The Solution
As a successful Oklahoma-based provider of industrial equipment for decades, Kinnunen Sales & Rental’s regional growth outpaced its ability to manually manage its expanded inventory scope across three locations. Kinnunen needed a more nimble, intuitive, and unified ERP solution to better keep track of and sell products.

When its existing ERP solution could no longer effectively handle the breadth of its business, Kinnunen began searching for a more robust replacement, which led to VAI, a provider of ERP solutions focused on mid-market companies.

A tightly integrated ERP system was essential to managing the scope of Kinnunen’s product offerings across multiple locations, including the company’s main campus. As a one-stop-shop for sales, rentals, parts, and service of construction tools and equipment, Kinnunen wanted real-time insight into inventory – critical for providing customers with high-quality service.

“One of our biggest issues was simply knowing where things were – particularly at the main campus,” said Ryan Andrews, General Manager, Kinnunen Sales & Rental. “We used to have to shut the business down on Friday night and would have several dozen employees do inventory manually over the weekend to make sure that we opened with accurate product counts on Monday. We would miss sales daily because of inventory mismanagement, so it was critically important for us to implement a system of real-time data and analytics on SKUs.”

In Kinnunens’ initial conversations with VAI, the company let VAI know that they were growing – and fast. Their goal was to scale up their operations as seamlessly as possible, particularly when it came to servicing customers. The ERP system had to include a customer portal for payments and purchasing, as this was the key to providing more customers with better experiences and, at the same time, increase Kinnunen’s profitability. Kinnunen always had to find ways to reach new customers and offer existing partners better experiences. VAI’s e-Commerce solution has enabled Kinnunen to do just that, which has been especially important as they continue to expand in their home state of Oklahoma.

“Whenever Kinnunen has a chance to sit down with customers and show them the portal and how it can make their lives easier, they love it immediately,” said Andrews. “And what’s not to love? It does make their lives easier, and that’s why it’s appreciated by even the customers that are the most resistant to change.”

VAI’s cloud-based solution also provides Kinnunen with a fully redundant data center, which helps keep the business running even if there’s a power outage. In addition, VAI’s ERP solutions incorporate artificial intelligence capabilities, allowing for more advanced forecasting and predictive analytics.

VAI’s integrated ERP solution utilizes a single, central database, so clients no longer must manage disparate databases or assemble multiple spreadsheets to gain the information they need to guide their decision-making. The result is more accurate, consistent, and timely information, as all applications have access to the same, real-time data.

A single database also streamlines operations. Organizations can update their records once and be confident the new information will be reflected across the organization. They no longer need to spend time making duplicate entries or copying files from one system to another.

The Result
VAI’s S2K ERP software helped Kinnunen carry about 42,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs), from heavy industrial equipment needed by major contractors to power tools for do-it-yourself (DIY) independents. It did this by enabling forecasting through predictive analytics, a robust mobile application to enhance warehouse operations, and facilitating high-quality customer service with better retail point-of-sale (POS) capabilities to generate new sources of revenue.

Andrews notes that the VAI team and support have been instrumental to the success of Kinnunen’s ERP implementation. “VAI has always shown up – starting during the proposal process. Since then, VAI and the team that Kinnunen has worked with have formed a partnership above the typical software vendor at the other end of a phone call. This type of cooperation is hard to find, and it’s been a valuable part of Kinnunen’s success with S2K. We look forward to continuing to build our long-term partnership with VAI.”

Since the launch, Kinnunen Sales & Rental has been using VAI’s ERP software to:

• Improve inventory management and forecasting capabilities
• Provide customers with better invoicing, product ordering, and retail POS experiences
• Expand regional footprint and reached new customers through e-commerce
• Streamline operations
• Develop a long-term partnership