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Site: www.pdsweb.net Company: Professional Dispensing Systems, Inc. Location: Lakewood, Colorado Industry: Manufacturing Results Achieved with AccountEdge:
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Professional Dispensing Systems, Inc.
Problems can arise in any small business, but Tom Schurmann never realized that his solution would develop into a new venture.
Tom owned a small automotive detailing business, where he was using plastic sprayers to dispense chemicals. His dilemma: The cleaning chemicals he was using to detail the cars was quickly ruining the plastic sprayers, but he needed to apply those chemicals with sprayers. Buying new plastic sprayers to replace the ruined plastic sprayers became too costly. He tried using chemical-proof plastic trigger sprayers and pump up sprayers, but the chemicals turned those new sprayers into garbage, too.
“After a while I got fed up and couldn’t take it anymore,” said Tom. He ended up creating his own sprayer by modifying an old five-gallon stainless steel soda pop tank, adding an air valve to pressurize the tank, and attaching the best spray gun that he could find. “I still use it to this day,” he said.
Word spread and Tom began getting phone calls from other detail shops looking to find out where he got his sprayer. When they found out that he designed and built it, they offered to pay him money to make them one. It was then that Tom realized that he might have discovered something lucratively unique and created a new business called Professional Dispensing Systems (P.D.S.).
He decided to put an ad in a trade magazine so that P.D.S. could reach a larger market, and after that P.D.S began to grow rapidly. The company has had an annual growth rate of 60% since 1999. “We have sold systems in all 50 states and in 9 countries,” states Tom proudly, “The revenue from P.D.S. had surpassed what I did on detailing cars, so I sold the detailing business.”
Results Achieved with MYOB
When Tom ran the detail shop, he used a basic accounting program, which met his needs for his small service business. “I realized that I needed a more sophisticated accounting program for P.D.S.,” he said. After doing significant research, to find the right software that could fulfill his business needs, Tom opted to use MYOB AccountEdge. “I looked into the popular QuickBooks but dismissed it when I found out that it was unable to regulate period ends,” he revealed, “I am not willing to take that risk. I also decided against using QuickBooks because I am a Mac man, I prefer to use something that was built and designed to run on a Mac, not something that was originated to run on a PC.”
Getting started with any new software program can be a bit difficult and confusing, so Tom decided to hire of Martha Scheer, an MYOB Certified Consultant and highly qualified CPA. She helped him put together a system to successfully manage his business finances. She set up his accounts properly, trained him on how MYOB AccountEdge works, and helped him to feel confident to use the program on his own. Tom said, “With any new program there is a learning curve, but she helped me to quickly see that MYOB AccountEdge does everything that I want.”
Tom finds that MYOB AccountEdge is functional and easy to use. He mainly uses AccountEdge for its exceptional inventory tracking capabilities. “I track my inventory better than ever. AccountEdge lets me know when I need to reorder stock with its pop-up reminders,” he said.
He also uses reports and is impressed with the amount of information the card file retains. “With 99% of my business out of state it is nice to know that AccountEdge saves all my customer and vendor information in the card file, which makes it easier for me to create purchase orders and invoices”.
Tom declared, “With my old accounting program I had to do most of the work by hand that AccountEdge does instantly. I know that I will be able to use this product for years and years to come.”