Acumatica > Case Studies > Last Mile Delivery Firm Poised to Double Revenues with Acumatica ERP

Last Mile Delivery Firm Poised to Double Revenues with Acumatica ERP

Company Size

200-1,000

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Acumatica ERP

Tech Stack

SQL
QuickBooks

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements
Revenue Growth

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation

Use Cases

Fleet Management
Last Mile Delivery
Supply Chain Visibility

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

About The Customer

R.A.S. Logistics Inc. is a last-mile delivery service company that was founded in 1998 as an appliance installation firm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company's business model changed dramatically in 2001 when General Electric (GE) won the supply chain contract to deliver appliances for Home Depot. GE tapped R.A.S. to handle the delivery and installation of its washers, dryers, and refrigerators to Home Depot's customers' homes. As Home Depot's appliance and furniture sales grew, so did R.A.S. Logistics. The company expanded its services to include deliveries for other large customers, including Wayfair, Restoration Hardware, and Mattress Firm, among others. Soon, R.A.S. was delivering a wide range of products, including furniture, spas, mattresses, and exercise equipment. The company grew from its single location to 21 locations, all east of the Mississippi River. Today, R.A.S. is headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana. Each of the company's locations operates as a separate legal entity, creating operational silos. The company has grown to generate more than $40 million in sales.

The Challenge

R.A.S. Logistics Inc. was founded in 1998 as an appliance installation firm in Milwaukee, Wis. The company’s business changed dramatically just three years later when GE won the supply chain contract to deliver appliances for Home Depot. GE tapped R.A.S. to handle delivery and installation of its washers, dryers and refrigerators to Home Depot’s customer’s homes. As Home Depot grew, R.A.S. grew. Other large customers also turned to R.A.S. for deliveries, including Wayfair, Restoration Hardware and Mattress Firm, among others. Soon R.A.S. was delivering furniture, spas, mattresses and exercise equipment. The company grew from its single location to 21 locations, all east of the Mississippi. Today, R.A.S. is headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana. Each of the locations was a separate legal entity and as such an operational silo. Unfortunately, its financial system, QuickBooks, couldn’t handle the needs of what had become a more than $40 million in sales company. R.A.S. used a custom SQL database program to invoice its customers. It wasn’t connected to QuickBooks; information had to be manually input into QuickBooks. R.A.S. uses 200 to 300 independent contractors to perform the deliveries. R.A.S. used a third party to handle independent contractor payments, which added another manual layer of complexity. Further complicating payments to independent contractors was a program with Enterprise Truck Sales whereby R.A.S. would financially help the independent contractor secure its delivery truck, and then deduct the rental payments for the vehicle from the revenue of the deliveries. Ultimately remitting that payment from the independent contractor directly to Enterprise.

The Solution

R.A.S. Logistics implemented Acumatica with Crestwood Associates, which went very well, Pearson said. “If I did it over again, we wouldn’t have tried to put historical information in because we had some difficulties on our end,’ he says. “But the implementation of new data went well, and my group was up to speed much faster than they thought they would be.” With multiple locations, each company branch is now able to enter all transactions into the same system. Acumatica calculates chargebacks, invoices, and memos which gives each branch and the main office a real-time view of each delivery, as it happens, and with the associated costs. With real-time information at their fingertips, managers better understand the costs associated with missed deliveries, for example. “It’s very expensive to get a missed delivery completed; we can’t put it on normal route, it needs a special route, and we pay a premium to make delivery,” Pearson says. “So they now have better financial data and are more aware of the costs associated with that.”

Operational Impact

Acumatica provides real-time financial data, which allows the company to make better decisions and gives Pearson and other executives insight into operations daily instead of weekly or monthly.
Being able to provide location managers more timely information and more frequent financial data has led to an improvement in operational profitability.
With multiple locations, each company branch is now able to enter all transactions into the same system. Acumatica calculates chargebacks, invoices, and memos which gives each branch and the main office a real-time view of each delivery, as it happens, and with the associated costs.
With real-time information at their fingertips, managers better understand the costs associated with missed deliveries.

Quantitative Benefit