CANTEX Optimizes Staff Resources with IDEA Managed Services

Introduction

CANTEX INC. is a leading manufacturer of American-made PVC electrical conduit, fittings and boxes with manufacturing and distribution facilities strategically placed nationwide. With over 60 years of proven results in manufacturing electrical products, CANTEX focuses on innovation and continuous improvement to provide top quality, nonmetallic PVC products that exceed the most stringent industry standards.

Challenge

CANTEX has managed its EDI operations in-house since the manufacturer started exchanging electronic documents with its partners nearly 30 years ago.

According to Toney Fidler, Director of MIS at CANTEX, the company's current EDI infrastructure includes:

• A full-time EDI administrator
• Nearly 100 trading partners (including many with complex EDI requirements)
• A mature integrated EDI document translator

In addition, other team members are cross-trained in EDI and serve as a back-up to the administrator.

This has worked well for the company in the past, but times are changing.

“EDI is a crucial part of what’s going on here at CANTEX in terms of customer service and billing, because it helps manage the life cycle of an order. However, it’s much harder now to find people trained in EDI management. Also, our EDI team sees retirement on the horizon, so we’ve been considering moving to managed services for some time.”

—Toney Fidler, Director of MIS at CANTEX

Solution

CANTEX selected IDEA Exchange Managed Services to administer its EDI operations. According to Fidler, the company was attracted to IDEA’s experience with similar manufacturers and also wanted to support the channel. CANTEX syndicates its product data to its distributor partners through another IDEA service, IDEA Connector.

In addition, CANTEX expects that the online portal will be a helpful tool for faster customer service. “With the online access, our customer service team can see the life of an order. Instead of calling or emailing our team, customer service can look at the order, acknowledgement, and ASN. Many times, those are the questions they’re getting from customers, and this will enable customer service to get answers and skip interaction with our department completely,” said Fidler.

Through IDEA Managed Services, CANTEX has an experienced EDI partner that can:

• Handle all integration needs
• Manage daily EDI and efficiently add trading partners and maps
• Provide a modern B2B platform capable of growth with needs and requirements
• Supply a primary company contact with backup members
• Provide in-depth understanding of its business, processing rules, and trading partner requirements
• Monitor EDI and notification of exceptions
• Provide proactive monitoring of the entire EDI production environment (ensures seamless business document integration and timely delivery to partners)

Next Steps

By engaging IDEA Exchange Managed Services, CANTEX is extending its team and gaining valuable industry expertise and service. The transition is expected to take 8-10 months.

After the transition, CANTEX will gain:

• EDI & ERP subject matter experts
• EDI coverage while freeing up employees
• Trading partner compliance and onboarding
• Resolutions for exceptions

According to Fidler, CANTEX’s current MIS team wanted to make sure the company’s EDI is in good hands.

“As we look toward retirement, we wanted to oversee the transition to EDI managed services with IDEA Exchange. This will enable us to make the best use of our staff and gain efficiencies through IDEA’s experience with similar manufacturers,” said Fidler.