Key Takeaways:

• RubinBrown completed a comprehensive operational and technology assessment across a large vertically integrated furniture manufacturing supply chain, manufacturing network, and supporting business processes.
• The assessment identified significant fragmentation across legacy systems: multiple out of date ERP software systems, retail POS (point of sale), configuration platforms, CAD tools (computer-aided design tools), spreadsheets, and dozens of plant‑level applications. This had resulted in heavy manual work, disconnected data, and limited enterprise visibility.
• Using structured discovery sessions across 10+ operational sites and 90+ cross‑functional stakeholders, RubinBrown documented current‑state requirements, pain points, and future‑state opportunities critical for selecting and implementing a unified ERP platform to improve operational efficiencies.
• RubinBrown developed the organization’s ERP Vendor Packet and Strategic Roadmap to guide vendor selection, solution evaluation, and transformation readiness, providing clarity around ERP software options, aligning with leading software vendors.

Client: 

The client is a $700M, vertically integrated home furnishings manufacturer and retailer with an international manufacturing presence and a national distribution network. Operations span multiple plants specializing in upholstery, case goods, sawmill and rough‑mill processing, distribution centers, retail locations, and complex inventory management requirements.

Production consists of a blend of domestically manufactured goods and imported materials from global suppliers, with a significant percentage of finished products produced in-house. This integrated model, combining design, manufacturing, retail, e‑commerce, and international sourcing, demands real‑time operational visibility, coordinated planning, and consistent execution across diverse functions and geographies.

Challenge:

The organization’s legacy technology environment was characterized by manual processes, limited automation, and dozens of disconnected systems, creating significant operational challenges and barriers to scale, accuracy, and operational transparency.

Key challenges included:

• Complex, fragmented system landscape, including two separate ERP instances supporting various parts of the business, combined with retail POS, configurator platforms, and numerous homegrown or offline tools.
• Heavy manual effort across production planning, costing, service request management, imports/exports, production tracking, and data reconciliation.
• Limited visibility into inventory, WIP, finished product availability, production status, service requests, and in‑transit shipments, limiting real-time operational insight. 
• Data governance challenges, including inconsistent item masters, BOMs (bills of material), routings, UOMs (units of measurement), and job structures across plants.
• Manual pricing and configuration logic, with rules maintained across spreadsheets and legacy tools.