Altra Rental & Supply Inc. was founded in 1998 to serve contractors, homeowners & business. As the company motto states, “We SELL anything we rent and RENT anything we sell!”

The company started with a modest inventory and used the Peachtree product as its business management software tool to start. This worked well until the number of inventory items began to expand rapidly. As Altra Rental & Supply grew, it became apparent that a more robust and sophisticated software solution was required to manage the growing number of SKUs.

In December 2003, Altra Rental & Supply selected Windward's RentalPOS to manage a burgeoning 14,000 SKUs. The company went live with the software in the first quarter and all nine staff members utilize the software to manage the entire business end-to-end.

According to store owner, Jim Pedulla, “Windward Software’s RentalPOS Edition has revolutionized the way we do business.”

Revolutionizing Business with Windward Software’s Barcoding Option

“A key consideration for us was barcoding” says store owner Jim Pedulla. “We needed to track the entire history of every single item in our inventory from order to receipt, to rental, to sale, right through to repairs and warranty work. The product we were using at the time did not offer this option.”

“The benefit of barcoding,” continues Pedulla, “is that it allows us to track the full history of every single item: rentals, repairs, warranty, sale date, owner, etc. If a barcode does not come with the item from the manufacturer, it is easy to generate one using the Windward solution.”

Unique Features of the Solution

Use of a Single Database
Windward offers a major product advantage for Altra Rentals due to its complex integration. The use of a single database means that only one inventory number is needed to track a particular item.

 “The previous product made use of five different databases, one for each ‘module’. This meant that a clerk had to look up five separate item numbers in order to identify the correct sale price. With Windward RentalPOS Edition the clerk gets all information, including an accurate price, with one barcode swipe,” says Pedulla.

Ease of Capitalizing Costs
Another great feature is the ability to capitalize costs on rental items directly through to the accounting system from the service invoice entry screen. This valuable feature is simply not available in the entry level products.

Easy-to-Use Interface
The Interface was another factor in the Altra Rental’s decision to select Windward’s RentalPOS Edition. “Other products we considered, such as Texada, were still using a DOS interface yet charged more,” says . "Windward’s interface is extremely easy to use. If you can use Windows, you can learn this product.”

Unit Tracking
Complete unit histories are tracked: financial income received on rentals, final sale, capital asset costs, plus after purchase repairs and warranty work. Serial numbers tracking helps to reduce the possibility of theft.

Flexible Inventory
Windward System Five RentalPOS Edition allows the use of a single part number for multiple orders for multiple vendors. 

Payment Program Built-In
Special payment terms can be structured easily at the time of sale. Not only can Installment percentages and intervals times be set, but contract pricing can also be set up for effortless invoicing.    

Tracking Employee Time In/Out for Payroll
What good would a complete business management solution be if it didn’t track staff service charges and employee hours. The integration is what makes the system so valuable. Windward System Five – RentalPOS Edition really does do it all.            

Forms
Custom invoices are simple to create and design. Work from existing templates and eliminate the expense and wastage of pre-printed forms.

Integration
“We especially love the Part Smart integration,” says Pedulla. “We can automatically upload distributor catalogues and cross-reference manufacturer part numbers with our own offering us incredible flexibility for search and retrieval while ensuring pin-point data accuracy. No more obscure legacy numbering systems. The Credit Card integration means we don’t have to use those little credit card slips anymore. We come across as a truly professional shop.”

Price
Pedulla states, “This is the most customizable product in its price range! The competition products we reviewed started around $30,000US but Windward Software offers a robust product with totally integrated functionality with a true Windows 32-bit interface for a competitive price.” 

Cost Savings and Benefits

• Average counter transaction time reduced from 22 minutes to 5 minutes
  

• Instant access to correct price and other product information - no more delays caused by the need for manual look ups
  

• Eliminated virtually all questions previously asked of management by counter staff
  

• Theft reduction due to item level tracking capabilities
  

• Contract Pricing overrides – special per unit pricing automatically adjusted for high special customer deals
  

• Straight forward implementation - simply follow the instructions and know that trainers are on-hand to help you, as required. Most organizations can be up and running with only a few hours of training and support.
  

• Minimal Training Costs - easy to learn, web-based online training.
  

• True Windows 32-bit Interface - clear and easy to use
  

• Improved Customer Service - through full customer history tracking. Service time and errors are reduced because staff have all information at a glance including: accounting details, purchase history, collections, credits, comments, discount or contract pricing status.
      

• Price: “Windward’s solution is the most customizable in its price range. Settings can easily be adapted to fit the business practice rather than the other way around. Best price-to-value-ratio in the market,” states Pedulla.