AAT Fabrication operates three competitive manufacturing businesses: It builds custom aquariums for wholesalers; designs acrylic point of purchase displays such as lottery signs; and creates and rents special effects tanks used in movies and television shows, including the tanks used on NBC's reality hit, Fear Factor.
As a wholesaler to the demanding entertainment industry, AAT Fabrication general manager Lloyd Paddock has to spend his time building sturdy tanks, not worrying about managing parts from suppliers. With QuickBooks: Pro 2004, he can contain his inventory fears and avoid drowning in the accounting workload from three thriving businesses.
The Challenge: Build Customized Products for Demanding, High-profile Clients
AAT Fabrication in Van Nuys, CA, is the premier custom aquarium manufacturer in the country. For the past 25 years, AAT Fabrication has built thousands of aquariums for wholesalers who cater to clients such as Meg Ryan, Kim Bassinger, Shaquille O'Neil, Kelsey Grammer, Nicholas Cage, Gallagher, Lenny Dykstra, Bill Gates, and Ice T, to name a few. AAT Fab's fabulous tanks have appeared in Volcano, Fear Factor, Lipton and Pepsi commercials, and hundreds of other Hollywood venues. In fact, "about 90 % of water shots you see on TV use our tanks," says Lloyd Paddock, general manager at AAT Fabrication.
Paddock's companies manufacture products on-demand to highly demanding clients. Since AAT builds each aquarium and acrylic display or clipboard to spec, one of its toughest challenges is inventory management, as AAT has to manufacture and supply specialized parts for each custom project. "We don't have an ongoing inventory where we build the same widget over and over. About 90 percent of our orders are custom," explains Paddock.
With three separate businesses, Paddock also has to keep a watchful eye on his finances and cash flow, as accurately budgeting and forecasting expenses on custom jobs is next to impossible. "Our jobs range anywhere from $25 up to $100,000, and each job has its own set of problems," he notes. Jobs at his companies range from building portable acrylic clipboards to building and shipping a 24-foot shark tank for an Indianapolis business that specializes in collectible items.
The Solution: QuickBooks: QuickBooks: Pro 2004
AAT Fabrication uses QuickBooks: Pro 2004 to manage all three of its businesses. The company has 20 employees, four of which use QuickBooks. Paddock upgraded to QuickBooks about five years ago, after his companies outgrew the antiquated, DOS-based accounting software program that it used for almost 15 years. "With the old program, you had to know everything about accounting. You had to use the general ledger to reverse a simple transaction."
QuickBooks: Pro changed all that. "We started with a QuickBooks trial, and we knew right away it was a user-friendly program. If we make a mistake, it's never a fatal error," Paddock explains. With QuickBooks: Pro, Paddock can make changes and look up critical information when he needs it, which is important to small businesses like his that have to remain agile. "When we have the customer in front of us and don't have the part number they need, we can find it on the fly in QuickBooks," says Paddock.
Paddock uses all of the core features of Pro, including inventory and customer management. AAT has suppliers and customers located all over the country. AAT prepares its customized purchase orders in QuickBooks and uses the product to manage payables and receivables for all three companies. The entertainment segment of AAT is managed as a separate Company file in Pro, which allows Paddock to separately track the company's income from the 30-40 large aquariums that it rents to customers.
To stay on top of his cash flow, Paddock regularly runs QuickBooks reports. Once a month, he uses QuickBooks to prepare in-depth sales reports. Plus he runs A/R reports in QuickBooks twice a week for use at the company's ongoing status meetings. With QuickBooks reports, key members of the management team get greater visibility into the company finances, projects, and customers.
Paddock particularly likes QuickBooks customization features and templates. "We customize all of our invoices for that personal touch," he says. "We prepare our packing lists in Pro and customize each of them."
Most importantly, Paddock appreciates the product's ease of use. "QuickBooks is so easy to use and understand, we don't have to be chained to our desks to manage our finances. We can deal with getting our job done instead," he adds.
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