WIX Filters (a division of Affinia) selects GAINS to profit optimize its manufacturing and distribution operations. "By using GAINS to drive our factory with optimized inventory policies and customer service levels, we were able to reduce set ups by 38%, exceed our targeted customer service levels, and drop over a $2.5 million to our bottom line in the first year. I was amazed at how quickly GAINSystems was able to install and interface their technology to our ERP solution so that we were live and tracking financial benefits in 8 weeks," states the Corporate Distribution Manager.
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Benco Dental, Inc. increases sales by 7% and reduces their inventory investment by 12% during the 2008-2009 economic recession. "By maintaining high customer service levels and lower inventories, GAINS helped us to grow revenues and profits in a down economy," states the VP Marketing of Benco Dental.
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GRACO validates the profit optimization power of GAINSystems' exclusive "Cross-enterprise Analytic Suite," that dynamically optimizes the least cost plans and policies for every item at every location. "Not only have we reduced inventories and operating costs with GAINS, but it has provided us with a fundamental S&OP support solution across the enterprise. The S&OP tools that bolted on to our ERP systems provided data, but GAINS provides accurate and profit optimal analysis. That is critical for both short and long term strategic and executive decision making," states the Vice President, Operations at GRACO.
Mr. William C. (Bill) Benton Founder and Chief Executive Officer GAINSystems, Inc.
Mr. Benton is founder and CEO of GAINSystems Inc., and has more than 40 years of business and consulting experience. In the area of Supply Chain Management, Mr. Benton has executive experience in Inventory
Control, Procurement and Distribution Systems Development, and Order Processing Systems. During the past
30 years, he has pioneered the development of automated optimization procedures for multi-level inventory management and has developed the computerized GAINS™ approach for profit-optimizing inventories.
GAINS embodies concepts that employ automated procedures and standard management policies for
controlling inventories.
Prior to his current position, Mr. Benton was managing principal and directed the Management Information Services Division of a major international management consulting firm. Previous experience includes directing the Systems Development and Operations Research Departments for a major engine manufacturer. Earlier, he was a business consultant and served as Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering Technology at Purdue University after spending six years as an Industrial Engineer with steel manufacturing and distribution companies.
Mr. Benton also has extensive experience in developing and managing improvement programs in several major functional areas including planning, organization, business systems development, data processing, inventory management, administrative services, telecommunications, budgeting, and business controls.
Mr. Benton holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, a Master of Science Degree in Business Operations Research from Illinois Institute of Technology, and is a Registered Professional Engineer. He is a member of several professional societies including the American Management Association, the Institute of Management Sciences, and has served as an officer of the Institute of Industrial Engineers. He is a frequent speaker before business groups and professional associations. Widely recognized for developing “Inventory Chain Optimization,” an advanced methodology for profit maximization for manufacturing and distribution, Mr. Benton also recently received the national “Ordo Honoris” Award from
Kappa Delta Rho in recognition of his many contributions to business and community affairs.
Mr. William H. (Will) Benton President and Chief Operating Officer
As President and Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Benton also leads teams responsible for the design, development, and delivery of the GAINS® Supply Chain Optimization solution. Mr. Benton is a recognized authority on Demand Planning, Inventory Optimization, Distribution & Network Optimization, Collaborative Planning, and General Operations Planning with more than 14 years in the field. His engagements have included work with a variety of Distributors, Service Parts Distribution and Maintenance/Repair (MRO) organizations, as well as Manufacturers.
In the Distribution and Manufacturing areas, Mr. Benton has designed and implemented optimization solutions for inventory, distribution, sourcing, and ‘rough-cut’ scheduling optimization. Organizations have included product and service part distribution/service-center-oriented companies (AM Castle Metals, Hagemeyer, Red Man), discrete manufacturing (e.g., Motorola, Abbott Laboratories, Cintas, ITT), process manufacturing (Chaparral, PPG), and retail (Super Cheap Auto, Jewel Foods/Albertson’s).
In the MRO area, Mr. Benton has built optimization expertise through solving mission critical problems for military organizations as well as private sector Aerospace and Defense companies. These projects revolved around issues such as optimizing the stocking and staging of parts, optimally distributing parts throughout a network, managing in times of elevated/decreased effort, cost-effectively improving the availability of rotable parts in light of performance-based logistics (PBL) commitments, and optimizing mixed-demand environments (where parts are shared between manufacturing and after-market). Organizations have included the Australian Defense Forces, Raytheon Aircraft, AAR, Gulfstream Aerospace, Textron Systems (including Bell Helicopter), Kaman Aerospace, and other similar companies and organizations.
Mr. Benton received an MBA (magna cum laude) from the University of Chicago, dual BS/BA degrees
(cum laude) from Southern Methodist University, and was the 1999 recipient of the University of Chicago’s
Bain Award for Strategy.
Mr. William E. Stillman Vice Chairman, Executive Vice President
Prior to joining GAINSystems, Mr. Stillman spent 10 years as President and CEO of Knowlex, Inc., an international business development firm working with scientists and engineers to build business organizations around their inventions. His work included the commercialization of Supercritical Water Oxidation for processing toxic waste, launching a multi-lingual, multi-platform translation software company, assisting a major U.S. media company expand into Eastern Europe, and helping to grow and sell a Canadian industrial software company.
Following active duty military service with the Army Security Agency, Mr. Stillman joined Emerson Electric’s international business development team. He went on to run GTE Transmission Systems’ global repair and remanufacture operations. When GTE Transmission Systems was acquired by Siemens, Mr. Stillman joined Apollo Computer, in Geneva, Switzerland, as the Director of International Marketing. He founded Knowlex, Inc. after Apollo Computer was acquired by Hewlett-Packard.
Mr. Stillman has been a featured speaker for APICS, ASQC, and the American Management Association. He is the author of “Off the Business Path: Search for the Creative Process,” as well business and educational articles that have appeared in Industry Week, The Christian Science Monitor, CONNECT Magazine, and The Journal of International Market Research.
He holds an MBA from Washington University, a BA from Principia College, and a German Translators Certificate from the Defense Language Institute. He is a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management, The Society of Biblical Literature, and an associate with The University of Chicago Oriental Institute.
Mr. Doug Zahour Vice President, Sales
Mr. Zahour brings more than 25 years of experience in Supply Chain Services and ERP software products to the table with a focus on both manufacturing and distribution operations.
Prior to joining GAINSystems, Mr. Zahour was COO of Sunstone Imports, North America's largest manufacturer and distributor of sterling silver jewelry, where he implemented a global supply chain that reduced operating and inventory costs 23%, while improving Customer Services levels that led to an overall revenue growth of over 32%.
Mr. Zahour started his career in the ERP Software industry with Friedman Corporation including 4 years as President, where he lead a strategy of Make-to-Order manufacturing software development and implementation that facilitated 325% revenue growth in 4 years.
Mr. Zahour is a graduate of The University of Michigan with a degree in Business Administration.
Mr. Jeff Gosz Vice President, Professional Services
As head of the Professional Services organization, Jeff and his team are responsible for providing pre-sales support, leading customer evaluation (IIPSE) studies, oversight for implementation projects, and support of product development. He has been involved in delivering substantial operational improvements to GAINSystems customers through his extensive work experience with customers in industrial distribution, manufacturing, and the metals industry.
Prior to joining GAINSystems, Mr. Gosz was in the General Manager Development Program at Ryerson Inc. where he served as a Materials Manager. His earlier work experience includes five years at Caterpillar Inc. as a large mining equipment design engineer where he was awarded a U.S. patent for his wheel loader linkage design.
Mr. Gosz holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, where he graduated with honors, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University, where he was awarded the Walter P. Murphy fellowship, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering, with distinction, from the University of Wisconsin.
Mr. Willis Wendell Vice President , Customer Services
As head of the Customer Services organization at GAINSystems, Mr. Wendell and his team are responsible for the delivery, implementation, and on-going support of all GAINS customers.
Mr. Wendell is an experienced professional with more than ten years in the field of Customer Relationship Management, solutions implementation, and technical support. His team comprises Consultants, Analysts, and Customer Relationship Managers with a track-record of on-time implementation services and exceptional post-implementation support (claiming one of the highest customer retention rates in the industry).
Mr. Wendell holds a BA from the University of Vermont.
Mr. Leonid Fridman Vice President, Technology
Mr. Fridman brings more than 18 years of international and domestic experience to GAINSystems He has worked extensively with and managed teams that dealing with enterprise architecture, data base development and software production. In his role as VP Technology, Mr. Fridman manages and directs both the GAINS software development team as well as the company’s IT operations.
Mr. Fridman started with the company almost 10 years ago as a Senior Software Development Engineer and project team leader. As GAINSystems grew and it became clear that the company required a singularly focused Vice President of Technology, Mr. Fridman’s comprehensive knowledge of systems architecture, data base structure and design, Java, and other software development tools combined with his leadership skills, made it apparent that he was more than adequate to fill the position.
Mr. Fridman has an MS degree from National Technical University of Ukraine and an MBA in MIS from University of Illinois in Chicago.
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