Orgill Brothers & Co. Hardware Meets Software

Early in 1990, Orgill Brothers & Co., a hardware wholesaler, faced a
marketing concern common to many large companies today. Double digit
growth for each of the last eight years had propelled the Memphis based
company to the top of its industry. (Orgill products include sporting
goods, electrical and plumbing supplies, well as common, everyday
household hardware items.) In spite of the company's impressive growth,
Orgill could not sit still. They felt that the rapid changes in the
hardware industry would continue to require new ideas. In order to remain
the leader, they needed to respond quickly as new opportunities opened up.
Orgill realized that flexibility in all of its areas of operation was an
absolute necessity. Market and geographical expansion were creating a very
diverse set of market and dealer demands both in the domestic and the
international arenas.

Nothing dramatized Orgill's predicament quite so clearly as its expansive
product catalog. This book was 10 inches thick, weighed 34 pounds and
contained information on 47, 000 hardware products. In the past, it had
always served its purpose well. No other hardware distributor provided the
quantity and range of products that Orgill did. A great deal of effort
continually went into writing informational copy about the 47,000 products
offered.

The bulk of information in the catalog was at times something of a
liability. Not every customer needed all items offered since the product
selection was intended to present every conceivable item of merchandise a
hardware store could ever want. But now Orgill was uncovering some very
profitable markets that were not traditionally hardware based. This group,
the company realized, needed only a subset of Orgill's selections.

Multiproduct, multimarket companies once felt unable to respond in a
personalized and efficient way to the individual needs of each of their
customers. Orgill's management recognized it faced such a dilemma. They
understood that they had no choice but to make changes in the way they
approached these companies. They knew that the new standard for sales and
service in the global economy requires that companies focus their
products' appeal to individual customers. The challenge they saw was to
accomplish this without sacrificing efficiency and in creasing their
costs.

For companies selling a variety of products to many customers, Orgill's
plight was all too familiar. They saw that in industry after industry,
market sensitive suppliers were succeeding by acting on the simple
recognition that each customer is different, with unique preferences that
influence their purchases. In addition to low price, fast delivery, and
variety, customers required services that were customized to their needs.

One of the primary reasons for Orgill's unparalleled growth is that they
began this customization process eight years ago. The company was long
accustomed to exploiting its cost and distribution advantages to provide
competitive benefits to its customers, Orgill executives reasoned. So why
not extend its leadership position by developing a world class ability to
anticipate, shape and fulfill customer needs -whatever, whenever and
however those needs presented themselves. Using extremely sophisticated
database software, Orgill began providing customized bin stickers and
price stickers for every single one of their 47,000 products, for each
specific customer. Additionally, customized pricing and merchandising
plans and even optional service plans were offered.

The hardware wholesaler had already made a significant investment in
database information system and electronic publishing technologies. It was
now time to leverage those assets by developing a product information
medium that could exploit its competitive advantages. In the past, Orgill
was able to achieve only a certain degree of customization with its
product literature. Much more was needed, but the process was an
inefficient one at best. Incompatible data from one system had to be
rekeyed into another system, and transcription
and proofing errors were common. Hence, creating a special document often
took months.

The DPS system they purchased will link data residing in Orgill's
separately maintained databases with the company's electronic publishing
systems. By collecting, organizing, formatting and publishing this linked
data dynamically, Orgill will be able to assemble multiple versions of the
same catalog, customized section of the catalog, direct mailers,
advertisements, price lists, and indexes. The company will be able to do
this while continuously revising product and pricing information, based on
the information extracted from its sales and inventory control information
systems.

To achieve this dynamic linking of data, Orgill has chosen a cross systems
solution. This solution is a combination of very powerful software,
SmartLeaf/ExpertPublisher, and services provided by DataBase Publishing
Software. This new system does more than store and reuse the contents and
format of customized documents. It actually records and automatically
applies a set of business-driven rules that determine document content,
format, structure, and organization on a per-customer basis. Orgill will
combine these rules to create and update a library of automation recipes.
Each recipe will tell the software how to create a customized publication
based on a variety of conditions. A catalog recipe, for example, can query
a sales database and a product database and use the information found
there to produce a catalog unique to an individual customer based upon
specific profile information.

Orgill's implementation of SmartLeaf/Expert Publisher has required very
careful data modeling and some contract programming effort. The company
has had to commit significant resources in software development, system
integration and business planning to assure the success of this project.
Orgill is currently half way through the eight month development process
and has begun to see signs of success. Omer Berry, Manager of Office
Administration at Orgill Brothers, expects refinement and changes to this
system to go on almost indefinitely because Orgill never accepts that
things can not be done better. Mr. Berry feels the opportunities offered
by the SmartLeaf/Expert Publisher system are endless, and within the next
two months they will begin to see the fruits of their labors and will have
accomplished their intended goal.

DPS would like to thank Omer Berry and Orgill Brother 's & Company for
their cooperation in bringing you this article.

DataBase Publishing Software Inc
400 West Cummings Park, Suite 5300
Woburn, MA 01801
617-938-0018,  fax 617-938-3810

 ============================================================
 From the  'New Product News'  Electronic News Service on....
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) & Delphi (GO COMPUTING PRODUCT)
 ============================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the 
 company or author mentioned. For additional details, please 
 contact them directly at the address/phone number indicated.
 All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 ============================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  U.S.A.
 Email: RBakerPC (AOL/Delphi), rbakerpc@delphi.com (Internet)
 ============================================================
