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 Home > Distributor Resources > Case Studies > Rutherford Controls
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Blue Link Elite - RCI Case Study
A Complete Business Software Solution
| Rutherford Controls Int’l Corp (“RCI”) focuses on providing architectural hardware, locksmith, and security markets with the best in electric locks, door hardware and access control products. RCI emphasis is on customer service, technical expertise and providing innovative electric locking hardware to the industry. RCI consistently strives to stay ahead of the pace of technological development and market demand. Ease of use and installation, extensive variety, as well as the highest level of quality are all standard features in RCI’s product offering. For more information on RCI please visit www.rutherfordcontrols.com. |
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| The Challenge |
| In 1998, RCI set out to develop an infrastructure that would position the company for projected rapid growth over the next few years. The first challenge was to implement a business management system flexible enough to adapt to many of their unique business processes, which had become their competitive advantages over the years. The solution also had to be scalable in order to handle their growth. |
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| RCI were managing several innovative business processes using separate systems and manual workarounds, as no single business management system was able to handle all these requirements. In addition, as the business evolved, so did the business processes, rendering a static solution impractical. These disparate systems were functioning at an acceptable level, but management realized that if they were going to accomplish their significant growth targets, these systems had to be consolidated into one integrated application to reduce data duplication and human intervention. |
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| The Solution |
| In 1998 RCI purchased Blue Link Solutions Elite as its business management system. Together with a Blue Link consultant, RCI reviewed their business processes and how they mapped to Elite processes. Some minor custom changes were made to Elite to handle some of RCI’s unique business practices, and within two months RCI was live on their new business management system. |
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| A key requirement of RCI was that their history data had to be transferred to Solutions. To accomplish this task Blue Link developed a data conversion tool to convert all of their data from their existing DOS-based application. |
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| RCI has implemented Bluelink’s financial, distribution, production and e-commerce system. The financials include general ledger, accounts payable and accounts receivable. |
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| The distribution system includes inventory control, order processing and purchasing. As well, RCI has recently implemented a bar-coding and scanning system to record receipts and count inventory. |
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| Production for RCI is limited to bill of materials and assembly of raw materials. |
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| The Results |
| Since the implementation of Blue Link Elite in 1998, RCI has been a success story and has achieved its growth targets, with Elite supporting them through the process. |
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| RCI has undergone several additional custom projects to map the system functionality to their changing business processes. RCI has been able to take advantage of new functionality as it is added to Blue Link Elite, completing 2 version upgrades incorporating their PerfectFit customizations, at modest cost. |
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| In 1997, RCI had 2 inside sales representatives in Canada. Now with revenues twice what they were then, RCI still has two inside sales representatives. Five years ago, they had four people in the accounting department and now they have only one more. |
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| According to Andy McDougall, RCI’s controller, “Blue Link’s software and professional expertise have been major factors in the success of our company over the past three years. We have come to regard Blue Link as partners in our business.” |
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