For over 25 years, New Jersey based SoxTrot, Inc. has manufactured socks for women and girls. SoxTrot provides a colorful palette of socks, knee-highs, mini-socks and equestrian boot socks in hundreds of shades and patterns. With beautifully designed, made-to-order socks guaranteed to fit right, SoxTrot can be found exclusively in specialty stores throughout the United States.

The Challenge

In 1985, SoxTrot was evaluating business management solutions to find one that would process their core accounting requirements in real time. At the time, SoxTrot partnered with AKA Computer Consulting, an AccountMate Business Partner, and selected AccountMate Software as their business solution due to its scalability, program design and system flexibility.

Using AccountMate Software for company-wide accounting requirements, SoxTrot was completely satisfied with the AccountMate system. Then a surge in business dramatically increased production requirements. As a result, the company had numerous manufacturing bottlenecks and production inefficiencies that required automating. Additionally, SoxTrot needed a reliable and accurate commission solution to track, split and pay commissions to external sales representatives.

The Solution

Without hesitation, SoxTrot contacted AKA Computer Consulting to help evaluate new options. “SoxTrot has been our client for over two decades,” explains Alex Kleyff, President of AKA Computer Consulting. “They believe in new technology and are willing to implement processes to help improve performance.”

After conducting an extensive analysis of the company’s objectives, business processes and functional requirements, AKA recommended SoxTrot install and customize AccountMate’s Manufacturing module to address their warehouse challenges. By modifying the Manufacturing module, SoxTrot could leverage their original accounting investment with a customized solution that would provide superior scalability as their business continues to grow.

As demand for SoxTrot socks increased, the company also needed an automated warehouse management solution to handle the high volume of custom orders generated. The first step in the warehouse overhaul involved automating the bill of materials (BOM) process. Previously, SoxTrot generated every BOM manually. This process was complicated, time consuming and error-prone. To handle these transactions, AKA built a highly customized system within AccountMate to create an instant Bill of Materials (“Auto-BOM”), using item number or style configurations and which allows inventory tracking at the component level. As a result, the necessary steps required to select, build and track BOM’s are automatically generated.“The Auto BOM”, says Laura Raffiani, SoxTrot Vice President, “is a key part of our system—it helps us minimize internal errors and get orders out the door with optimal accuracy and efficiency.” This change has enabled SoxTrot to significantly reduce human resources and effectively manage every client order with minimum effort.

Another warehouse bottleneck involved scheduling work orders. Every production employee has a unique skill set. Previously, jobs were manually assigned to production employees whose expertise matched the work order requirements, which made the process time intensive and subject to errors. To solve this production inefficiency, AKA modified AccountMate logic to create work orders that assigned work stations by employee based upon experience, client preference or artistic background. “Special production labels match each order in production with the right customer to ensure that no mistakes are made in shipping”, states Raffiani. “Together, this automated process reduces the production timeline from 5 hours to 20 minutes, dramatically increasing manufacturing and shipping efficiencies and results in greater customer satisfaction.”

Using industry-specific programs to solve other company challenges is seamless with AccountMate’s program design. With their increased sales, SoxTrot needed to manage commissions for sales representatives. An add-on software solution, Visual Commission, integrates directly with AccountMate and tracks, calculates and pays accurate commission calculations automatically every pay period. With Visual Commission, SoxTrot can easily manage or change sales representative assignments by customer or territory as needed.

When SoxTrot needed to improve shipping accuracy as the volume of sales orders increased, they incorporated an AKA shipment system. This integrates directly with UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS and handles all shipping tasks including rating, labeling, tracking and reporting functions, and feeds the carrier tracking data back into AccountMate in real time.

The Results

After working with AKA to implement these customized solutions, SoxTrot has an efficient warehouse management solution. Automating and streamlining the warehouse process with AccountMate’s software has allowed the company to dramatically reduce system errors, reduce employee expenses and significantly increase customer satisfaction. The commission payout system effortlessly provides speedy reports, reconciliations and accurate commissions due each pay period. “AKA has been an integral part of every phase of our technological evolution”, says Raffiani. “We couldn’t be more pleased.”

About the Client

For over two decades, SoxTrot Inc has designed, manufactured and distributed socks for women. Headquartered in New Jersey, SoxTrot provides made-to-order socks and distributes through specialty stores and websites across the United States. SoxTrot, Inc. can be reached at 201-944-5250 or at www.soxtrot.com.

About AKA Computer Consulting

Since 1995, AKA Computer Consulting has established an outstanding reputation in the New York City Metro and Tri-State area for first-class implementation of business management systems, innovative and flexible custom software development and an unbeatable dedication to customer service. AKA offers a wide array of services and solutions to manufacturers, wholesales, distributors, importers and exporters. AKA Computer Consulting can be reached at 888-351-8355 or at www.akaconsulting.com.

3rd Party Applications in Operation

AKA Computer Consulting, Inc.: Their Visual Commission is a flexible, automated and reliable commission’s payout system. Their AKA Server for shipping handles all shipping tasks including rating, labeling, tracking and reporting for UPS, RPS, FEDEX, AIRBORNE, USPS and more.

About AccountMate

Founded in 1984, AccountMate develops and markets fully modifiable business accounting software. Systems range from single user versions to those that support hundreds of users simultaneously. AccountMate software is distributed exclusively through a worldwide channel of authorized solution providers. AccountMate can be reached at (800) 877-8896 or at www.accountmate.com