Benoit

To say Benoit Inc. has a rich and storied history would be an understatement. During World War II, Morris Benoit worked as a roustabout and driller for Texaco while his brother Lucius worked for Higgins Industries manufacturing the amphibious landing craft Eisenhower credited with helping Allied forces win the war. After the war, the brothers founded Benoit Machine & Repair Works, quickly establishing themselves as the premier oilfield machine shop in the area.

Today, the company they founded nearly 80 years ago has two locations, 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space, and generates in excess of $30 million annually. While still honoring its history, Benoit recognizes that it needs a modern business management solution to support its growth and expansion. Benoit selected Acumatica Cloud ERP as its next-generation solution and NexTec Group as the business partner to help implement it.

“Acumatica and NexTec are making a positive impact in our operation, giving us the information and support we need to run the business efficiently, and providing the security of knowing our business data is stored offsite and backed up automatically.” Mike Stevens, Director of Production & Process Strategy, Benoit.

“Before, we were using four separate systems to manage the business,” recalls Mike Stevens, Director of Production & Process Strategy for Benoit. “It was extremely labor intensive to maintain and was difficult to audit.”

“We were looking for a solution that could bring all our business processes together,” says Kevin Dupre, Manager of Production & Process Strategy, “from manufacturing and inventory control to accounting and distribution. Plus, we needed real-time visibility into our operations that just wasn’t possible when our data was spread between applications.”

“We were also concerned about business continuity. We’re headquartered in Louisiana, so we have a heightened awareness that a weather event could take down our servers,” adds Stevens. “And now, of course, the coronavirus pandemic reinforces the need of all companies to have reliable, secure remote access to their business software.”

Benoit’s COO had worked with NexTec Group previously and invited them to help identify the ERP system best suited to Benoit’s needs. “After learning our business and reviewing our processes, NexTec recommended Acumatica as the best ERP for us,” says Dupre.

“The product’s ease of use, hosted deployment model, and broad-based functionality makes Acumatica a good fit,” adds Stevens.

In a testament to the versatility of Acumatica and the skillset of NexTec’s consulting team, NexTec accomplished Benoit’s entire implementation remotely. “We were right in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, but NexTec brought Acumatica live without any delays or downtime,” says Dupre.

Benoit manufacturers threaded connectors and flow-control tools used in the oil and gas industry. Many products are made to stock and others are custom made to order. The manufacturing capabilities in Acumatica support all aspects of Benoit’s operations.

“We typically have over one hundred production orders active at any time,” explains Dupre. “Using Acumatica, we now have visibility into where each order is in the manufacturing process. We’re also capturing labor costs associated with each step which gives us accurate costing data for each and every order.”

“Previously we were calculating the cost of each order manually, after the fact. With Acumatica, we’re out in front of the process, and having that data helps us make better pricing decisions too,” says Stevens.

Benoit isn’t the only one to notice the new efficiencies. “One of our suppliers has been so impressed by what we’ve been able to achieve with Acumatica that they are considering implementing it too,” notes Stevens.

“We’ve only been live on Acumatica for a relatively short time, so we feel there is still a lot for us to learn, and a lot of new and different ways we can leverage the product,” explains Stevens. “NexTec did a great job of getting us up and live quickly, and now we’re spending time really seeing what more the software can do for us. We plan to implement bar code scanners, for example, and bring our production floor live, with staff entering in production data in real time at each work station.”

“NexTec is extremely responsive when we have questions or need help troubleshooting something,” adds Dupre. “They are knowledgeable, friendly, straightforward and helpful.”

In another initiative, the company plans to engage NexTec to help launch the Acumatica Customer Portal which will allow customers to access their information including contracts, financial statements, support cases, and more. “We’re also building out user dashboards and exploring the reporting tools available,” says Stevens.

Dupre concludes, “Acumatica and NexTec make a positive impact in our operation, giving us the information and support we need to run the business efficiently, and providing the security of knowing our business data is stored offsite and backed up automatically.”

About NexTec Group

NexTec Group is one of North America’s largest and most experienced technology consulting firms, specializing in industry-specific solutions for mid-sized organizations. For nearly 30 years, NexTec has been a trusted partner to businesses, delivering, implementing and supporting the core Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions they need to scale and grow. NexTec is a gold-certified Acumatica partner with deep experience in field services, manufacturing, distribution, professional services, and more.