Winar Connection Case Study
Project at a Glance
About Winar Connection:
Winar Connection is located in Richfield, Ohio. They were started in 1982 and were founded by Bill Winar, Jim Winar, Roy Winar and George Rees. They started the company because they knew the products well, knew the customers and the suppliers. It took guts to go out on their own and start the company but the relationships were in place to make it a successful endeavor. They began with a 2000 square foot storefront in Brookpark, Ohio. They are currently located in Richfield, Ohio and owned by Dan Winar and Jeff Rees. Winar Connection, Inc. is a custom cable assembly and wire harness manufacturer, inventory vendor distributor, and a valuable extension of your team! Since 1982, they have been focused on continuous improvement and providing world-class products and services to our customers.
Industry:
Service Delivered:
ERP Consulting
ERP Customization
ERP Implementation
ERP Custom Development
ERP Support & Maintenance
Location:
The Challenge:
Winar Connection had a fully functioning ERP system that they had build in house with an employee developer that handled most of their needs. When we began working with Winar it was shortly after their previous developer had moved on and they were in need of immediate help with an upcoming audit process as well as relieving multiple pain points and giving some wins to their frustrated employees. They also had a list of enhancements they were considering implementing.
About The Visionary:
Jeff Rees is the co-owner and president and he is the visionary for the solution. Jeff relies on his team to help design new enhancements that will make their jobs easier.
The Vision:
The ideal solution for Winar will allow them to manage their entire business from customers to parts and assemblies, inventory, bids, quotes and orders, scheduling and production of the assemblies, shipping and invoicing. The system also would handle reporting and data analysis on many key processes throughout the company.
Adatasol’s Solution:
Since we began working with Winar we have relieved many pain points that employees have reported. We have sped up many key processes to save time for the team. We have implemented a brand new scheduling module to allow tracking employee hours, production hours, expected completion of jobs, and dynamic costing based on labor and overhead. We implemented an action log that allows the team to track their action items as well as add action items for other employees from any module in the system. We also added meeting tracking and action items to allow the team to run meetings more efficiently and have tracked deliverables for the meeting and from the meeting. We worked (and continue to work) with the purchasing manager to help her keep prices up to date as well as purchase more efficiently. Overall, the relationship with Winar Connection has been amazing and they are a great team to work with every week.
Services We Delivered for Winar Connection
This project required Adatasol to step in after a previous developer departed — addressing immediate audit preparation needs, resolving employee pain points, and continuing to enhance an existing in-house ERP system.
ERP Consulting
We rapidly assessed Winar Connection's existing ERP system, identified urgent priorities for an upcoming audit, cataloged employee-reported pain points, and created a prioritized roadmap for immediate fixes and long-term enhancements — all under time pressure following the departure of their previous developer.
Customization
We improved and optimized multiple existing workflows speeding up key processes, resolving bottlenecks reported by staff, and updating the purchasing module to help the purchasing manager maintain pricing accuracy and order more efficiently.
Custom Development
We built several new modules including a production scheduling system for tracking employee hours, production timelines, expected job completion, and dynamic job costing based on labor and overhead. We also developed an action log module for cross-department task tracking, and a meeting management system with tracked deliverables and action items.
Implementation
We managed the system deployment including data migration from existing spreadsheets, configuration of user roles for coordinators and administrators, staff training, and go-live support to ensure uninterrupted service delivery.
Support & Maintenance
Adatasol provides ongoing weekly support to Winar Connection continuously identifying pain points, implementing improvements, and developing new features as the business evolves. The relationship remains active and collaborative.
ERP Enhancement for Manufacturers
Winar Connection's situation losing a developer and inheriting a system that needs immediate attention is more common than many manufacturers realize. Whether the original developer leaves, documentation is incomplete, or the system simply hasn't kept pace with business growth, having a reliable partner who can quickly understand your existing system and start delivering improvements is critical to maintaining operations.
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