The challenge
A PE-backed automotive parts manufacturer, the leader in its category with ten locations worldwide, needed to bring 18 subsidiaries and brands onto one system. They ran on QuickBooks, Sage, Infor, spreadsheets and paper, anchored by a 30-year-old legacy system at the main subsidiary.
That legacy system went down daily, disrupting order fulfillment. Processes differed by brand, Amazon and ecommerce workflows were manual and drew recurring marketplace chargebacks, and the whole C-suite changed during the project. Growing revenue meant adding headcount, which was exactly what the platform strategy was meant to avoid.
Our approach
We led the implementation, architecture and hands-on delivery on a three-month track, rolling out functionality in two-week sprints and launching a pilot brand first. The work covered NetSuite ERP and manufacturing, warehouse management, EDI, shipping and sales tax, and moved fixed assets and customer service into NetSuite.
To protect fulfillment during the move, we stabilized the legacy system so it could bridge safely to NetSuite. We automated the EDI, ERP and warehouse scanning flow for Amazon and ecommerce orders, automated invoicing at an acquired brand that had been entirely on paper, and introduced standard procedures, data governance and item approvals.
The outcome
Automation cut recurring Amazon chargebacks by $110K, and revenue grew without adding headcount, deferring $120K a year in analyst hiring. Legacy downtime dropped from daily to weekly during the bridge to NetSuite.
Standard items across the brands let the platform buy together, saving about 2% of spend in those categories, and set up a shared distribution footprint that can reach 85% of U.S. customers in two days.
less legacy downtime during the move
a year in analyst hiring deferred
of U.S. customers reachable in two days
