Aptean Equipment ERP Case Study: Cardinal Carryor

Founded in 1947 in Louisville, Kentucky, Cardinal Carryor is a full-service material handling dealership serving Kentucky and Indiana. Cardinal provides rentals, leasing and maintenance on both new and used equipment for brands like Clark, Crown, Doosan and Hoist. Since 1962, the company has been the only authorized Clark forklift dealership serving Kentucky and Indiana, and has been an authorized Crown equipment distributor since 1983

The Challenge

Cardinal had been using a Unix-based business software called MTA since 1978 and made the decision to update once the provider dropped support. In addition to this, Cardinal’s legacy software wasn’t good at getting information out of the system, making reporting difficult. The company dealt with the following challenges:

• Working with an outdated, legacy system

• Lacking analytics and reporting capabilities

The Solution

Cardinal Carryor President, Brad Baker, began researching enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors that had specific solutions for equipment distributors. On this list: DIS, Minitrac, EBS and Aptean Equipment ERP, which is built on the Microsoft Dynamics Business Central platform. Baker appreciated the partnership between Aptean and Microsoft, in particular that the software easily integrates with other Microsoft products like Excel and Outlook. “With Aptean Equipment ERP and Microsoft Dynamics, we have full assurance that our investment can be leveraged for as many years as we need it,” Baker explained.

The Results

According to Baker, Aptean Equipment ERP has improved Cardinal’s inefficiencies so drastically that the company was able to cut costs dramatically in its parts and accounting departments. Cardinal Carryor was able to achieve the following benefits with Aptean Equipment ERP:

• Increased efficiency in parts and accounting departments

• Better visibility into availability tree

• Inventory tracked for all service vans

• More informed decision-making

Within Aptean Equipment ERP’s rental functionality, Baker says the availability tree is a big improvement, making it easy for people outside the rental department—such as sales staff—to easily see what equipment is available and what’s not. Cardinal is also utilizing Aptean Equipment ERP’s built-in customer relationship management (CRM) system for contact management by its sales team. Baker is highly impressed with Aptean Equipment ERP’s ability to plan the inventory in Cardinal’s service vans in the same way it plans inventory in a warehouse. Before implementing the new solution, Cardinal would manually calculate the inventory in each of its service vans. Now, the process is automated and visibility into each truck’s inventory is clear.

Shift Gears on Efficiency With Industry-Built Equipment ERP

Outdated systems and manual processes can slow down even the most established equipment dealers. That's why industry leaders like Cardinal Carryor are turning to solutions built specifically for their needs, like Aptean Equipment ERP.

Designed for the unique demands of heavy equipment sales, rentals, service and parts management, our specialized equipment ERP helps you modernize operations and unlock complete visibility across your business. With features like automated service van inventory, built-in CRM tools and seamless Microsoft Office integration, you can streamline your day-to-day and make better, faster decisions that fuel growth.

What's more, Aptean offers more than just software. We bring a wealth of industry experience and a support model that's always by your side. Whether you're upgrading from a legacy system or aiming to gain deeper insights into your operations, our software is designed to grow with your success.

Ready to see the power of Aptean Equipment ERP in action? Contact our team to schedule a personalized demo or to learn more about how our software can help your dealership thrive.