Durham Furniture’s New ERP System Reduces Delivery Time

June 1, 2016  by in Delivery, Industry   

This achievement coincides with the evolution of the company’s manufacturing process to mostly on-demand production over the past several years.

“In the five months since the new system as been in place, we’ve already reduced our delivery time by more than two weeks in many markets” said Luke Simpson, President and CEO of Durham Furniture.  “We’ve implemented the system without any significant negative impact on our production or customer service operations, and with our aggressive initiatives for continuous improvement, we’ve set goals to reduce our delivery times even further.”

The ERP system comes from Syspro Business Solutions Inc. and includes financial, inventory, production, requirements planning and reporting service modules.

“The most fundamental benefits of our new system are the product planning and tracking components that ensure that the right product reaches retail locations at the right time and at the right cost,” Simpson said. “In addition, superior analytics of sales trends will enable us to more effectively position and market our products, resulting in further reductions in overall inventory costs and product obsolescence.”

Along with the new ERP system, Durham’s significant increase in custom orders over the past several years led the company to transition to an on-demand production process, warehousing parts to assemble case goods as they are ordered rather than stocking cases in whitewood.

“Our product line has evolved, and today nearly 90 percent of our business is custom orders,” he said citing that as a key factor in making operational changes. “As we continue to serve our retailers and a growing customer base of interior designers, the new processes allow us to be much more flexible in the variety of styles and finishes we add to our product line.”

In addition to other improvements, Josh Alexander, Durham Vice President of Sales, brought deep experience in global logistics to the company, which has impacted operations as well.

“Josh’s input into the way we produce, consolidate loads for our carriers and manage orders in our warehouse has been invaluable,” said Simpson. “Under his leadership and as a direct result of the long-range plans implemented by our new management team, we made significant improvements in inventory, warehousing and logistics operations. We’ve also been able to introduce a new direct-ship option where it makes sense for the dealer.”

Since 1899, Durham Furniture has been committed to making adult and youth solid wood furniture of exceptional quality, design and enduring value. Durham a winner of numerous design awards, is among the premier bedroom and occasional furniture manufacturers in North America.