Masonry Manufacturer Automates Delivery and Tracking of Purchase Orders, Invoices, Acknowledgements, & More from EBS

The Company

Mutual Materials is the leading manufacturer and distributor of masonry and hardscape products in the Pacific Northwest. With a commitment to sustainability and to ‘greening’ their business processes, Mutual Materials is dedicated to growing its catalog of products that help contractors and homeowners earn points toward LEED certification.

The Problem

When Guy DeFlorio, Chief Technical Officer, initiated a project to locate and implement business solutions that produced a positive ROI, Mutual Materials started with the evaluation of manual printing and mailing of Oracle EBS-generated invoices. After thoroughly investigating the time and materials required to print, fold, stuff, label, and mail invoices manually, Mutual Materials found their cost aligned with the industry standard of $0.75 per document mailed. The search for a greener, less resource-intensive document delivery solution became a priority.

The Solution

Questioning what Oracle offered for automated fax and email delivery of documents, the project team at Mutual Materials turned to its Oracle sales consultant for help. Initially, the consultant suggested that Mutual Materials look into creating a proprietary solution utilizing custom programming tools within the BI Publisher API. Preferring a full-featured, fully supported, out-of-the-box delivery system, Mutual Materials returned to their Oracle contact and asked for a solution that better met the organization’s needs. This time, she recommended STR Software’s AventX for Oracle EBS and forwarded some detailed product information from Oracle’s internal knowledge base.

Just 11days later, Mutual Materials chose AventX. Shortly thereafter, STR Software visited Mutual Materials to install AventX. Guy and the rest of the IT team at Mutual Materials were very happy with the out-of-the-box solution. “We didn’t have to invent anything. AventX met all of our needs immediately,” said Guy.

After seeing the significant efficiencies realized through using AventX, Mutual Materials expanded its use to deliver not only invoices, but delivery notices and statements as well. According to Guy, “Adding additional documents to deliver through AventX was easy. AventX has allowed us an easy way to improve communication with customers in a straightforward manner.”

Now having solid experience in using the product, Guy is quick to compliment not only AventX but also the support provided by STR Software. “From a technical viewpoint, [AventX] just works consistently all the time. When we do need support, the STR team is excellent. They are very professional and know what they’re doing. They’re easy to work with,” says Guy.