Founded in 1986, Key Gas Components is a family-owned and operated manufacturing and engineering services company that produces a wide range of make-to-stock and custom parts designed to meet the needs of gas appliance OEMs. These parts include gas valves, manifolds, connectors, fittings, burners and lighters. Operating out of two separate facilities – a 35,000 sq. ft. plant in Marion, North Carolina and a 50,000 sq. ft. plant in Allegan, Michigan – Key Gas has developed a reputation for providing creative manufacturing solutions for gas equipment manufacturers.
Prior to Global Shop Solutions, Key Gas employed an older type of ERP system that handled a few functions well but did not provide a single-source for business management. As a result, management struggled to obtain the data to effectively manage inventory, control costs and make informed decisions on how to grow the business. Since implementing Global Shop Solutions, Key Gas now has the data it needs to better manage every aspect of the business.
Henderson Cathcart, national sales director for Key Gas, points to inventory control as the area of biggest improvement. Through the use of cycle counting and the material resource planning (MRP) features, Key Gas has a firm grasp on inventory levels and costs at all times. Global Shop Solutions also helps to minimize inventory levels and reduce carrying costs with its automatic reorder point capabilities.
We now enter all incoming materials into Global Shop Solutions, and use the system to issue materials to the job and make bin transfers. As a result, we know exactly what we have in inventory, where it resides, and whether or not it has been assigned to a job.
Henderson Carthcart, National Sales Director at Key Gas Components
Since implementing Global Shop Solutions ERP software, Key Gas sales have grown a hefty 53%. This growth has occurred without having to add additional staff or overhead. “Much of our sales growth has come from existing customers,” says Cathcart. “They can load us up with more work because we operate more efficiently, which also helps lower new business acquisition costs.”
To learn more about how Global Shop Solutions improved Key Gas, download their case study here.