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Equipment Depot Consolidates Five Operating Companies on One ERP
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Applicable Industries
- Equipment & Machinery
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
- Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
- Asset Lifecycle Management
- Manufacturing System Automation
Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Equipment Depot, a trusted brand in material handling equipment since 1951, consists of five different independent operating companies located throughout North America. Each operating company has a different product mix and its own unique approach to its market. Its parent company, Pon Holdings of North America, had merged the operations of the five different business units under the Equipment Depot brand and started to work towards standardization of the business tools and processes used at each of them. Central to that effort was their plan to adopt a new ERP platform. They needed a software system that could handle the complexity of their operations. Replacing the software that runs an entire business is not an insignificant challenge. This is made more difficult when a company is replacing multiple vendor offerings and homegrown tools in one shot. Equipment Depot wanted to make sure whatever system they adopted was going to be future-proofed and based on a trusted brand in software.
About The Customer
Equipment Depot is one of North America’s largest dealers of material handling and vertical lift equipment. After experiencing the consolidation of multiple equipment businesses under one company brand, they decided to replace their numerous legacy financial management applications with a single ERP system. Equipment Depot has been a trusted brand in material handling equipment since 1951 with 40 service locations spanning 16 states. Equipment Depot consists of five different independent operating companies located throughout North America. Each operating company has a different product mix, including forklifts, scissor lifts, boom lifts, telehandlers, skid steers, and backhoes, and its own unique approach to its market. Its parent company, Pon Holdings of North America, had merged the operations of the five different business units under the Equipment Depot brand and started to work towards standardization of the business tools and processes used at each of them. Central to that effort was their plan to adopt a new ERP platform.
The Solution
Equipment Depot selected EquipSoft over 15 other ERP vendors. The company had assembled a very large selection committee with 80 different people taking part in the evaluation process. They felt that the EquipSoft partnership with Microsoft would ensure that they were consolidating their financial and business systems on a platform that had a future. They believed in the long-term product roadmaps of both companies. The other consideration was the experience of the project team and vendor with their industry. There is a small list of companies that specifically build software to meet the needs of serialized equipment dealers. The solutions needed to consider the unique nuances of the industry, which include the ability to support sales, in-house and field services, parts and upstream integration to the vendor channels. Given the high value of the equipment they supply, they also needed a lot of insight into the lifecycle of that equipment from acquisition to sale.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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