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Creative Revamp, ERP Style: Q&A With Charlie Merrow

The CEO of Merrow Sewing Machine Company gives advice on taking risks and getting creative to boost your business.

Chances are, something in your closet might feature the stiches of a Merrow sewing machine.

Established in 1838, Merrow is the oldest sewing machine manufacturer still operating domestically. Although the company thrived during waves of off-shoring and economic downturns, they eventually found themselves in a tough spot.

“In 2004, Merrow was an old manufacturing company that had lost its way,” says CEO Charlie Merrow. “At that point, we reorganized to take advantage of our international distribution and focus on what we were really good at — building value around stitching.”

As of 2015, Merrow builds products for fashion, industrial textile processing, technical sewing and more with distribution in 86 countries.

Charlie Merrow spoke about the company’s transformation and his decision to implement Kenandy ERP in a recent conversation with Manufacturing.net.

Bridget Bergin (BB): What made you decide to explore plant technology systems, and what led you to choose Kenandy?

Charlie Merrow (CM): Merrow has the challenges of a major multinational company with the resources of a small business. From the very beginning, we learned that you have to take risks and get creative to support our sprawling business requirements and solve problems.

We still try new things today, and many of our experiments are failures. Along the way, we came across Kenandy, a startup company building ERP functionality. We took a chance, and it really paid off; the Kenandy implementation allowed us to focus on our business and not on the software.

BB: What challenges did you face during implementation? What are some major benefits you’ve seen since implementing the system?

CM: Putting in any ERP system is a challenge, but the team at Kenandy was supportive of what we were doing and happy to adjust the system accordingly. They were extremely respectful of the difference between building software in an office and the real-world experience of working with the software.

In order to organize the company, we needed all information in a system to manage the processes going on. When you’re able to get rid of the post-its and spreadsheets, you’re able to focus on your data.

BB: If you could pass on one piece of wisdom to a small manufacturer looking to implement ERP, what would it be?

CM: As unique as you might think your business is, it likely fits a fairly standard profile. The uniqueness sits on the periphery, and it’s those processes that need to be mapped and quantified.

Pare down your business to its most basic state, and fit software into the standard framework that allows you to build the customized elements on top.

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