ACP Solutions

The Company: About ACP Solutions

ACP is a relatively young company — its first full year of operations was in 2005. But in 16 hard-charging years, it has established itself as the largest panel shop in southwest Ontario, with a growing, highly diversified customer base that includes food processors, water treatment plants, mining companies, renewable energy providers, automotive companies, and more from across the globe.

The Situation: Quickbooks + Excel Limitations

ACP began life as a greenfield startup and, like most companies with that background, it followed a highly entrepreneurial business model for several early years. ​“As an organization, we had a very flat business structure with just a few people wearing multiple hats and managing operations with rudimentary business software like QuickBooks and Excel,” recalls co-founder and current president Greg Dravis.

“That approach,” he continues, ​“may be fine up to a point, but eventually, that kind of mindset and those limited management tools just don’t cut it anymore, and you end up increasingly trying to grow the business in spite of the software instead of using it as a critical resource.”

The Solution: JobBOSS² ERP

After evaluating a number of different ERP options, Dravis and his team selected E2 SHOP, the solution that was incorporated into JobBOSS² after ECI acquired Shoptech in 2020.

“We were looking to build a strong, robust foundation for future growth, and part of that foundation had to include a fully featured ERP solution that would put all the right tools in the hands of the right people and give them reliable, real-time insights into what we were doing and how well we were doing it,” Dravis explains.

“Having all the various management applications integrated into a single package was very important,” he continues. ​“With JobBOSS², if we need to rework an order for any reason, all the information necessary is readily available in real-time, and any changes we might make flow right through the system. It’s a seamless package and a seamless flow from initial quote all the way through to the invoice.”

JobBOSS²’s status as a cloud-based program was also important, says Dravis. ​“Before we switched to JobBOSS², our servers were all onsite, with an additional IT management and maintenance burden that we didn’t need. We really enjoy the flexibility that a cloud-based program gives us, and it’s proven particularly valuable when it comes to meeting the challenges of the COVID pandemic and making it possible for many of our people to work from home.”

Great Implementation of E2 SHOP/JobBOSS² Led to Relationship Building and Improving Their Shop
Once Dravis had settled on E2 SHOP/JobBOSS² as his ERP of choice, work began on the implementation phase. Moving to new software can be a stressful undertaking for any organization, and a program with all the features and functionality that JobBOSS² provides might seem particularly daunting. None of that was an issue for Dravis and his team, however.

“We were very pleased with how implementation of the front end of the software went,” says Dravis. ​“Pulling all the information into our database so that we could quote, create estimates and orders, and then track time against jobs all went very smoothly. Whenever we had a question, a quick call to JobBOSS² technical support would get us an answer quickly and easily.”

Dravis and his team have built ACP on the basis of a reputation for integrity and dealing with customers honestly and transparently, and they found a similar set of values at JobBOSS². ​“As a company, we put a lot of emphasis on building long-term relationships with our customers, and the folks at JobBOSS² bring a similar approach to the way they work with us. If we have a problem, they’ve always been able to quickly jump in and resolve it and get us back on track,” he says.

Dravis also used the implementation phase to improve some of ACP’s internal operations. ​“As part of the effort to take the company to the next level, we were also reshaping and reorganizing the company, so we were able to adapt our own processes to optimize our use of the software. And JobBOSS² is a very intuitive program, so we were able to train all of our people — production managers, estimators, project managers, shipping and receiving, etc. — quickly and easily.”

Progress, however, was not quite as smooth with the accounting side of the transition. ​“Moving from QuickBooks, which is a program intended primarily for business owners, to a fully featured accounting package was not without its challenges,” Dravis says. ​“But we received good support from JobBOSS², and our team and their technical support people worked together to address the accounting issues we were facing. It was a very collaborative effort — more a case of partners working together than it being us and just another supplier,” he says.

The Results: JobBOSS² Implementation Benefits

ERP Software Drives Out Inefficiencies in Manufacturing Processes
Once JobBOSS² was up and running, the benefits started showing up almost from day one. ​“When we were working with QuickBooks and Excel, it was really difficult to get information on our operations and how we were doing,” recalls Dravis. Once the company went live with JobBOSS², those limitations quickly became just a memory.

Greg Dravis’s son, Kyle, heads up the operations side of the company, and he says the switch to JobBOSS² has made a big difference in its overall performance. ​“JobBOSS² has given us the data we need to be able to drive out inefficiencies from our manufacturing processes, and we simply did not have access to that data in the QuickBooks days.”

Adds Kyle Dravis, ​“With JobBOSS², we can now get down to such a granular level of detail, by project or by customer, and use that information to make far more intelligent and more informed decisions.”

Real-Time Tracking Gives Accurate Data When They Need It
The benefits aren’t limited to just the manufacturing side. ​“JobBOSS² has also improved our ability to monitor internal accountability among our people,” explains Kyle Dravis.

“With JobBOSS², we can see exactly who built what and how much time they spent on it for any given project. The data shows us who’s really good at what they do and who’s taking twice as long and making mistakes so that now, we’re relying on JobBOSS² and the data it provides to make better HR decisions.”

And, says Greg Dravis, there are similar stories to tell on the purchasing and margin management fronts. ​“Before we switched to JobBOSS², we never really had an effective way to track our inventory,” he says. ​“Now, with JobBOSS², we’ve been able to barcode all of our stocked items when they’re received, so that our guys can use the barcode and the data collection app on the phone to enter costs directly to jobs when they pull materials out of stock. That way, it automatically moves the cost from inventory to the specific job and eventually triggers a reorder based on pre-assigned inventory levels.”

The result is fewer purchase orders, lower inventory levels, and less time spent on receiving, handling materials, and accounting. As for margins? ​“When we implemented JobBOSS², it showed us our margins were all over the place,” says Greg Dravis. ​“The program exposed some significant issues and inconsistencies in how we were doing things and allowed us to bring far more consistency to our pricing and overall margin management.”

ERP Software Makes Customer Service a Snap
JobBOSS² has proven equally effective when it comes to customer service and relationship building, says Greg Dravis. ​“Every week, I go through a production planning meeting with one of our key customers,” he explains.

“We’ve got two or three pages of projects in progress with them at any given time, and as we go through all that work, I can pull up real-time job information while we’re connected and talk about any issues and mitigate any problems that might come up. And if we need to reschedule the job, it’s no big deal to do it right then and there in the middle of the meeting. JobBOSS² has given us the ability to respond to changing customer requirements with a speed and flexibility that we never had before we switched.”

Greater Visibility Into Every Part of the Company Leads to Better Decisions
It’s been less than two years since ACP Solutions went live with E2 SHOP/JobBOSS², but it’s already had a significant impact on the company and how it operates. ​“JobBOSS² has given us so much greater visibility into our company and allowed us to make better decisions pretty much across the board,” says Greg Dravis. ​“JobBOSS² is important today, but it’s only going to become even more important to us in the future.”