Chemical Coating Supply creates industrial wood finishes and paints for interior wood applications. As a regional wholesaler, owner Toomas Baunis competes for business against multinational companies. In QuickBooks: Premier Manufacturing & Wholesale Edition 2004, he found inventory management and reporting systems that give him a competitive advantage and help him play the game as an equal.


The Challenge: Gain a Competitive Edge
with In-depth Inventory Management

Chemical Coating Supply creates custom finishes for industrial clients such as millhouses and cabinetmakers. Baunis, owner of the Benicia, California-based distributor of paint, is keenly aware of the effects his products have on the outside world. "Paint creates smog, and smog is a big issue. I have the lowest smog-emitting paint, so there is a strong environmental component to what I do," he says.

His environmental improvements are not limited to the outside world, however. Baunis also is concerned with running a clean, efficient business. A user of QuickBooks Pro 2002, Baunis recently upgraded to QuickBooks: Premier Manufacturing & Wholesale Edition 2004 and says the added features are indispensable and have leveled the competitive playing field for his small business.


The Solution: QuickBooks: Premier Manufacturing
& Wholesale Edition 2004

QuickBooks makes day-to-day operations easier and enables Baunis to fine-tune his operation by providing reports on all aspects of his business. QuickBooks: Premier Manufacturing & Wholesale Edition includes a Sales Order feature that tracks orders placed, fully or partially fulfilled, and billed; the ability to track inventory components and assembled goods; a one-click process to print purchase orders and packing slips; and a provision to check unused inventory, the components of which can be disassembled and used for other goods.

Baunis is particularly enamored with QuickBooks' inventory management features and its ability to track back orders. Previously Baunis had to track inventory manually using a spread sheet, but doing so with a work in progress invariably led to some errors. "I bring products in from Europe and I've made errors as I've transferred items from drums to liters. In the past I have re-ordered items that I had in my inventory. Now if QuickBooks says I'm out of stock, I can double-check my math to see if I made a mistake."

QuickBooks: Premier Manufacturing & Wholesale Edition 2004 now allows users to turn estimates into purchase orders and invoices without having to re-enter data. It saves time and provides consistency in how invoices read, Baunis notes. The uniformity is crucial for smaller independents that run into huge multinational companies, he adds.

In addition, the software creates packing slips — a small, but important feature for manufacturers and wholesalers. Baunis delivers finishing materials directly to the production floor to meet just-in-time manufacturing schedules. Packing slips acknowledge receipt of materials while protecting management's material costs. "It keeps the management information secure. It protects me," Baunis says.

That's particularly important given the various pricing structures common to manufacturers. Premier Manufacturing & Wholesale Edition makes it easier to define sales terms, now supporting 100 different price levels rather than the 20 previously offered. That, too, is invaluable to Baunis, as he balances small and large customers more flexibly without an accounting headache.

The benefit of keeping customer records organized and accessible is crucial to Baunis' business. Because Chemical Coating Supply handles a lot of custom color work, clients often request a color used on a previous job. Baunis created a report called Customer Summary that tracks all custom work. This way, he can pull up a customer's file and review the color specifics of a particular job.

The software's ease-of-use is prompting Baunis to tap into some other QuickBooks services, such as payroll services, and has affected how he interfaces with his suppliers and clients. For example, QuickBooks gives him an array of information at his fingertips, so Baunis plans to start e-mailing purchase orders to customers and vendors. "Vendors prefer PO's e-mailed, and now I am interfacing better into their systems."

A ten-year veteran of QuickBooks, Baunis was somewhat hesitant to upgrade to Premier Manufacturing & Wholesale Edition fearing a substantial learning curve. Instead, the transition was seamless and it has paid off. Baunis uses almost every feature of the software and notes that the 10 business-specific reports make all the difference. "It wouldn't be a success without reporting," he says.

By looking at the incremental business changes, Baunis can see how profit margins fluctuate. "So much of being successful in business is managing your cash budget," he says. "QuickBooks has taken me up a level or two."

Baunis expects his business to grow exponentially in the next two to three years, and initially worried that he would quickly outgrow the QuickBooks accounting system and have to invest time and money into a new system. He's not concerned about that now. "QuickBooks is the standard in the industry, and now QuickBooks is giving scalability, so I find the long term continuity enamoring."

This case study represents the individual experience of one customer. Intuit does not guarantee that results will apply to all customers.

Intuit and QuickBooks, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other parties' trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners and should be treated as such.