Crazy Aaron Enterprises increases inventory visibility with Netstock

A master scheduler aided by complicated spreadsheets was Crazy Aaron Enterprises’ system at the time, but this proved to be time consuming and error-prone, leading to the overestimation of raw materials. If the demand forecasts did not flow correctly down the bill of materials or unit of measures did not convert accurately, this could potentially lead to millions of dollars in costly miscalculations.

“There was no transparency, and knowledgesharing was very hard. We had continual issues with our inventory levels, and it seemed like we always had too much of the wrong product and not enough of the right,” Lori Darrow, Supply Chain Manager, Crazy Aaron.

The manufacturing process is a major focus for Crazy Aaron Enterprises, and managing their multi-level bills of materials (BOM) and production planning is critical. Product inventories are maintained in both semifinished (raw putty) and finished products (tins and kits). Their forecasting is done at the finished product level, and their raw material forecasts need to flow through all levels accurately and efficiently. Once Crazy Aaron Enterprises identified the need for a fit for purpose solution, they requested Lori to look at available options. Lori began her journey to find a solution that could bolt onto their Fishbowl ERP and to supplement the inventory planning functionality that was lacking. “At the evaluation stage, Netstock was found to show the most promise and appeared to be ‘head and shoulders’ above other products under consideration. We wanted more visibility up. and down the product value chain, and that is what we got. Netstock also addressed our most important challenge, namely BOM demand drill-downs, especially when different units of measures are in play,” continues Lori.

“Netstock recognizes that you can’t look at every single item every day, so it focuses on the most important items. The dashboard gives you that high-level view of total stock holding, excess stock, stock-outs, and potential stockouts. We can quickly see where the pain points are and what action we need to take.”

Crazy Aaron Enterprises has also found a lot of value in the available add on modules, especially the stock projections module. This module has proven valuable, especially in the current COVID climate, where there is a lot of instability in demand and supply. “And the cherry on top, Netstock does not charge on a per-user basis, and this definitely encouraged adoption and process improvements across the business. They encourage and allow everyone in the business to either use the tool or have it as a resource if needed”, said Lori. “It is apparent that the Netstock coders have a strong understanding of supply chain needs and technical expertise and consequently can address issues more efficiently. I can honestly say that Netstock is by far the best planning system I have ever worked with in my over 20 years of Supply Chain Management experience”, concludes Lori.