Southern Express Lubes, Inc.

Sage 300 ERP Keeps Southern Express Lubes Running Smoothly

Southern Express Lubes, Inc. operates 48 store locations in Florida and Maryland. The 15-year-old company provides oil changes and other preventative maintenance services to over 40,000 customers every month.

Slick Solution
Tom Statas, vice president and controller at Southern Express, says the company has relied on Sage 300 ERP* since its inception, “Sage 300 ERP simply works for us. We began using it before Windows® and have watched it grow in functionality and capabilities as we’ve grown.” What makes Sage 300 ERP work so well for this thriving operation? “It has an easy-to-learn, friendly interface,” explains Statas, “And it’s highly flexible; we’re able to eliminate screens we don’t need and set tab stops on entry screens that allow us to work faster and more efficiently.”

Streamlined Payroll
Southern Express Lubes employs more than 300 individuals at any one time. Due to high turnover common in the industry, the company typically generates over 1,000 W-2s and nearly 20,000 paychecks each year.

Surprisingly, the company’s payroll department employs a single individual. “One person is able to handle all our payroll tasks with Sage 300 ERP,” says Statas. “It’s an efficient process.” A secure signature disk is inserted into the payroll manager’s computer during check printing so checks produced are signed and ready to distribute, adding to the overall efficiency.

Southern Express Lubes’ multistate payroll is no problem for the Sage 300 ERP Payroll module, and timely tax table updates are quick and easy to install.

High Volume Operation
It takes just two staff members to run Southern Express Lubes’ busy receivables department, processing over 10,000 invoices each year. A file containing cash balances and receivable information from each store is sent electronically to the corporate office daily. The file is imported into the General Ledger module, saving tedious data entry and giving management up-to-date financial information about its operations.

Similarly, two people keep Southern Express Lubes’ accounts payable department humming. The team processes nearly 18,000 invoices each year—about 350 every week.

Challenge
A dynamic, fast-growing company demands tools that allow it to support 48 store locations with minimal staff.

Solution
Sage 300 ERP accounting and payroll modules are flexible and scalable enough to provide a long-term solution.

Results
Efficiencies in the software allow the company to handle high volume with a relatively small staff.

Recurring accounts payable entries for rent and interest payments are handled adeptly; with a template in place, staff need only to change the quantity and amounts to complete each month’s entries.

Statas praises his Sage Business Partner’s involvement in the initial implementation, training, and ongoing support of the software. “We’ve got a great team of individuals, and together with a talented business partner and powerful software, they do great things.”

Scalability
Statas has seen how Sage 300 ERP has scaled with the company over the years. Three different editions of the software target the needs of various sized organizations. Screens and modules are consistent between the editions, eliminating any learning curve, and data migration is fast and straight forward.

Southern Express Lubes uses Sage 300 Premium ERP, which allows for unlimited users, unlimited companies, ten general ledger account segments, and up to 99 years of history, among other enterprise-level features.

Statas has no worries about outgrowing his system; Sage 300 ERP will continue to meet Southern Express Lubes’ demands as the company grows.

Integrated Financials
The powerful financial reporting tools in Sage 300 ERP streamline the production of monthly financial statements. Statas says he can generate financial statements for each of the 48 stores in under five minutes. “I can look at financials in any number of ways; we can produce consolidated financial statements by store, by supervisor, or for the company as a whole,” says Statas. “I can analyze data such as ticket averages and profit margins on any of these levels, giving me a clear picture of the health of the company.”

Fixed Assets
Sage Fixed Assets provides the fixed asset tracking Southern Express Lubes requires. As a Sage product, Sage Fixed Assets integrates with Sage 300 ERP and has the ability to send depreciation transactions directly to the accounting software’s general ledger.

More Free Time
In Sage 300 ERP, Southern Express Lubes has found a business management solution that delivers efficiency, power, flexibility, and control.

“Sage 300 ERP allows us to run this business with far fewer main- office people than you might expect,” says Statas. “The efficiencies of the system allow me the time to explore my outside passion— photography—and not worry about the office on weekends.”