Borderstatesindustries Case Study

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Part Three Key System Applications f or the Digital Age

B order S tates I ndustries Fuels Rapid Growth w ith E RP

CASE STUDY

order S tates I ndustries Inc., also k nown a s

Border S tates E lectric (BSE), is a w holesale

d istributor for t he c onstruction, industrial,

utility, a nd d ata c ommunications m arkets.

T he c ompany is h eadquartered i n Fargo, N orth

Dakota, a nd h as 57 sales offices i n s tates a long t he

u.S. b orders w ith C anada a nd Mexico as well as i n

S outh Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, a nd Missouri. BSE

h as 1,400 e mployees a nd is w holly e mplo yee -own ed

t hrough i ts e mployee s tock o wnership p lan. For t he

fiscal y ear e nding M arch 31, 2008, BSE e arned r ev enues o f o ver US $880 m illion.

BSE's goal is to provide c ustomers w ith w hat t hey

n eed w henever t hey n eed it, i ncluding p roviding

c ustom s ervices b eyond d elivery o f p roducts. Thus,

t he c ompa ny is n ot o nly a w ho lesale distributor b ut

also a p rovider o f s upply c hai n solutions, w ith

e xtensive service o perations s uch a s logistics, j ob -site

trailers, a nd k itting (packaging individually s eparate

b ut r elated i tems t ogether a s o ne u nit). ESE h as

d istribution a greements w ith m ore t han 9,000 p roduct v endors .

BSE h ad r elied o n its o wn l egacy ERP s ystem

c alled Rigel s ince 1988 to s upport i ts c ore b usiness

p rocesses . However, Rigel h ad b een d esigned

e xclusively for electrical w ho lesalers, a nd b y t he

mid-1990s, t he s ystem c ould n ot s upport BSE's n ew

l ines o f b usiness a nd e xtensive growth.

At t hat p oint, BSE's m anagement d ecid ed to

i mplement a n ew ERP s ystem a nd s elected t he

e nterprise s oftware from SAP AG. T he ERP solution

i ncluded SAP's m odules for sales a nd d istribution, .

m aterials m anagement, f inancials a nd c ontrolling,

a nd h uman r esources .

BSE i nitially b udgeted $6 m illion for t he n ew

s ystem, w ith a s tart d ate o f N...