lnnovative firm develops its own software

FIG CREEK Lumber Co. is a Ellumber company with a whiz of a computer and they're proud of how it works and how they got it.

A privately held corporation whose primary operations are retail lumber and hardware sales, they are located in Davenport, Ca., with branches in Watsonville and Paso Robles. They are also in logging and milling redwood and Douglas fir from the central California coastal regions with a milling operation at Davenport. Their current locations are near the site of their original operations, which began nearly 40 years ago.

Big Creek employs over 150 people, from forestry/loggtng and milling to their retail and corporate administration group. Their logging and milling operation produced over 16 million board feet of redwood lumber last year, while their retail outlets sold over three times that amount.

Customers range from the small do-it-yourselfer to the full-scale general contractor, but they are all served better by the computer in the opinion of Big Creek's management, owners Frank "Lud" and H.T. "Bud" McCrary.

Operations ranging from recording log purchases to generating estimates for customers' lumber requirements and point of sale invoices plus all accounting are facilitated.

The software is the result of a five year effort by a team of Big Creek employees,' including general managers, accounting managers, retail store employees and a systems designerlprogrammer. The programs are designed to be utilized by all Big Creek personnel, from the president to invoice clerks on their first day.

A primary feature that sets the sy- stem apart is that it was developed by and for Big Creek personnel relying on their over 100 years of combined experience. They created an onJine system, meaning the data is entered at the time of transaction. For example, the second a customer purchases an item on his charge account, the invoice is generated, the inventory is decreased, the account receivable is updated, and the sale is recorded in the general ledger.

The owners of Big Creek have been involved in a variety of ecologically oriented projects. One of their concerns has been the study, development and perpetuation of forest areas in the Santa Cruz Mountains. They have been one of the forces in the development of Applied Forest Genetics, a research and development group dedicated to improving forest productivity and longevity. Their enthusiasm for doing things better has transferred to the operation of their retail units by using the latest technological equipment.

Story at a Glance

Vertically integrated firm uses its own people to program company computer...user friendly, it is designed to be operated by virtually every person on the staff.

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