Chem Tech Adhesives

Chem Tech has been in business since the early 1990s. The original owner was a chemist and made adhesive formulations for local and national customers. New ownership took over the business in 2017. We are a small company, with 11 full-time employees. We make bulk and aerosol adhesives and service customers in many different fields.

In 2021, we purchased a new accounting system (Sage 50). While Sage 50 works well for accounting, it is not the best system for inventory management. We found ourselves spending so much time trying to keep up with the differences between Sage 50 inventory and the excel spreadsheet we were using. We used to either sit on too much inventory or run out of raw materials that are needed for daily production. Sage 50 also does not track lot numbers or deal with physical inventory well. I was the person in charge of taking inventory, so I researched options that were compatible with our Sage 50 software.

I did not go down too many other paths for a solution to our problem. Once I was looked into MISys we took steps to get more information before purchasing. MISys was the most intriguing to me because of the reviews and many add-on options that were made for companies like us. The implementation process was intense for us, as we had been using excel (and previously Lotus) to track inventory since the early 2000s. While it was a commitment and a big learning curve, the person we worked with (Darrin O'Connell, MISys Sure Start Coach) was experienced, patient, and helped us immensely with the transition.

The results have been incredible for our small business. We are able to quickly pivot to service the needs of our customers and have been able to take on more customers with very little change in our daily workload in the office. I am now doing the purchasing job, managing inventory, and doing my “original” job (compliance) without the workload being overwhelming. What used to take a full day+ and another full-time employee to plan and forecast, purchasing takes me around 30 minutes to purchase for the next 3 months.

The custom reporting with SAP Crystal reports is one of my favorite parts of MISys. I have a lot of experience working on our production floor and knew the custom reporting could work exactly how I wanted to manage quality checklists, lot tracking paperwork, and production reports. While I did have to learn SAP Crystal Reporting language to be able to make the correct formulas for what I wanted, it was worth it for the reports I am able to make.

Comparing the past few years before we purchased MISys to now, we have around 20% less tied up in inventory value, which has improved cash flow immensely. MISys “paid for itself” quickly.

Abbie Damschroder
Chemist & Compliance Coordinator
Chem Tech
Bristol, IN