenMFG system captures almost every piece of information you could possibly want. And it's all readily available to the report writer, which uses standard Structured Query Language (SQL) and some other powerful tools to make custom report-writing even easier." Now in addition to the over 200 reports that come standard with OpenMFG, Richart is creating custom reports on actual costs, commission schedules based on when the invoice was paid, and much more.

Yet Jameson feels that her company has only scratched the surface of what's possible with OpenMFG; they are moving ahead with a follow-up effort to bring their third-party distributor warehouses into the OpenMFG system as well. Williams notes that Richart's newfound strategic capabilities are due to the willingness of Jameson and her team to consider fresh alternatives: "It's hard to over-state how much you can benefit by starting with a clean slate. That's what OpenMFG has done with their product, and Richart has done the same thing by embracing the system, the larger OpenMFG community, and the whole concept of open source. Not everyone is able to make that kind of leap. But once Richart said 'yes' to OpenMFG, everything opened up. This system gives Richart almost unlimited room to grow."