EES Needs Modern Distribution ERP to Expand into New Markets

Chooses OptiProERP with SAP Business One for Its Industry-Specific Functionality

Irvine, CA – July 21, 2023 – Engineered Exhaust Systems, also known as EES, has chosen OptiProERP with SAP Business One to streamline the growth of its exhaust system and warehouse storage solutions businesses.

Based in Saukville, Wisconsin, EES designs and provides exhaust systems for the outdoor power equipment industry, which it has developed over the past 38 years. EES has a diverse set of customers, including Fortune 100 companies. It entered the warehouse storage solutions business in 2018, seizing a business opportunity that allowed it to utilize further its metal stamping, painting, and metal plating capabilities.

The US-based engineering and distribution company, which has manufacturing operations in China, expanded its product lines to include warehouse storage solutions such as metal carts, shelf banding, and other storage items to keep different-sized products from falling or shifting.

EES operates on QuickBooks and a home-grown, highly-customized Materials Resource Planning or MRP system that isn’t flexible and can’t handle the company’s growth or new business model, says Kathleen Wu, vice president.

The home-grown MRP was designed to handle its high-volume customers with limited numbers of warehouses and static delivery schedules. It wasn’t designed to accommodate the flexible operations, the vast network of warehouses, or the multiple shipping options of a major e-commerce player. MRP was tracked on a spreadsheet, and executives constantly had to reconcile its numbers between various systems.

“We’re hitting the limits of what the system can do,” Wu says. “It doesn’t have the flexibility to allow us to adapt to a different business model.”

She says the finance team wastes time with dual entries and reconciliations between QuickBooks and the homegrown MRP, which are time-consuming. EES hired two data entry employees to keep up with rapid growth during the pandemic. Those additions were also needed to manually transfer shipping information because its systems worked with limited shippers and were not connected.

The company’s quality practices are also manually kept on spreadsheets and thus are disconnected from the finance system and the MRP.

“We really needed a new ERP system if we wanted to grow,” Wu says.

EES evaluated Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics Business Central, Acumatica, and OptiProERP with SAP Business One. It chose OptiProERP because it offered an integrated, all-in-one manufacturing, distribution, and warehouse solution. Wu liked that OptiProERP was connected to SAP’s proven financial application, which is GAAP compliant and offered a wide breadth of financial reports.

“The other solutions offered a core but required you to purchase additional modules,” Wu says. “We wanted one platform with manufacturing, distribution, and warehousing, and one database with a single user interface.”

She also liked that OptiProERP has its own implementation team, doesn’t use outside consultants to deploy its software, and is flexible and affordable.

Once implemented, Wu looks forward to using the robust standard reports that OptiProERP with SAP Business One provides, streamlined operations, and recouping the cost and time when the company eliminates duplicate data entries into multiple systems and spreadsheets.

The cloud-based solution will also help them streamline MRP, warehouse management, shipping, and quality control while providing the flexibility EES requires to open additional warehouses closer to customers.

“With OptiProERP, we will be able to have multiple warehouses so we can grow and have greater flexibility to meet customer needs better,” Wu says. “We have a strong business, but we want to become stronger with a system that can anchor our operations and help us advance.”

For more information about EES, visit http://eesbt.com/

OptiProERP is an eWorkplace Manufacturing solution. eWorkplace Manufacturing is SAP’s strategic industry partner for manufacturing and distribution and its first OEM partner as part of SAP’s global PartnerEdge Program. Serving manufacturers and distributors for over 20 years with OptiProERP and BatchMaster, each providing unique ERP solutions for SMBs, eWorkplace Manufacturing has gained the trust of over 3,000 customers globally.

For more information, contact:

Sudi Gummi, sudi@optiproerp.com
(949) 340-7262 ×511