Martin’s Wood Products is a highly sophisticated custom furniture manufacturer whose lineage of family management has kept pace with the technological and computerized enterprise resource planning advances of the 21st century.

One reason they’ve been able to continue to craft and sell the highest quality, American-made solid wood furniture is the 2003 acquisition of a plant operations manager ERP software in 2003.

“We found out about Global Shop Solutions through researching many different ERP software products,"  says  General Manager James Martin. "While doing this, I received an invitation to a seminar. I went, and their discussion and software demonstration really raised my interest. "

After due diligence, "We purchased the Global Shop Solutions system, and I must say that we’ve had great success with it from day one,” Martin explains. “We have liked working with them ever since.” 
For Martin’s Wood Products, it has been a natural alliance not only in terms of the ERP software needed to bring costing under control, but also in the similar basic business philosophies held by the two companies.

Both Martin’s Wood Products and Global Shop Solutions are family-owned and operated businesses. Exemplary customer service and employee relations are vital to their success. It is the Global Shop Solutions personal approach to doing business that first appealed to MWP—in Global Shop Solutions, MWP saw their own traditions of consistent quality business management style and execution. Martin observes, “Like Martin’s Wood Products, Global Shop Solutions is a customer intimate business. That’s just one of many reasons why they’re a perfect fit for us.”

Configurators calculate millions of design options

Martin’s Wood Products is a multifaceted production operation. They’re a made-to-order manufacturing business that produces custom work as well as carrying a standard product line. As malleable as wood is in the hands of the master craftsmen at Martin’s Wood Products, there are nearly an endless array of options possible with their product furniture designs—different configurations, hardware, color choices, styles, sizes, and shapes.

For example, in the subcategory of finishes alone, customers can choose any number of colors and/or textures in general categories such as stained, glazed, painted, distressed, and planed. Ultimately, there must be a central database where various design options can be considered and ordered. And a powerful software tool to make it happen. The configurator application handles this.

“The configurator helps our customers to choose from the millions of different options available to them within our manufacturing services," says Martin. "And, it’s all automated—automated pricing, automated part number, automated description, automated router.

"We’ve made our process as automated as possible—from the order entry on out, and that has given us great flexibility in what we can provide to our customers."

Martin says the Global Shop Solutions ERP has elevated customer service for his firm to allowed niched marketing capability.

"With the Global Shop Solutions Configurator, we exceed customer expectations of quality and product selection, and we’re able to keep everything in the production process in order and running smoothly.”

Automation has also been a boon to Martin in shop floor management. In an era where business survival depends on strict cost accounting, where pennies of material cost saved per part can mean the difference between major profits or narrow loss, shop floor management becomes increasingly important. It is here where Global Shop Solutions ERP applications excel. In fact, MWP is heavily tied to the use of Global Shop Solutions’ graphical user interface (GUI) as terminals on the shop floor where employees can clock on and off a job, requisition materials, and monitor myriad other job processes.
“We use Global Shop Solutions all around the shop for both accounting and manufacturing,” Martin states. “Through the GUI system that is used throughout the plant, we’re very, very focused on tracking our job costing on the shop floor. For this reason, Global Shop Solutions is a complete package where accounting and
manufacturing are all tied together in real time and in one single and easy to use database—it’s simply one-stop ERP shopping for us, and it makes cost accounting an important part of our daily management.”

Significant Inventory Improvement

When it comes to the success that MWP has achieved since their implementation of Global Shop Solutions, the facts speak for themselves. In addition to enhancing their on-time delivery, Global Shop Solutions has facilitated a better way of doing business in just about every area of the sprawling MWP plant. “Global Shop Solutions has
helped us succeed in inventory management and control. In the first three months of implementing Global Shop
Solutions, we dropped our inventory six digits.” Martin exclaims. “Now, I get inventory in as I need it—just in time.

Global Shop Solutions has tremendously helped our lean journey, and helped us lean all shop floor operations from work order generation to shipping out the door. As the general manager, I am particularly pleased with the overall Global Shop Solutions shop floor management system, and its tremendous capability at controlling costs of labor and material.”

The success Martin’s Wood has realized since acquiring their Global Shop Solutions system can give hope to custom manufacturers across the nation. With strong ties to its local community, enduring customer-oriented business philosophy, plus the use of cutting-edge ERP technology,  Martin’s Wood is an ideal realization of manufacturing success.
That  Martin’s Wood sees their use of their Global Shop Solutions system in strategic terms means that their crafted wood heritage will not be lost; rather, the best practices business management approach offered by Global Shop Solutions helps to ensure that Martin’s Wood Products should continue their unique American craftsmanship for generations of Martins to come.

Source: Global Shop Solutions