Fathead Gets Ahead of Demand

Fathead is the maker of REAL. BIG. vinyl sports and entertainment wall graphics. Two years ago, Fathead sold 90 percent of its product direct to consumers via the Web. Today, the company expanded its product line from 120 SKUs to more than 500. Fathead sells more than 35 percent of its products through a variety of channels, including specialty retailers, distributors and large retailers such as Dick's Sporting Goods, Target and Champs Sports.

While business took off, Fathead found itself trying to manage a rapidly expanding supply chain with technology and manual processes that worked well when it sold through a single channel over the Web. Manual EDI tasks were becoming problematic and time consuming, causing unwanted charge-backs. Inventory availability, SKU complexity, EDI compliance and managing the needs of these new channels with a small staff were all factors inhibiting productivity with an increasing amount of manual processes.

"We realized very quickly that the market opportunity for Fathead's growth was in the retail segment. We knew we had to make changes in our technology and our business processes to manage our growth, and get there fast," says Christopher Gasparovic, vice president, Technology for Fathead.


The renovation

Fathead started its transformation by getting everyone in the company involved in the process. The technology changes would require each employee's workflow to change, and Fathead wanted to make sure everyone was involved.

"We wanted to move as fast as possible, but we also wanted to lay the right foundation. We wanted to redesign our processes and technology by designing for the future, but building for today," says Gasparovic. "Our focus was on reducing manual process tasks, making full use of our ERP system, integrating EDI compliance management, and deploying automated exception management technology. We wanted our technology to provide us with business intelligence so we could drive our business instead of the business driving us."

Fathead standardized product SKUs using Microsoft Dynamics GP manufacturing and distribution modules. This provided inventory visibility so it could effectively manage orders. Fathead deployed EDI compliance solutions for Microsoft Dynamics GP from vSync to help manage EDI orders by exception. Business rules in the vSync system were configured for all EDI orders to catch mistakes before they were processed, reducing dependence on manual entry and review. Orders from the Web site now flowed into the ERP system using the same process EDI orders did.

"As we were deploying these technology improvements for our Web and EDI-enabled customers, we also wanted to capitalize on our new infrastructure to address the manual processes that were required of small retail customers and distributors that could not afford to be EDI-enabled," says John Hart, EDI coordinator, Fathead. "To do this we created a B2B portal, which enabled these customers to order online. The orders would then follow the same automated process EDI and Web orders followed, reducing manual entry and enabling exception management practices."


Then and Now

One year later, Fathead is still experiencing rapid growth. Its new supply chain technology now enables total order-to-cash visibility. With this valuable data, it is now able to present business intelligence to the entire company.

With its technology advisors from The TM Group, Fathead created key performance metrics for each department. "We know at any given time how many orders have been processed, out-of-stocks, inventory, bottom line revenue and host of other key metrics we need to drive our business which means we have been able to move away from being 100 percent reactive," says Gasparovic.

"One of the largest gains we see from our supply chain renovation is our ability to change on a dime," tells Gasparovic. "For example, ABC's Extreme Home Makeover called us on a Monday a few months ago. They wanted a Fathead of David Beckham for a makeover they were doing. Our systems now allow us to move faster in meeting customer demand than ever before. In four days we secured artwork, manufacturing, printing and delivery to the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team. The piece arrived on Friday for installation."

The day that Brent Favre was traded to The New York Jets, Fathead was able to take pre-orders for that product on its Web site and for retail customers before it even manufactured the product. "Our ability to meet consumer demand is critical to a consumer goods business like ours," adds Hart. "Changes like these, and the Hannah Montana craze, have positively impacted our business because we are able to respond in a manner we never would've dreamed of a year and a half ago."

Fathead plans to investigate new markets and new products in the future, says Gasparovic "And we're confident our technology is flexible and scalable to accommodate whatever business direction Fathead chooses to take in creating new product lines in new geographic areas."