Profile at a Glance: The forerunner of Rausch Granite Interiors was Columbia Granite Company, which operated a granite quarry and retail monument sales operation and was established in 1929. In 1934, Valentine Rausch purchased a half interest in the company and later renamed the retail side of the business Rausch Brothers Granite Company, which was managed by his five sons. Wholesale slab sawing was discontinued in 1996 when the company made the decision to move into granite countertop fabrication.
Today the company, which is based in Stone City, S.D., maintains three satellite offices and employs 43 people. Roughly 50% of the company’s sales are retail, with the remainder coming from large home center and builder accounts.
The Problem: As often occurs with a multi-generational company experiencing rapid growth, Rausch Granite Interiors outstripped its antiquated system for obtaining and processing orders. In-process orders were archived on clipboards, which were easily misplaced, and which often resulted in the creation of dual file folders. Information was difficult to track down and communication between key employees was hampered. Although demand for granite countertops was growing steadily, Rausch was unable to satisfactorily meet that demand due to its outdated internal systems.
“There wasn’t a single source for all of the information,” explains Mike Hurst, who coordinates scheduling for templates and installations. “There were a lot of mix-ups like double files being opened because we couldn’t find the original. Everything was being done by hand, which slowed the entire process down.”
The Moraware Solution: By organizing and storing customer account and project detail information electronically in a single, easy-to-access location, key employees are able to track and manage projects with a few keystrokes. In the course of a single year, JobTracker has eliminated duplication of effort and improved efficiency, enabling the company to increase production from 15-20 countertops per week a year ago to 25-plus tops per week today. Rausch uses the program for quotations, pricing and job tracking through the shop. JobTracker has made life much easier for salespeople in remote offices, who can access account and job information remotely via the Internet, and who now have the capability to produce consistent and professional looking quotations anywhere and anytime.
“It has really made us more professional,” Hurst says. “When a customer calls looking for status on a job, we can type in a name or part of a phone number and all the information is right there. As a matter of course we attach CAD files associated with the job, and scan copies of all our field drawings, so everything is pretty much at our fingertips. It is all electronic and in one convenient spot.”
“The initial set-up of the program was not any more difficult than setting up any other new system. Moraware’s technical support is awesome. There is always somebody at the other end of the line willing to help. We have made quite a few changes in the way we do things and Moraware has helped us organize how we make those transitions.”
“JobTracker has organized everything better in the shop. We don’t have to waste time looking for information. Several of us travel quite a bit and we are always getting calls on our cell phones about jobs. From a public machine somewhere we can log on and gain access to the system. It has been really helpful.”
“We have one sales person who spends probably half of her time with a single major client. She can jump onto their computer and pull up jobs and schedules immediately if they have questions about the status of a project.”
“JobTracker really has more than a guy could ask for.”
