Activant reports that the investment in RF technology is becoming
increasingly common not only among users of its newest business
management platforms, but also among longtime users of the Activant
Prism computer system. With more than 1,000 installations, the Activant
Prism system is commonly used in one- and two-store and larger
automotive and heavy-duty parts businesses.

Driving this trend are the continued proliferation of vehicle part
numbers, time constraints facing distributor and jobber owners/managers
and the documented monetary savings associated with the use of RF
technology. “Having an RF gun in our receiving area is much faster and
much more accurate,” said Clive Treharne, owner of Deb’s Auto Parts
Warehouse, Hackettstown, N.J. “Our payback was in six to eight months.
It’s another area of our business that has been transformed with
technology.”

At Auto Parts Center in West Long Branch, N.J., co-owner Sam
Howarth and his team in times past were forced to close down their
operation for exhaustive annual physical inventory counts. Harris
Steinberg, owner of Morris Auto Parts in Philadelphia, found it
difficult to devote ample time to grow his business due to “onerous”
manual receiving and inventory management processes. Both of these
owners overcame this concern by implementing RF scanning into inventory
operations after integrating Activant’s RF scanning solution into their
existing Activant Prism platforms.

Auto Parts Center now uses RF guns to cycle-count its inventory
throughout the year rather than close its doors for a time- and
labor-intensive annual count. The technology also has transformed the
store’s receiving operations, where the daily four-hour job of checking
in pallets of products now takes a half-hour and virtually eliminates
data-entry errors, according to Howarth. He also has extended the use
of RF technology to his point-of-sale system. “It’s much faster, more
accurate and we can serve more customers in less time,” he said. “We
would never go back to the old way.”

Steinberg reported that RF scanning saves several hours each day
within the company’s warehouse and store. “More importantly, (RF)
increases the accuracy of our counts,” he said. “Now we can use that
time and our Activant Prism system to focus on growing the business.”

“RF scanning, document imaging and other add-on technologies can
help smaller businesses level the playing field with larger competitors
in terms of managing daily operations,” said Tom Aliotti, vice
president and general manager of the Activant automotive business. “The
owners of small and mid-size parts businesses can leverage these
affordable solutions to save time and money and provide the flexibility
to focus their talents and energy on more important things.”

For additional information regarding RF scanning technology and
other business management solutions, contact your Activant
representative, call 800-380-9015, or send an e-mail to [email protected].