Fast-Tracking a Superior Customer Experience and Resilient Growth
Gung Ho. It’s a mantra at Century A/C Supply, a philosophy based on three pillars: worthwhile work, controlling your destiny and cheering on each other. Gung Ho sprouted from the company’s values, to regard its employees as family and treat customers as friends.
Since its establishment in 1973, Century A/C Supply has expanded from a single location to 13 branches across Texas. The company has been named one of the Top 100 Workplaces and one of the Top 100 Privately Owned Businesses in Houston.
Ken Schreiber, General Manager at Century A/C Supply, revealed what enabled this robust growth: “Our success has always been a direct result of our people and our culture. And being true to that NorthStar; making each of our decisions in the context of our values.”
As we have grown our business over the past 14 years, Epicor Prophet 21 has streamlined processes to deliver more products to more customers, with the teams we already had in place.
When Century A/C Supply encounters challenges, that attitude serves them well. Assembling a Smart DecisionThat approach was in full evidence when Century A/C Supply needed a new ERP system. Schreiber explained, “Our existing software wasn't providing all the tools and resources we needed. Basic things such as access to data, inventory management and visibility across the business just weren’t there.”
He created a software selection committee made up of employees from across the company. “It’s critical that the frontline people are involved and buy-in, and that they are helping to define and document the requirements,” Schreiber shared.
To complement Century A/C Supply’s culture, the committee recognized the need for a true partner who would invest in understanding the company. Schreiber highlighted, “Application consultants are essential to learn the business and ensure the solution gets up and running the right way.”
Century A/C Supply’s stringent criteria steered them to Epicor Prophet 21. It was implemented in early 2008, a smooth process achieved by a deliberate rollout plan. Schreiber acknowledged, “Training is critical to any implementation. People always say, you never can do enough training and it's true. Train, train and when you think you've trained enough, do a bit more and it'll pay dividends at go-live.”
Johan Miranda, Operations Manager at Century A/C Supply, concurred, “Epicor’s learning orientation has been vital to our success. The how-to videos have been a valuable training tool, especially for new employees to learn basic tasks such as writing orders. It frees up our managers from that responsibility.”
Aside from our people, inventory is our biggest asset. Epicor Prophet 21 enables us to better manage our inventory, which in turn, allows us to better service our customers.
Renata Morgan, general manager of business administration at Century A/C Supply further elaborated, “We implemented Epicor Prophet 21 in 2008; since then, our sales have more than doubled. In addition, we were able to implement the wireless warehouse technology that enabled several of our branches to increase their efficiency and actually grow sales 15 to 30% in a single year without adding any additional staff to manage the warehouse.”
We implemented Epicor Prophet 21 in 2008; since then, our sales have more than doubled. In addition, we were able to implement the wireless warehouse technology that allowed several of our branches to increase their efficiency and actually grow sales 15 to 30% in a single year without adding any additional staff to manage the warehouse.
Advantages were apparent immediately. “Aside from our people, inventory is our biggest asset. Epicor Prophet 21 enables us to better manage our inventory, which in turn, allows us to better service our customers,” Miranda said.
He expounded, “Epicor Prophet 21 is integrated into our wireless warehouse management solution which has yielded many benefits. These include increased inventory accuracy, improved order time and order pickup time, and faster pulling of orders and transfer back out to our branches. Essentially, it has made us much more efficient.”
Additionally, Epicor APIs are integrated with Thrive, Century A/C Supply’s forecasting system, which has empowered the team to better predict demand based on purchasing history data from Epicor Prophet 21. Miranda disclosed, “This was especially helpful during COVID-19. Epicor Prophet 21 enabled us to seamlessly manage restricted class programs so that we could limit the sale of certain items. This allowed us to ensure that our core dealer base had the equipment they needed to run their businesses uninterrupted throughout the pandemic.”
“As we have grown our business over the past 14 years, Epicor Prophet 21 has streamlined processes to deliver more products to more customers, with the teams we already had in place,” Schreiber remarked.
He added, “Epicor has been instrumental in helping us grow with the ability to mold our business around what its tools are, as well as molding the tools around our business. In particular, extensibility for interfacing with our customers has facilitated expansion.”
Epicor has grown, too, over the intervening years, yet maintains the service orientation that is so vital to Century A/C Supply. Schreiber cited, “Even as Epicor has flourished into a global company with multiple products, when you pick up the phone, you still talk to a live person. It feels like you are working with a local resource. This level of attention and responsiveness has been instrumental to our success and to our long-term partnership.”
With a persistent fast pace of change expected, the Century A/C Supply team feels well-positioned to navigate it with Epicor at its side. Schreiber elaborated, “We're seeing more customers moving online, and larger accounts demanding more integrations. We are prepared to meet the need. And as the supply chain continues to be stretched, we are exploring how to integrate the supply chain with suppliers and manufacturers. Epicor will help us become more proactive.”
Miranda concluded, “We are also investigating moving to the cloud. As we continue to optimize customer service, benefits the cloud offers such as reducing costs, increasing efficiencies and overall speed, are compelling.”