Saneck International

	"The PCS system is reliable and does what we think it should do. There are no surprises. Everybody loves it."
	Frank Cannon Jr, President/CEO

Saneck International is a warehousing and distribution company that imports the products it sells. This presents some accounting challenges, not the least of which is long lead-times on orders placed with overseas vendors.

Company President Frank Cannon Jr says, "We have some complex purchasing arrangements, but we're a distribution company - inventory, warehouses, and billing. We're an office of about 8 people and we computerize everything. When we do reports, we like to see the information the way we like to see it so that we have the quickest turnaround for our sales people. We like to view an inventory, for instance, not only what's in the warehouse but what's on order. We're dealing on a 3-month turaround time a lot of the time. We have it lined up so we can see our inventory - what's coming in over a 3-, 4-, or 5-month forecast period. That was something we had customized for us. Now it's a menu option."

Saneck is a growing company and Cannon says the PCS system has enhanced productivity. "When we started with PCS, our sales were around $8 million. Now we'll do about $24 million. When we upgraded the system, we realized that we wouldn't have to replace some people that left. Today two people run our invoicing where it used to be three or four."

	"It's a great, reliable system, and you can't say enough about that."
	Mike Walters, VP Operations

"PCS has worked with us," says Saneck's VP Operations, Mike Walters. "We developed an idea of what we wanted as we went along, so we had a lot of requests. "Although it's not a custom package, PCS has worked with us and has done what we've asked for. I guess the next suggestion I would have for PCS is this: 'Make the computer do my work so I can go golf on such a nice day!' That's about the next thing. PCS has kept up with the technology. It's a great, reliable system, and you can't say enough about that."

President Cannon says installing the PCS Unix system was the right choice. "Everybody in the office is pleased with it. The compatibility with everything we do is great. We started thinking about some things just this morning - it's integrated with our in-house network and everyone always remarks how the PCS system keeps running and there are never problems, whereas the Windows network is always down here or there and there are problems with this software and that software. But the PCS system seems to be the consistent, true thing. Everyone loves it because it does what you think it should do, it behaves as you think it should behave. There are no surprises. It's consistent. It's reliable. And it's grown with us."

"I like the way the system integrates with our network," says Cannon. "That was our biggest fear early on. Previously we had a RSTS system and a local-area network. They were always separate and downloading data was a nightmare. Now our laser printers are on-line both with the network and with the PCS system. It's seamless to us how it all interconnects, but the data is transferable easily and that's a big advantage to us. We can share printers, so we don't have to have dedicated printers for certain jobs. We can print checks at any laser printer.

	"We have two people who work exclusively from home." "Telecommuting is the future."
	Frank Cannon Jr, President/CEO

According to Cannon, the ability for some employees to work from home is good for the employees and good for the business. "We have two people who work exclusively from home. One is a mother who manages an entire segment of the inventory from home. She dials in, does inquiries, cuts purchase orders, and the purchase orders print out here." And everybody wins. "It gave us an opportunity to better her lifestyle. She can be home with her young kids and still provide a lot of help to the company. We're a family-owned company and we've been able to 'semi-retire' the family people to home so that they don't have to come into the office."

Cannon says telecommuting definitely is the future. "We have five or six sales people on the road and they can now dial into the system." Instead of putting sales people in the office in Columbus - and the expense of that - Saneck International is able to place sales reps in other locations, but still give them "access to the same information that the people in Columbus have."

	"I guess the next suggestion I would have for PCS is this: Make the computer do my work so I can go golf on such a nice day! That's about the next thing."
	Mike Walters, VP Operations

VP Operations Mike Walters is happy with the support he receives from PCS. "The nice thing is that every time we've had an update on the system, there seem to be no glitches. Since we have some customized applications, we always assume that the first couple of updates are going to bomb anything that was customized. That hasn't happened."

And President Cannon likes the way his Windows machines interface with the PCS Unix system. "We do some data downloads from the Unix system. We're bring the data into Excel or Access and crunch the numbers any way we see fit. That's quite a change from the old days." Cannon says that moving data from the big computer to the PCs used to be cumbersome, but the new system was designed with that kind of flexibility in mind.

How about service? Cannon says there are two sides to that - hardware and software. "There's only been one hardware problem that I can remember. A power supply failed and it was replaced very quickly." As for routine maintenance and upgrades -- "We've had some things done to the system. We've added modems. During the changes, we were on a first-name basis with some of your technicians. Now I don't think I've seen anybody in maybe two years. That tells you a lot."

On the software side, Cannon likes the way questions are answered. Of the PCs support technicians, Cannon says "It's rare to come across something they haven't heard before and usually they have an instantaneous fix - either they'll walk you through it or they'll do it themselves. Ninety percent of the time, it's mistakes we've made and they're able to explain to me what we did wrong so that I understand why it occurred. Then we don't duplicate the problem. I've been very happy with that."

Hear Frank Cannon Jr and Mike Walters

In his own words, Frank and Mike explain why they feel PCS is the best choice for their business.

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• #1 History: We're a small company that depends on automation. (Cannon - Time: 1:21)
• #2 Reports: Special report functions allow us to see information the way we need to see it. (Cannon - Time: 1:33)
• #3 Problems: When something goes wrong (rarely!) PCS takes care of it immediately. (Cannon - Time: 0:50)
• #4 Telecommuting: Sanek can improve people's work lives and cut costs by providing remote access with PCS's help. (Cannon - Time: 1:04)
• #5 Support: PCS was able to handle special needs without cusom programing. (Walters & Cannon - Time: 0:33)
• #6 Reliability: PCS keeps up with technology. (Walters & Cannon - Time: 0:47)
• #7 Growth: PCS has made it possible for us to grow. (Cannon - Time: 0:31)