Challenge
Custom Industrial Coatings is a family-owned Texas manufacturer of environmentally friendly water- and solvent-based industrial coatings, founded in 2009 by Tom Huemiller and Miles Wooley. It runs 1,400 SKUs and 400 raw materials from a 60,000 square foot plant and warehouse, serving 500 customers with 35 to 40 employees.
That operation was spread across several standalone platforms. Critical information sat in multiple databases, which left data inconsistent and often inaccurate — and left employees moving between systems to assemble a picture that should have been available in one place. Formulations, batch tickets and purchasing ran in one system that did not extend to shipping or invoicing; shipping ran in another, supplemented by carriers' own websites.
Solution
CIC consolidated onto CAI Essentials Mar-Kov, a single centralised ERP platform with one database behind it, covering batch control and inventory management. It has been in use across the business since 2022.
Senior leaders assessed a range of alternatives before selecting it. The broader enterprise platforms they looked at offered general-purpose functionality rather than manufacturer-specific capability, and carried cost and complexity beyond what a business of CIC's size needed. Essentials Mar-Kov now handles raw material inventory, purchasing, production, shipping and invoicing in one integrated system.
Results
- Full cost of the ERP platform recouped within 12 months
- Up to 50% less time spent on manual data entry, freeing employees for higher-value work
- A single centralised platform and one database replacing multiple standalone systems
- Real-time, accurate data reachable in seconds and a couple of clicks
- Improved cash flow — neither out-of-stock nor overstocked, with stock available to produce and ship on time
- Employees see customer orders alongside raw material inventory, so production quantities and ingredient availability are clear
- Shared, consistent data across cross-functional departments
- Financial reporting supporting analysis, planning and forecasting across sales, finished goods, orders and raw materials
The Impact
Key Features Used
- CAI Essentials Mar-Kov — batch control and inventory management ERP
- Single centralised database across all functions
- Raw material inventory tracking
- Purchasing and purchase orders
- Formulations and batch tickets
- Production planning against live customer orders
- Shipping and invoicing
- Set viewers, plus customised and standard reports for cost analysis, planning and forecasting
