Community Professional Loudspeakers (Chester, Delaware County (Delco),PA)- IPSi Case Study – Part 1
“Let’s make one thing clear.” Since 1968, that’s what Community Professional Loudspeakers (CPL) has been doing. Making sound clear.
For fifty years, this Chester, Pennsylvania-based company has been developing innovative technologies that drive the high-performance loudspeaker industry. From pro sports stadiums to concert venues, churches to transportation depots, Community Professional Loudspeakers (CPL) has been raising the bar on sound.
And growing big-time. With a five-story manufacturing and distribution facility in Chester, and a factory in China, Community was up to its ears in moving parts. Not to mention paperwork. It needed a process, a system, and the assurance that when customers called about orders, they weren’t answered with dead air. Their questions needed accurate responses. At the speed of sound.
Watch this section of our brief 5-part Video Case Study to see how Integrated Productivity Systems (IPSi), Honeywell, and Community Professional Loudspeakers (CPL) methodically worked together to dramatically improve operational efficiency, systematize inventory control, empower employees, and improve service levels to customers. Hey, we like the sound of that!
The Problem – Inventory Control
The loudspeaker business was booming. Literally. But with the manufacture and sale of each speaker came the paperwork. (Oh, the paperwork.) Was a product in stock? (Yes, but where was it?) Serial Numbers of finished goods were written by hand. (Is that a “zero” or an “oh”?) Sure, the products had barcodes and serial numbers, which were connected to… well, nothing. That’s when Integrated Productivity Systems (IPSi) stepped in. And after seeking plenty of feedback (something usually avoided in the loudspeaker business!), IPSi came up with a plan.
The Solution
Integrated Productivity Systems (IPSi) and Community Professional Loudspeakers (CPL) reviewed the manual, paperwork driven inventory control and warehouse management system that was in place and driven by their Qantel PowerShift ERP system along with some internally developed Microsoft Access inventory control systems. The process from entering the sales order to shipping stock and custom finished goods entailed multiple computer systems, multi-ply business forms, excel spreadsheets, handwritten notes, and re-keying of information into UPS/Fedex and other shipping systems.
We executed a complicated business transformation while the business was growing and thriving. As we like to say, we help change hubcaps on moving cars! We methodically and systematically set up the hardware infrastructure (mobile computers and desktop printers), managed process change(hands-on training and problem resolution), integrated with multiple business systems and ultimately implemented a new Warehouse Management System (WMS) that dramatically improved the company’s operational efficiency, systematized inventory control, empowered its employees, and improved service levels to customers.
Integrated Productivity Systems (IPSi)
We hope that you will continue to follow this video blog across the five entries, so you can gain a better understanding of how you can better control your inventory and understand the critical steps involved to facilitate a change in your business process.
Watch this brief 5-part Video Case Study to see how Integrated Productivity Systems (IPSi), Honeywell, and Community Professional Loudspeakers (CPL) methodically worked together to dramatically improve operational efficiency, systematize inventory control, empower employees, and improve service levels to customers.