Aptean Apparel ERP ABS Edition
Steel Grip Makes the Most of ABS From Aptean With Upgrade and Cloud Migration Industry
Steel Grip makes tough gear for tough jobs. Whether it’s one of the many
Protective Apparel
varieties of protective gloves that have evolved from the company’s
Challenges
industry, the business is known for manufacturing apparel that keeps
» Time-consuming manual processes » Under-utilized system functionality » Complex inventory management
Benefits
» Streamlined workflows based on best practices
» Greater visibility into and control over stock » Peace of mind with support and system continuity
original namesake product or a full-body Pyrad suit for the electrical workers safe, even in the most hazardous of conditions. With a history stretching back to the early 1900s, more than 3,000 products and several locations—one in Danville, Illinois, the headquarters; two in Indiana; a warehouse in Texas; and an affiliated company in Mexico—Steel Grip’s operations are complex. Until relatively recently, the business was using an outdated version of ABS From Aptean with a on-premises deployment, and only leveraging a few functionalities of the solution. As the next generation of Steel Grip leadership has emerged, this suboptimal setup was identified as a barrier, and the opportunity for improvement was embraced. “When we started the consulting and analysis process, we realized that not only was the system not set up correctly, but we also weren’t using it correctly,” said Bobby Hall, IT manager. “We were doing the majority of our processes manually when actually the system could handle it for us.” “We’ve had ABS for almost 25 years now, but we weren’t really using ABS,” added Tamiko McGurk, accounting manager. “When the system was first implemented, they decided to pick and choose what they’d use while developing workarounds to maintain old internally developed processes. Rather than letting the system do its job and do it well, we were working against ourselves.” After careful consideration, the decision was made to upgrade to the latest version of ABS From Aptean and migrate to the cloud for re-implementation on the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. It’s already proven to be a wise choice, with immediate benefits unlocked and more to be reaped down the road. Steel Grip’s digital transformation is an ongoing journey, and a story worth sharing.