WINTER 2014

88 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

88 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Diamond Fasteners of Hauppauge, NY is a premier supplier of aircraft and aerospace fasteners but also provides commercial fasteners and electronic hardware. In this tough and highly competitive market, Diamond’s focus on customer relationships and personalized services allow them to tailor specific programs, including JIT and VMI to each customer/partners need. Doing business this way requires vision, good people and supporting systems. Manny Bonomo, the President of Diamond Fasteners provides the vision driving the company. He said that a significant contributor to the continued success of the company was the selection of INxSQL software to provide the ERP system, which is the information backbone of Diamond Fasteners. Because of their focus on tailoring programs to the specific needs of their customers, Diamond needed a system that provided flexibility in how it was implemented and adaptability going forward. Further, there needed to be a significant ROI. INxSQL satisfies all those requirements. Diamond’s clients are always looking for an advantage, and the ability to “create custom programs separates us from our competition,” says Bonomo. Whether it is the ease of creating custom labels to meet the specifications of their clients, tailoring specific VMI or JIT programs site by site or managing inventory levels to eliminate stock outs, the INxSQL system has allowed Diamond the flexibility to adjust and adapt to the requirements of their customers and the changing marketplace. Manny said, “Our programs are never designed with the system limitations in mind; we know that INxSQL is flexible and robust enough to allow us to meet any demands faced by our clients.” Managing costs while expanding customer service is always a challenge; Diamond applies the tools provided within their ERP system to help them expand their efficiencies without having to grow their headcount. This is accomplished by re-tasking workers from a function that was basically non-revenue producing to another that is customer service oriented. Diamond utilizes a web based vendor RFQ system INxSQL / Integrated Inventory Solutions 1117 S. Cass Lake Road, Waterford, MI 48328 Tel: 1-877-4-INXSQL or 1-877-446-9775 Fax: 248-681-7215 Email: sales@inxsql.com www.inxsql.com A DIAMOND, NOT IN THE ROUGH provided by INxSQL to reduce the time it took to manage the entire process. By working with their ERP vendor to tailor the system, they were able to help their vendors adapt to the system. Initially, Diamond had an 80% participation level, but now, 93% of all RFQ’s are processed through this system, and Diamond has reduced the average response time to their customers by over 70%. “Data entry of RFQ responses was a full time position at Diamond, 40-50 hours per week. Now the manual entry is done in one hour per day. We have tracking on all responses from our vendors and we are basically paperless in this area, now,” states Bonomo. Another area commonly taken for granted is the simple task of invoicing of customers and the costs associated with this process. Diamond utilizes summary invoicing which allows their clients to process far fewer invoices, saving them time and money; it has also allowed Diamond to reduce the time it takes to perform this task by approximately 400 man hours annually. The majority of the products provided by Diamond Fasteners can be difficult to source, require detailed tracking and are more expensive than their commercial counterparts. Managing the acquisition of these products can be time consuming and expensive. Diamond manages this task by using the purchasing worksheet function from within INxSQL. As their business continued to grow, Diamond was facing the prospect of hiring a full time purchasing assistant to manage the clerical aspect of this job. Purchasing Worksheet has decreased the time it takes their sales teams to move items off their desks and to purchasing. Now, all communications between purchasing and sales is done via the purchasing worksheet. Manny says that a task that required two people two full days each week is handled personally by him, twice a week in 2 hours. The ability to provide and expand personalized customer service, adaptability, and ROI were all key requirements for Diamond Fasteners. Manny Bonomo summed it up this way, “the greatest impact INxSQL has had on Diamond Fasteners overall is the increased competitive advantage the system affords us.”