Simpson Performance Products

GLOBAL SHOP SUCCESS STORY
Simpson Performance Products
Founded in 1959, Simpson Performance Products makes racing safety equipment for a variety of onand off-road venues, including circle track, dirt track, drag, karting, and motorcycle. Their products range
from helmets, gloves and shoes to racing suits, restraints, parachutes, team gear and more, and are
used by professional drivers around the world as well as recreational riders at the local track.
Simpson Offers a Full Range of Personal Safety Gear
from the Racer and Crew.
The Venator is one of Simpson’s newest Snell 2010 rated helmets and
features CFTI technology, using Titanium materials that offer the highest
strength to weight ratio of any metal, interwoven with Carbon fiber
materials, to create an extremely strong, yet lightweight helmet.
Racing cars, bikes and off-road vehicles is a fun but risky sport. For more than 50 years, Simpson Performance
Products, also known as Team Simpson, has been doing its part to make it safer.
Team Simpson produces much of their harness systems, head restraints, helmets and flagship parachutes out
of 80,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space at the company’s headquarters in New Braunfels,
Texas. They also make firesuits and crew uniforms at a separate production facility outside of Los Angeles,
California. Passionate about making racing safer, Team Simpson’s innovations include developing the first drag
racing parachute, as well as ongoing improvements in helmet design and head and neck restraints.
According to Loren Cordes, vice president and CFO for Simpson Performance Products, the company’s previous
business management system had a different software or spreadsheet for every process, and none of them could
talk to each other. As a result, management struggled to get the information needed to make informed business
decisions. They chose Global Shop Solutions as their ERP system because it offered everything they needed in one
integrated system.
“We took a look at Global Shop Solutions and quickly saw that it had everything we needed in one integrated
system,” recalls Cordes. ““Upon implementing the software, we immediately realized gains in financial and
strategic planning processes with Global Shop’s financial and business management capabilities. In addition, the
shop floor capabilities have driven lean manufacturing improvements in our production of fire retardant racing suits
and sublimated crew apparel.
975 E V E R G R E E N C IRCL E
TH E W O O D L A N D S , T E XAS 7 7 3 8 0
W W W. G L O B A L S H OP SOL UT IONS.COM | 8 0 0 - 3 6 4 - 5 958
“We don’t use Shop Floor in all of our facilities, due to the simplicity of some of the processes in
those locations. But we use it in our California facility, where it helped us streamline many of our shop
floor processes while giving us the visibility of data we need to manage the business more effectively.
Cutting Inventory Down to Size
Team Simpson produces thousands of different part numbers, which requires it to manage sizeable
raw materials and finished goods inventories. Moreover, the company keeps inventory in several different locations
– including mobile trailers that are used to sell product on-site at NASCAR races and other events – which presents
some interesting inventory management challenges.
“In our old system, we could never get a good handle on incoming materials or finished goods,” recalls Cordes.
“Global Shop gives us the tools we need to efficiently manage both, including our mobile inventories in the trailers.
In particular, the ability to set up multiple inventory locations in the system makes it easy to track and see how
much inventory we have in each location, as well as total inventory for the company as a whole.”
Since implementing Global Shop, Team Simpson has significantly reduced the amount of inventory on hand.
They also turn over inventory faster than before, which helps to further reduce carrying costs. The company has
also begun using some of Global Shop’s barcoding and mobile capabilities to further streamline the materials
management process.
“We feel like we have a good handle on inventory inside
our facilities,” notes Cordes, “but we’re not quite where
we’d like to be in the field. Currently, we’re working
with Global Shop on developing a program where
we can scan customer purchases in the field and the
system will automatically remove it from inventory and
book the sale. And that’s one of the great things about
Global Shop – if you need to get something done, they’ll
work with you to find a way to make it happen.
“Also, as we start sourcing more of our materials and
products from China and Europe, our lead times are
longer than they used be. Global Shop helps us manage
that process more effectively so we don’t run out of
materials or inventory.”
Streamlined Purchasing
Previously, Team Simpson didn’t have an integrated
purchasing system. Buying raw materials and products
for resale involved a slow and inefficient process that
required researching manual files and visual counts of
inventory. Global Shop’s Auto Purchasing module has
changed all that, especially with the products Team
Simpson doesn’t manufacture on their own.
“In addition to making our own, we also buy a lot of
products and resell them,” says Cordes. “With Global
Shop, it’s a simple matter to go into the system, look at
our demand, see how much we sold, and then purchase
based on that information. We no longer have to spend
time hunting down data in manual files or a different
software application.”
975 E V E R G R E E N C IRCL E
TH E W O O D L A N D S , T E XAS 7 7 3 8 0
W W W. G L O B A L S H OP SOL UT IONS.COM | 8 0 0 - 3 6 4 - 5 958
Simpson Offers Fire Retardant Racing Suits
Constructed in the USA of Quality Fabrics like
DuPont™ Nomex®
Team Simpson makes a combination of custom and standardized products. Global Shop’s flexibility in
accommodating both simple and complex workflows has allowed the company to tailor many system features to
the complexity level of their production processes.
“We’re not a typical job shop,” says Cordes. “We buy 1000 helmets and put them in inventory. Or we make 1000
helmets and put those in inventory. We know how long it takes to make each product and how much it costs, so
we typically go by standard costs rather than costing each individual job.
“We Global Shop system to develop BOMs and standards and for every product and part number, which helps to
ensure a smooth flow of work through the shop floor. We also use the costing reports to make sure we stay on
track with what we think we should be doing. So we use Shop Floor features where we believe they will provide
the most benefit to us.”
Online Shopping Cart Integration
As CFO, Cordes especially likes having all the financials in one integrated system. This eliminates the double entry
required with a separate financial software, improves the integrity of the data, and allows him to close the books
more quickly at the end of the month.
But Global Shop’s financial capabilities don’t stop there. The software also integrates with Team Simpson’s retail
web site, feeding orders directly into the system as visitors use the shopping cart on the site. And it’s about to get
even better, as Team Simpson is working with Global Shop consultants to implement new procedures that will feed
credit card and cash payments directly into the system as well.
“When an order comes in through our shopping cart, the product data feeds directly into Global Shop,” explains
Cordes. “But to handle the financial part, we have to go to another machine, get authorization for the credit card,
and then manually enter it into Global Shop. Once we finish the upgrade, Global Shop will handle everything in one
smooth process.”
Great Product, Great Service
To extend their business management capabilities, Team Simpson makes extensive use of Global Shop’s robust
reporting features – both standard and custom.
The HANS Sport II Protects from crash related neck and skull injury
975 E V E R G R E E N C IRCL E
TH E W O O D L A N D S , T E XAS 7 7 3 8 0
W W W. G L O B A L S H OP SOL UT IONS.COM | 8 0 0 - 3 6 4 - 5 958
Simpson’s Super Bandit features the iconic Bandit style and can be
customized for any racer.
“I typically start my day by looking at the Open Orders report to see the status of the orders and whether they will
be finished on time,” notes Cordes. “I do the same with Open Purchase Order reports to see what’s on order and
if it will get here in time. I also use the sales reports to track profitability by product, salesperson and customer.
Virtually all the information we need to run the business is available in these and other reports that can be accessed
with just a few mouse clicks.”
In addition to Global Shop’s superb flexibility and visibility of data, Cordes also appreciates the scalability of the
system. When Team Simpson recently purchased two companies, both easily integrated into the existing Global
Shop system, enabling the company to consolidate people and facilities for significant costs savings.
“Global Shop is a great product delivered by a great company that doesn’t stand still,” concludes Cordes. “They’re
constantly upgrading the software and adding new features, such as the credit card integration, to make it better.
They provide fast response and great support when you need help. And they really care about your success as a
business. I would recommend this ERP software to any manufacturer.”
975 E V E R G R E E N C IRCL E
TH E W O O D L A N D S , T E XAS 7 7 3 8 0
W W W. G L O B A L S H OP SOL UT IONS.COM | 8 0 0 - 3 6 4 - 5 958