Mid-Atlantic Packaging Inc. was started in 1961 has been in business for over 40 years. Allen Kanter, one of Mid-Atlantic’s original founders, continues to run the growing business today. Mid-Atlantic specializes in Point Of Purchase displays and value-added printing. They manufacture an ever-growing range of products offering high-quality and just in time delivery. The company is a multi-facility operation with specialty equipment utilizing the latest technologies.
Interview with:
Andy Pierson
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Mid-Atlantic Packaging
How long have you been an Amtech customer and why did you select them?
We were Amtech’s first installation. We put in their earliest version in 1981. We were drawn to them because of their flexibility. We were still a young company and had a very bright future ahead of us. We wanted a supplier that was customer-oriented who would change and adapt their software to us as we grew. It ended up being a perfect match. We’ve grown from a single plant to three facilities. Every step along the way, Amtech was one step ahead of us.
Which software applications are most important?
Our clients are looking for high-quality, innovation and exacting service. They demand cost-effective solutions to their business requirements. With extreme pressure on all companies to reduce costs, we need to make certain that we are a lean operation and can be successful in a competitive marketplace. That being said, we needed a cost system that was extremely accurate. Over the years, Amtech has continually enhanced their costing technologies to deploy the latest formulas, metrics and calculations to ensure precision so that we can make intelligent business decisions. The tight integration between their costing system, production and design enables us, through a series of what ifs, to determine what’s the best overall package to meet our customers’ requirements. The flexibility of the estimating system lets us update costs immediately when raw material prices change. Their estimating system is accurate because their production and job cost modules are fully integrated. It’s a closed loop system.
How has the overall Amtech system impacted your customers?
We have many large customers who have grown with us. As their needs have changed, we needed to have a system that made change easy. Amtech’s software gives us complete flexibility in how we interface with our clients. We can customize all forms and documents, such as load tags, quotes and invoices. Our Emotion e-commerce software module allows our customers to print out their own customized inventory reports reducing the number and duration of our customer service inquiries.
What is the latest innovation you implemented?
We just started to implement Amtech’s NewBiz module. It’s the first time that our sales organization will become an integral part of our automated workflow process. The software starts with salesman creating their customer and prospect database. They establish opportunities online and, as their sales manager, I’m able to track their progress and collaborate with them on customer requirements and sales strategies. On the Workflow side, with our salesman electronically entering customer inquiries, we get the process starting sooner and add organization to a sometimes chaotic process that integrates salesmen with design, estimating and customer service. It was important to us to have all our customers, prospects and sales leads data stored securely on our company server. This way we can improve our new client goals by better managing our opportunities and prospects. We feel that when the training is complete, NewBiz will provide us a tool to grow our sales while at the same time improving our execution of on-time deliveries. Simply put: satisfy our customer.
What’s next?
Although much has been written and discussed about RFID, it’s generally thought of as a future requirement. I tend to disagree. We’d be foolish to ignore the power and potential of RFID technology. Several of our customers are in the group that is required to comply with Wal-Mart’s RFID initiative. We have decided as a company to act, not react, to these requirements. Amtech is our natural RFID technology partner. It has been our experience that Amtech has the widest range of technological capabilities. Amtech’s experience with warehouse management systems and close vendor relationships with all the major RFID vendors gives us the confidence that we’ll be on the leading, not the bleeding, edge of technology.
|