Customer Spotlight: Quality Bakery Products

October 2, 2013 at 10:33 AMHeidi Bragg

Profile:

  • Founded – 1993
  • Sales Manager – Michael Tills
  • HQ – Houston, TX
  • Industry – Bakery Industry
  • Employees – 70

Problem: The management of Quality Bakery Products knew the company needed to update its purchasing and production systems. At the time, they were using paper records of their formulations and tracking inventory by hand. Though they used QuickBooks for accounting purposes, it didn’t offer the flexibility they needed for the rest of their enterprise resource planning (ERP) purposes.

Solution: After investigating different ERP software programs, the company’s management contacted NumberCruncher, the makers of All Orders. All Orders offers a QuickBooks-compatible, affordable ERP solution. NumberCruncher’s CEO, Ian Benoliel, worked with the Tills to test and implement the software. Now, Quality Bakery Products has all their records digitized and can better meet the needs of their clients.

Mike Tills has been in the bakery products industry for over 50 years. His first job was working in his family’s bakery supply company when he was a teenager. Mike’s son, Michael, grew up with his father’s business and has been working in this industry for 8 years. Their latest venture is Quality Bakery Products, a Houston-based bakery products manufacturer and supply company.

According to the American Bakers Association, “The baking industry is a dynamic part of the U.S. economy, accounting for about $311.0 billion in total economic output or roughly 2.1 percent of GDP. Bakers, product wholesalers and retailers directly or indirectly employed approximately 1.76 million Americans in 2010.” Quality Bakery Products (“Quality”) serves both independent and in-store bakeries nationwide.

Back in 2009, Quality was using QuickBooks accounting software but still kept all their recipe formulations in a binder and tracking inventory by hand. Mike Tills wanted to find a better solution, especially for their bill of materials (BOM) needs. He began researching enterprise resource planning software options.

Mike Tills was also looking for a greater measure of security, according to his son, Michael. “My dad likes to prep for the ‘worst case scenario’ – whether it’s weather, fire, etc.” Quality Bakery Products wanted to “get with the times” to bring the company into the digital age. “We wanted the security of knowing that if our facility was in a hurricane or if some other calamity occurred, we wouldn’t have to start from scratch. It’s important that we’re able to continue doing business and have access to our formulas no matter what happens.”

After evaluating a variety of options, Quality approached CEO Ian Benoliel of NumberCruncher. NumberCruncher’s All Orders software is compatible with QuickBooks and specifically designed to meet the ERP needs of small- to medium-sized businesses. Benoliel worked with Quality as they demoed bills of materials, sales orders, purchase orders, and other functions available in All Orders.

When describing this testing period, Michael Tills says, “The team at NumberCruncher was amazing. They’re very technical, as well as being very people-oriented. While we were testing the software, Ian was personally involved and helped us configure everthing to our needs. He cared enough to help us make sure the software was exactly what we needed.” Michael spent 6 months converting all the company’s paper formulations to spreadsheets, which were then uploaded to All Orders.

As they started began to implement All Orders, Mike Tills says another benefit was that it looks and functions much like QuickBooks. “When we started testing the software, it was very easy for our employees to learn the new software. We had very little resistance from them about adapting to the new system.”

The greatest benefit to Quality has been the flexibility of the bill of materials functionality in All Orders offers. “Our previous purchasing manager and co-founder had put the BOM information into QuickBooks, but it didn’t offer the planning flexibility we needed. All costs were static, and we were limited to just a bill of materials per unit,” remembers Michael Tills. He continues, “With All Orders, we can produce a large variety of reports, work orders, and other materials to use for forecasting. We use work orders as both a day-to-day production tool and a forecasting tool. For example, if we expect a 5,000-unit order in the near future, I can create a dummy work order to determine all the raw materials we’ll need to fill that order. And since our inventory and purchasing functions are also in All Orders, we can make sure that we have the right materials in stock at the right time.”

In the past two years, the company has added both All Orders Web and All Orders Mobile. Michael Tills says customers had been asking for the ability to order online, and the web version of All Orders has made that an easy solution for them. “We’re able to see the orders instantly and they’re integrated with all our other All Orders software functions,” he explains. “We also use the mobile function on all our scanners.” The ability to have inventory and order information available company-wide is key for Quality Bakery Products. “Some businesses are more compartmentalized. We’re a small company and we work closely together, so it’s important for us to have visibility across all job functions.”

Both Mike and Michael Tills are extremely pleased with how All Orders has helped their business, and with the continual product innovations NumberCruncher provides. Michael Tills continues, “QuickBooks sends out an update once a year, and they rarely implement product suggestions from their customers. But All Orders is always making frequent improvements to help their customers, and they really listen to our feedback.” Michael Tills concludes by saying, “We feel like we have a custom software solution designed specifically for us.”


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