Mayer Fabrics centralize and streamline their inventory management with EazyStock
Mayer Fabrics is a family-owned textile distributor primarily serving the commercial contract markets of government, healthcare, hospitality, education, and senior living. With over a century in the textile industry, Mayer offers quality products that combine design, durability, sustainability, and affordability.
Mayer’s operations span the US, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. Their corporate headquarters in Indianapolis, IN is their main distribution point for products and office personnel.
The challenge
Mayer Fabrics had been using their Acumatica ERP for inventory management, but the module was limited in its capabilities. Day-to-day, the team at Mayer Fabrics would run reports in Acumatica to see what had been shipped out the previous day and would then use that data to review each item in their inventory to determine what they’d need to order. This was a time-consuming and laborious process, and it led to an increase in excess and obsolete stock.
Additionally, Acumatica treated each SKU in their inventory the same regarding reordering and didn’t consider demand changes or seasonality. This led to inaccurate forecasts and costly excess stock. Mayer Fabrics required a more accurate forecasting approach to establish precisely how much of each
SKU to reduce excess stock.
It was also a challenge to determine delivery dates, since lead times from their various suppliers weren’t known across the company. Plus the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic meant the standard historical lead times were varying wildly.
Mayer Fabrics needed a more effective, systemic, and centralized approach to their inventory management.
The solution
Mayer Fabrics recalled EazyStock from the Acumatica Summit and started looking into the inventory optimization tool.
Maggie Mayer, Purchasing Team Lead at Mayer Fabrics, was heavily involved in selecting the right software for the company:
“We required a tool that could consolidate all the information that various team members knew into one accessible location. Additionally, something that could take over the day-to-day analysis of our inventory and track changes that were happening in real time. EazyStock ended up having all the capabilities we required.”
The next step was implementing EazyStock. EazyStock teamed up with Crestwood Associates, the Acumatica VAR for Mayer Fabrics, to quickly implement the software. With EazyStock’s premade Acumatica connector, connecting the software was a cinch. From there, EazyStock swiftly commenced training and onboarding with support from Crestwood Associates.
“The hands-on evaluation process with EazyStock was very streamlined, which allowed Mayer Fabrics to have all the information they needed to finalize their decision. EazyStock’s approach within the partner channel is transparent to both us and the client, which makes it straightforward when engaging opportunities.”
– Colleen Schils, Customer Account Manager Team Lead at Crestwood Associates
The results
Since implementing EazyStock, Mayer Fabrics reports an estimated 12% reduction in inventory levels. Now that the software is automatically recommending orders – including how much to order and when – the team at Mayer Fabrics doesn’t need to spend time combing through each item every day.
Now Maggie simply logs on and approves purchase orders generated by EazyStock based on demand, sales, lead times and any additional factors like seasonality or supplier minimum order quantities (MOQ).
Adding EazyStock mid-pandemic helped us regain control of our inventory and become more deliberate in our stocking decisions,” says Maggie Mayer.
“The software was tracking the ever-changing lead times from our suppliers, both international and domestic, which allowed us to proactively order what we needed and not worry about depleting the inventory.”
With EazyStock automatically calculating optimal order quantities and order times, Maggie and her team at Mayer Fabrics are seeing increased accuracy for their inventory levels. In the long term, Mayer Fabrics anticipates EazyStock helping with effectively leveraging their existing inventory for increased sales. The software allows users identify their most important items to prioritize inventory investment. Knowing which items are key within the product portfolio also helps users focus their sales and marketing efforts.
“We used to stock all items the same across the board. Now with EazyStock, we have a better understanding of what our top sellers are, and we can prioritize accordingly – plus, the GUI is user-friendly, which made the system easy to adapt to,” says Maggie.
For companies struggling with laborious manual administration, an inventory optimization solution like EazyStock can be the difference between excess stock piling up and accurate inventory levels providing enough stock to cover your orders continuously. Additionally, the collaboration on this opportunity between Crestwood Associates and EazyStock led to a stronger partnership, with EazyStock being named one of Crestwood Associates’ Gold Partners. Crestwood Associates clients can contact their account manager directly for more details on EazyStock.
