Manufacturers of all types can benefit from great Manufacturing ERP software, no matter what they produce. At Jacoby Custom Cues they leverage both art and science to produce some of the finest, and certainly the most beautiful pool cues in the world. REALTRAC software allowed Dave Jacoby and his son Brandon to immediately improve profitability by helping them to better track the costs associated with each step in the production of these custom pool cues.
Finding the Balance Point…
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| Initial lathe work on a new cue. |
When thinking of small and medium manufacturers, most of us envision a family owned machine shop turning out gears, pinions and custom machined metals parts for huge machines. What does not often spring to mind are high end, custom pool cues. At Jacoby Custom Cues they produce some of the finest cues available anywhere in the world. Since their founding in 1982 they have won dozens of national and international awards for their craftsmanship and design. These custom cues are often designed for a specific individual. They are created for both top performance and beauty. The fine wood working and inlays are what you see on the outside, however, the core and workings on the inside of these amazing cues are every bit as elaborate and functional. Dave Jacoby has always enjoyed pool and as a hobby bought and sold pool cues. The cue manufacturer offered him a lathe to begin to do pool cue repair locally and from there Mr. Jacoby went on to design and build custom pool cues. The business, like so many started in his basement with one machine. Today Jacoby Custom Cues has three locations, 15 full time employees and over 40 machines all focused on producing the finest, custom pool cues available. They are one of the largest and finest producers of custom pool cues in the world.
No Sneaky Petes here…
Every Jacoby Cue is literally a work of art and science. The detail and workmanship that goes into these award-winning cues is immediately obvious. It is the attention to detail, design, focus on process and the right tools that make these cues so unique. In addition to the machines that are used to create these one-of-a-kind pool cues, Jacoby Custom Cues uses ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software from REALTRAC to ensure that their processes and costing are carefully monitored and controlled. These pool cues are every bit as beautiful mechanically as they are aesthetically, and that takes extraordinary attention to detail. These fine cues will never be mistaken for pool hall cues. The exotic woods, semi-precious stones and fine metals that go into creating these cues are all carefully selected and create cues whose exterior beauty is matched by the engineering that goes into creating the insides of these works of art. Inside, the finely machined core, weights and ferrule tenons create a pool cue that out performs almost anything in the market, providing a superior playing experience. Jacoby’s customers range from some of the best known professional pool players in the world to those who only play at home but appreciate a truly fine pool cue. The Jacoby family can also claim some well-known celebrity customers, but discretion prevails and the family would just say that they are names everyone would instantly recognize. One customer wrote the company and told them he was so excited about the cues when they arrived that he took a whole week off work just to play pool all day. Now that is a satisfied customer!
Rack ‘em for for success….
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| Fine tuning an Irish Linen wrap. |
Dave Jacoby started the cue business in the basement of the family home. It quickly grew and they moved into a dedicated manufacturing space. The business is still growing at a fast pace and they moved yet again into a larger manufacturing space. Jacoby Custom Cues produced about 2,000 cues last year and has generally has about 100 jobs cued up, as they say, at any given time, with over 40 new orders coming in each month. This extraordinary success and fast growth has presented challenges. Not only did the company need to move to a bigger location twice, but the complexities of managing the details of thousands of custom orders a year meant that they needed an easy, and fool-proof way to better manage their operations. Mr. Jacoby found that as his business grew, his sales grew, but his profitability was not keeping pace. He had to find a reliable way to better cost and price his cues. In 2013 Dave Jacoby and his team started using REALTRAC, an industry leading ERP Software. REALTRAC provides the Jacoby Custom Cues team with the tools to properly quote new business and to manage their costs. Some high-end Jacoby pool cues than can easily cost well over $10,000, so manufacturing cost matters. Even a few percentage points of improvement in cost drives hundreds of dollars to the bottom line. REALTRAC also allows the Jacoby team to follow any individual cue through the entire manufacturing process to ensure on time deliveries and perfect quality.
This attention to detail and profitability is what has allowed Jacoby Custom Cues to grow successfully. They use the right tools, whether it is to set a beautiful piece of malachite into burled maple or to manage the processes on the shop floor, The Jacobys manage every detail almost effortlessly. Jacoby Custom Cues services elite pool players from around the world. Every detail of the manufacturing process must be flawless to ensure that the completed cue not only looks beautiful, but performs perfectly. Jacoby Custom Cues has been using REALTRAC software for just a few months, but it has already made a different. “I feel like I am still learning about how REALTRAC can improve our operations, but the easy set up and the easy to use interface allowed use to start using the software right away.” Said Dave Jacoby. He went on to add “We immediately saw an improvement in our costing process and in tracking our production, and with as fast as we are growing, REALTRAC made a big contribution to our processes and our profits right away.”
You May Not Be a Pool Shark But you Can Work Like One
Firms of any size can benefit from good ERP software, no matter what their product is. Even the smallest firms will realize a return on their investment within a few months. Every company needs an angle, that trick shot that will make them more productive so that they save time and money. Become a ‘shark’ within your own organization and adopt an easy to use REALTRAC ERP system today.
Contact REALTRAC today to learn more! 734-793-3811
