Activant to acquire Intuit Eclipse business
Activant Solutions Inc. has signed a definitive asset purchase agreement with Intuit Inc. to acquire the Intuit Eclipse™ Distribution Management Solutions business.
Under the terms of the agreement, Activant will pay Intuit approximately $100 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments, to purchase the Intuit Eclipse business. The agreement, signed on July 2, is expected to close in August.
Activant has identified the wholesale distribution industry as a key vertical segment for the company’s growth and expansion. The acquisition of the Intuit Eclipse business will augment its customer base and expand its technology offerings in the wholesale distribution segment.
Intuit Eclipse is a leading provider of business management solutions for wholesale distributors in segments ranging from electrical, plumbing, hvac and building materials to industrial, janitorial and other durable goods supplies.
“The acquisition of Intuit Eclipse is an important step in Activant’s vision to be a leader in vertical business management software solutions,” said Pervez Qureshi, president and ceo of Activant Solutions. “Intuit Eclipse has built a loyal customer base with a strong product offering that will complement Activant’s technologies, and give customers a broader set of solutions to grow their businesses and better serve their customers.”
Both Activant and Intuit Eclipse have deep knowledge and key partnerships in the wholesale distribution segment. The combined organizations will provide customers with an expanded portfolio offering, continued product innovation and the domain expertise that customers have come to expect.
“We are pleased to have Activant acquire our Intuit Eclipse business,” said David Merenbach, vice president of Intuit-branded software businesses. “The addition of the Eclipse product strengthens Activant’s suite of products targeting the wholesale distribution industry, and at the same time the divestiture allows Intuit to focus on its core businesses.”
Activant Solutions Inc. is a leading technology provider of vertical business management solutions serving small and medium-sized retail and wholesale distribution businesses. The company serves three primary vertical segments: automotive aftermarket; hardlines and lumber; and wholesale distribution.
Founded in 1972, Activant provides customers with tailored proprietary software, professional services, content, supply chain connectivity and analytics. More than 30,000 customer locations use an Activant solution to manage their day-to-day operations.
Caroma receives EPA WaterSense certification on toilets
Caroma has announced that 20 of its 30-plus dual flush toilets for the North American market have been certified to carry the epa’s new WaterSense label. This label ensures that a toilet uses 20% less water than the currently mandated 1.6-gpf toilets and is a quality product that has also met rigorous testing requirements for performance. Caroma is continually working with the WaterSense approval board to make sure that all the toilets it manufactures are approved. The remaining toilets are expected to be certified by late summer.
A Caroma dual flush toilet can save a household as much as 30,000 gallons of water a year. WaterSense is sponsored by the epa and is designed to protect the water supply by promoting water-efficient products and services. Much like Energy Star has become a symbol for energy efficiency through its labeling program, it is expected that WaterSense will encourage water-conservation behaviors and provide assurance to consumers that they are buying an efficient and high-performing product. An independent third party does the testing for WaterSense certification.
To learn more, visit www.caromausa.com or www.epa.gov/watersense.
Carrier Corp. to buy distributor
Carrier Corp. has agreed to buy E.B. Ward & Company/Valair, a Carrier distributor of residential, light commercial and commercial products.
Carrier, a unit of United Technologies Corp., is a supplier with 200 locations in more than 20 U.S. states and Canada.
“The acquisition of E.B. Ward and Valair will strengthen our rapidly expanding sales and distribution network in California,” said Geraud Darnis, president of Carrier Corp. “This will enable Carrier to serve our customers directly in this large and strategically important market.”
E.B. Ward and Valair, with 140 employees and combined sales of $150 million, serve Carrier customers in Northern California and parts of Nevada.
OBITUARY: James Coulas Sr., founder of Weldbend
James J. Coulas Sr. passed away on July 4 at the age of 92. Coulas founded Weldbend Corporation in 1949 and remained a fixture in the pvf industry his entire life. As CEO until his death, Coulas led Weldbend’s growth with a balance of manufacturing innovations and core values.
Coulas was inducted into The Wholesaler’s PVF Hall of Fame in 2002. During an interview at that time with Mary Jo Martin, now editorial director of The Wholesaler, Coulas described why he was such a strong believer in the reliability and safety of welded fittings and flanges.
“Weld-type materials make piping one continuous line and protect it from any kind of leakage,” he said. “Safety is paramount to me. I want to ensure that companies using our products won’t experience any leak or accident. Many end-users transport gas, acid, oil and other toxic chemicals that could be dangerous if a leak occurred. I want to sell only products that are the best; I couldn’t sleep at night if I didn’t believe in the integrity of what we sold.”
During that interview, he also discussed his sincere interest and concern for his employees — approximately 200 work at Weldbend’s plant near southwest Chicago, which operates 22 hours a day with two 11-hour shifts.
“I believe the man who sweeps the floor, runs the lathe or drives the truck is just as important to the operation of Weldbend as I am,” he said. “We view all our people as a family and we treat them that way. There are no time clocks; we operate on the honor system. When I walk through the factory, I stop, shake hands and talk with all our employees. My office is always open to any of them, and we’ve done whatever we can to help them out during times of need. A business isn’t meant for only the owner to enjoy and benefit from, but for everyone who works at the company.”
Coulas started his career in the coal business, then joined with a plumbing distributor salesman, Herb Block, to buy and sell World War II surplus soil pipe. They expanded into welded fittings. After they ended their partnership, Coulas began selling fittings made by Dresser Co. of Pennsylvania. In 1949, he founded Weldbend and sold Dresser fittings under Weldbend’s name.
His son, James Coulas Jr., worked with his father for 37 years. Under his father’s direction, Coulas Jr. started out on the pant line and did a lot of other jobs on the way up to learn the business and have respect for each employee’s contribution. He later worked alongside his father as president, jointly handling most of the key decision-making.
In the 2002 interview with Martin, Coulas Sr. commented, “I’m very proud of my son. I don’t make any decision without discussing it with him, and he does the same with me. When I’m no longer in the business, he’ll continue to run the company in the same manner as it has been through the years.”
In addition to his son, Coulas is survived by his wife of 66 years, Irma; daughters Irma Hammer, Cathleen Hosteny and Carol Jean Coulas; 12 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
His funeral was held July 9 at Christ the King Church, with interment following at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Christ the King School Foundation, P.O. Box 42-8580, Chicago, IL 60642 or to Poor Clare’s Monastery, 12210 S. Will-Cook Rd., Palos Park, IL 60464.
First Supply continues to add facilities
First Supply, a premier Midwest wholesale distributor, announced the opening of a new location in Platteville, Wis. Located at 685 Eastside Road, the new facility opened its doors Monday, July 9, with service hours Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m..
Terry Dittman will serve as branch manager. He will report directly to Jason Cullum, general manager of the Dubuque facility.
First Supply LLC is a regional wholesale distributor with 25 locations in the upper Midwest. Founded in 1897, First Supply, employing over 500 people, is a family-owned, single source provider of plumbing, heating, cooling, municipal, waterworks, fluid handling, builder and industrial supplies.
Hercules Industries to acquire division of Metalwest
Hercules Industries, one of the Rocky Mountain region’s largest sheet metal and HVAC distributors, has agreed to purchase the assets of the Specialty Products Division of Metalwest, known as MSP. The purchase will include all the manufacturing machinery used for production of pipe, elbows, fittings, etc., including blanking and decoiling lines, straight duct fabrication line, rollformers and other types of machines. Metalwest will no longer be in the business of producing or selling sheet metal fabricated items.
“We’re always looking for ways to be of greater value to our customers,” said Paul Newland, Hercules vice president-sales & marketing. “This acquisition continues to expand our capacity and our capabilities, serving our goal of being the complete industry resource.”
The Specialty Products Division will be integrated into Hercules’ existing operations, with no disruption of service. As always, customers will be able to use Hercules’ website, www.herculesindustries.com, which allows them to get pricing, place orders, view open orders, access pick tickets, reprint invoices and look at stocking position.
Metalwest will continue to operate as before, with only its Specialty Products Division being affected.
Founded in Denver in 1962 by William E. Newland, Hercules Industries is now one of the largest companies of its type in the Western and Midwestern U.S., operating four manufacturing facilities and 10 sales and distribution centers in Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Grand Junction, Pueblo and Durango, Colo.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Phoenix, Ariz.. The company employs 320 at these locations; the acquisition will add to that total. Hercules is still owned and managed by members of the Newland family, with the same dedication to excellence that has been the foundation of its success for five decades.
Infor strengthens leadership in distribution
Infor recently announced that it has increased its dominant position in the enterprise software market for distributors and wholesalers, adding 150 new customers in the last year, for year-over-year growth of 14%. With more than 9,000 distribution customers, Infor is a popular choice among distributors worldwide.
Enterprising companies have selected Infor for its global scale, business-specific experience and end-to-end distribution solutions. In addition to new customers, existing companies like Huttig, McNaughton-McKay Electric, Smith Turf & Irrigation and W.A. Roosevelt, continue to turn to Infor to help them drive down costs, enhance operational efficiencies and improve profitability with new functionality and users.
Infor allows distributors and wholesalers to leverage their existing technology by adding additional enterprise solutions, such as demand planning and robust warehouse management, from a single provider, lowering total cost of ownership. Over the past year, more than 1,800 distributors maximized their it investment with additional solutions and services from Infor, allowing these companies to extend the functionality of their ERP solutions and to benefit from greater visibility across their organizations. Through Infor Open SOA, distribution customers will be able to extend and evolve their software systems even further with new Infor solutions, third-party applications and their own in-house innovations.
Infor has experienced increased demand for its solutions from distributors in specific industries including building materials, electrical, industrial, paper, janitorial and sanitation, plumbing and HVAC.
The company’s commitment to enrich the value of customers’ current investment in Infor solutions, to extend their core ERP applications with business-specific solutions and to evolve the Infor product line to produce next-generation solutions continues to be a successful strategy. Infor has one of the highest customer retention rates in the industry.
For more information, visit www.infor.com/industries/distribution/.
Intuit Eclipse offers new remote backup solution
Intuit Eclipse has teamed up with EVault to provide its customers with a new business continuity offering designed to help them protect their data in the event of a disaster, such as a fire or flood, at their system’s host site. The new service, Eclipse Business Connect Remote Backup, powered by EVault, offers users an opportunity to automatically back up their company’s business-critical data to one of EVault’s secure data centers.’
“After the punishing hurricane season of 2005 -- and especially after witnessing the damage done by Hurricane Katrina -- our customers told us that they were eager for a new business continuity solution,” said Sean Leaver, Intuit Eclipse customer support manager. “We researched the market and found that EVault’s pioneering disk-to-disk backup technology and state-of-the-art managed services were a great fit for our customers.”
Eclipse Business Connect Remote Backup, powered by EVault provides online server backup and recovery services designed for businesses requiring a more reliable and centralized data protection process, but often with minimal or no it resources. Safe and off-site, the encrypted data is available online at all times for immediate, user-initiated recovery. The service works seamlessly in an organization’s existing infrastructure with no additional hardware needed.
It immediately transfers backup data off-site to a secure data center via the internet or existing private networks, conducting online backups automatically and without human intervention. What’s more, it allows organizations to easily comply with regulations governing electronic storage and access to confidential data. Before transfer, backup data is encrypted and remains encrypted until it is restored to the client computer. There are no “back door” decryption keys. Only the individual who created the password can access backup data.
The service restores individual files, directories or entire disk volumes quickly and reliably. And since it takes a point-in-time backup during each scheduled session, the exact data from any previous backup is recovered in the event of a restore. Data is always available and online for immediate restore without additional administrator intervention.
More information can be found at www.eclipse.intuit.com.
J&B Supply opens new location in Little Rock
The Rheem Manufacturing Company, Replacement Parts department announced that Ruud distributor, J&B Supply, has opened a new Prostock store in Little Rock, Ark. J&B is headquartered near the company’s Heating and Cooling Division headquarters in Fort Smith, Ark.,
“Prostock gives us a much cleaner, more professional look with less product hidden behind counters or in the warehouse,” said j&b sales manager, Jim Harms. “The Prostock concept works, and it is easy to see how it has positively affected our ability to serve our customers. With the help of Ruud and Prostock operations, contractors see us as being a service-dedicated player in our markets, which helps us grow our business along with theirs.”
The new 19,000-square-foot store features a 2,500-square-foot showroom. As with all other Prostock stores, it features a well-lit shopping environment with color-coded signage and products designed to assist contractors in getting what they need quickly and easily.
J&B maximized efficiencies by utilizing much of what they learned from other Prostock stores. Harms also liked the fact that the Replacement Parts department helped make the conversion as easy and seamless as possible.
In addition to its Little Rock location, J&B operates other Prostock stores in Sherwood, Benton and Fort Smith, Ark., and in Broken Arrow, Okla.