*SURE THIS I$ATI|UGH

"ln the first year we've had theTriad, our inventory has been reduced over 1EO/ ,^,^1\ t^ i^^.^^^an sales and our gross profit margin is up 3% That s unheard of in the lumber business Quite frankly, | r,n, ,tAn + 4 yEOr OgW I VVVUTVT I L have believed we could do it but we did We did it with a Triad in one of the worst years the rumber business has ever had.

"We have four point-of-sale stations and three office terminals. Triad had us up and running with almost all our outside inventory on the system in under five weeks. And everybody was suooortive Triad bent over backwards to make sure everything was done right Our people got all the training they needed to be productive immediately.

"We've become much more accurate with theTriad. lt's given us total control over inventory, pricing, customer credit, purchasing and :nnnr rntinn Tho crrclom even produces all our price stickers. That alore has reduced a lot of tedious manhours. We have more time to spend with customers and more time to spend with our families

"l used to think I was a pretty good manager. But since we installed the Triad l've found out hov" much better I can be. I can make faster decisions with more complete information about inventory, prices. 'eceivables payables. Anything I need is right at my fingertips That wasn't the case before we hao aTriad So now when people say to me Hey Dalton, this is a tough business. I look em right in the eye and say 'Sure it is, thats why I have aTriadl"

Thanks, you're fired

llo ONE questions the need in bad times for Ilcompanies to layoff people, close stores and trim payroll costs. What we do object to are clumsy, inefficient, unjust and brutal methods used to accomplish this end. The number of good people fired for no good reason is too high. The human cost is appalling. Corporate stupidities such as these are a black mark on the entire industry.

Every company, every industry is only as good as its people. To indiscriminately throw out the good with the bad is the worst kind of management. To say that it reflects poorly on the human sensitivities of the decision makers is being charitable.

We're not talking corporate paternalism here, just hard nose business. Getting rid of good people is stupid. And if management can't tell good employees from bad, the boss should resign and go to work for the U.S. Post Office.

The damage done by unjust firings to the morale of those remaining can be extensive. Having watched hard working, dedicated employees being fired after years of faithful service to the company, the remaining workers can only become increasingly cynical about how much effort they will devote to their job. It makes no sense for an employee to go that extra mile for the company if the employer fails to discriminate between non-performers and performers when it must cut back. No wonder good employees spend their lunch hours looking for other employment after seeing their current employer casually and unfairly discarding veterans with 20 or even 30 years with the firm. There have been far too many examples of mindless, across-the-board firings in the last few years. This widespread practice is an indictment of management's failure to conserve a company's most precious asset: good people. A better way to reduce payroll costs must be found.