A Purchasing Process That Couldn’t Keep Up
When Thelma Chavez, Director of Operations, joined Jackson Systems, the company had grown from a garage startup into a six-division HVAC distributor with nearly $40M in revenue and a rapidly expanding eCommerce business. The growth was fast which presented opportunities and challenges in their purchasing processes.
Two buyers reviewed more than 9,000 SKUs each week using spreadsheets, formulas, and tribal knowledge. It took two to three days to work through the list, and as soon as they finished, the cycle started over. “We were reviewing every SKU, every week,” Thelma says. “And by the time we finished, it was time to start over.”
There was little visibility into service levels, turns, dormant and dying inventory or ABC velocity code classifications. Supplier deals often guided decisions without clear financial logic. “We had too much inventory on things that weren’t moving and not enough on things that were,” she says.
As eCommerce volume grew and fill-rate expectations tightened, leadership faced a choice: hire another full-time purchasing admin or find a system that could automate the basics and let the team manage by exception. They chose the latter.
Choosing and Implementing a New Way Forward
Jackson Systems evaluated three solutions before narrowing to two finalists. Vendors were asked to simulate a “day in the life” using Jackson’s data. That’s where Blue Ridge stood out. “Blue Ridge had the best interface and analytics you would need as a professional purchasing buyer,” Thelma says. “Other solutions had pieces, but not the whole package.” The Blue Ridge platform fit their size and complexity while providing the visibility they lacked and came in at a price point leadership felt would pay for itself in both time and inventory.
Implementation took about six months, driven largely by data cleanup. The Blue Ridge technical guidebook outlined exactly what needed to be sent from their boutique ERP, and Thelma still uses it when something looks off. The transition from implementation to LifeLine support was smooth.
“We call our LifeLine coach, from time to time,” she says. “There’s always something unique that comes up, and he always has a good solution.” Within months, the workload eased, the manual noise faded and the team finally had the visibility they’d been missing.
What Changed: Time Saved, Inventory Freed, Confidence Gained
The most immediate change was time. What once took two to three days each week shrank to a few focused hours managing exceptions. “Instead of reviewing every SKU, we were just reviewing the exceptions,” Thelma says. “It was such a relief.” With time freed up, buyers could finally understand why items were trending up or down, prepare for seasonal shifts and spend energy on forward-looking work instead of chasing lists.
What once took days each week, shrank to a few focused hours managing exceptions. “I can do this in like three hours,” she says. “Once we were comfortable managing by exception, what used to take us days turned into a focused, high-confidence review”. Visibility shifted how the business operated.
Before Blue Ridge, leadership tracked little beyond total inventory dollars. Now they review service levels, dormant and dying inventory, classification-based targets and forward-buy savings. “We weren’t looking at any of that before,” Thelma says. “Now we have visibility we never had.”
Overview
- Company: Jackson Systems
- Vertical: HVAC
- ERP: Homegrown ERP
- Blue Ridge Modules: Demand Planning, Replenishment
Challenges
- Manual buying for 9,000+ SKUs
- 2–3 days spent on weekly reviews
- Limited visibility into key inventory metrics
- eCommerce growth exposing planning gaps
Solution
- Moved to exception-based planning
- Centralized forecasting + analytics in Blue Ridge
- Used dashboards, alerts, and event planning
- Leveraged data for MOQs and supplier decisions
Results
- Service improved 88% → 98.1%
- ~$1M inventory reduction
- Buying time cut from days to hours
- Avoided hiring, better sales alignment
The results followed:
- Service improved from roughly 88% to about 98.1%
- Inventory on hand dropped by around $1 million
- Overstock decreased
- Buying time cut from days to hours
Leadership saw the connection immediately. “They get excited about the service level and the total inventory dollars,” she says. “Because in turn, all those end up with cash flow.”
”Blue Ridge had the best interface and analytics you would need as a professional purchasing buyer
Thelma ChavezDirector of Operations
Staffing plans changed, too. Jackson Systems had been preparing to add a third buyer, but the efficiency gains eliminated the need. “We were able to avoid the hire completely,” she says. “And that alone pays for the subscription each year.” The team still operates with two buyers, and Thelma believes they can support another 30–40% growth before needing more headcount.
Sales also became more aligned. Initial skepticism gave way to collaboration as they saw how their input shaped planning. They now provide updates on new customer locations, product launches and expected uplifts. “I can load in an event and then next month go back and say, ‘You said we were going to see an uplift of 50%, but we only saw 5%.’ Next year, we’re smarter.” Trust improved on both sides, sales gained confidence in availability, and purchasing gained better forward-looking information.
Managing Dead Stock More Strategically
Dead stock hasn’t disappeared, but Jackson Systems now understands why it happens, and where they can influence it.
”Instead of reviewing every SKU, we were just reviewing the exceptions
Thelma ChavezDirector of Operations
The biggest driver is minimum order quantities: being forced to buy a full case when demand only supports a handful of units each year.
“Most of it comes back to MOQs,” Thelma says. With that visibility, the team can flag problem items earlier and take action. In some cases, it gives them leverage to go back to suppliers, renegotiate minimums, or consolidate buys across locations. In others, it informs smarter decisions about substitutions, stocking strategy, or when to carry an item at all. The result isn’t zero dead stock, but far fewer surprises and much more control. With Blue Ridge, dormant and dying items surface early.
The team now approaches suppliers with data, rebalances inventory where possible and avoids overcommitting on new items. For eCommerce, they test smaller initial buys and review performance quickly. “With the old system, we couldn’t see any of that,” she says. “Now we can.” They’re also exploring alternative sourcing strategies, including partnering with other distributors for slow-moving SKUs.
Looking Ahead: A Marathon, Not a 5K
Two years in, Thelma describes Blue Ridge as a “game changer,” but emphasizes that transformation is ongoing. “It’s a marathon, not a 5K,” she says. “You’ve got to learn and adjust and adapt to the tools and make sure you understand the output.” The team continues to refine seasonal profiles, build custom groups for heating and cooling categories, leverage ABC classifications for both inventory policy and warehouse layout and use analytics to drive continuous improvement.
Looking ahead, Thelma is excited about the new Blue Ridge platform (Expression), automatic seasonality assignment, the AI companion “Blu” and eventually maturing into a more formal SIOP/S&OP process. Her advice to others? “The Blue Ridge platform forces you to do the analytics, and that develops your team as problem solvers. If you’re leveraging it the right way and really digging into the alerts, it will change how you run your business.” “Blue Ridge has been a Game changer,” she said.
