Customer Story
How Lohmiller & Co. Eliminated Overstock, Reduced Inventory 24%, and Improved Fill Rates 11% with Supply Chain Planning Software
Overview
Overview
Lohmiller & Co., a multi-location HVAC distributor, replaced a 30-day planning horizon with 12-month forecasting and seasonal intelligence, going live just two months before COVID-19 disrupted the supply chain. Today, the company has effectively stopped monitoring overstock because it no longer exists as an active problem.
Industry
HVAC
Solutions
Demand Planning
Replenishment
Inventory Optimization / MEIO
Challenges
The Challenge
Lohmiller's prior system offered no real planning horizon and no way to model the seasonal swings that define HVAC demand, a structural blind spot that became a liability heading into a volatile stretch for distribution supply chains.
The Challenge
Lohmiller's prior system offered no real planning horizon and no way to model the seasonal swings that define HVAC demand, a structural blind spot that became a liability heading into a volatile stretch for distribution supply chains.
The Challenge
Lohmiller's prior system offered no real planning horizon and no way to model the seasonal swings that define HVAC demand, a structural blind spot that became a liability heading into a volatile stretch for distribution supply chains.
The Challenge
Lohmiller's prior system offered no real planning horizon and no way to model the seasonal swings that define HVAC demand, a structural blind spot that became a liability heading into a volatile stretch for distribution supply chains.
Solutions
The Solution
"Before we implemented Blue Ridge, our current system didn't have the capability of seeing more than 30 days in the future. So we had no forecasting."
"We went live right before COVID. As a company, we didn't really suffer that much, because we had inventory, and we had inventory coming in, because we went live with Blue Ridge two months prior to the big outbreak."
"We don't even monitor our overstock inventory, because it just doesn't exist, other than items that are phasing out."
Results
Time saved, inventory freed, confidence gained.
70%
Improvement in inventory turns
24%
Reduction in total inventory
Since go-live, Lohmiller's performance data has shifted to the point where some metrics, like overstock, have dropped off the active monitoring list entirely.
THe results folLowed:
- Inventory turns improved 70%, from approximately 7.5–8 to significantly higher
- 24% reduction in total inventory while improving service levels
- 11% fill rate improvement
- $4M in transfer cost reduction across four locations
We don't even monitor our overstock inventory, because it just doesn't exist.
Overstock, once a problem requiring active management, effectively ceased to exist at Lohmiller, a direct result of MEIO-driven inventory leveling across all four locations.
I can load in an event and then next month go back and say, ‘You said we were going to see an uplift of 50%, but we only saw 5%.’ Next year, we’re smarter.”
A Go-Live That Turned Out to Be Perfect Timing
Lohmiller went live with Blue Ridge two months before COVID-19 upended distribution supply chains in early 2020. It wasn't planned that way, but the timing mattered. Where other distributors scrambled to source product against sudden demand surges and supplier disruptions, Lohmiller had 12-month forecasting, seasonal positioning, and inventory visibility across four locations already in place. The platform didn't make COVID manageable by accident; it made Lohmiller structurally more resilient at exactly the right moment.
Looking ahead
Numbers That Don't Need to Be Watched Anymore
The Blue Ridge platform forces you to do the analytics, and that develops your team as problem solvers. If you’re leveraging it the right way and really digging into the alerts, it will change how you run your business.”
MEIO is the operational engine behind Lohmiller's inventory outcomes. When inventory builds at one location and runs lean at another, Blue Ridge surfaces the opportunity and executes the transfer within the day, at no additional cost. Overstock, once a problem that required active management, has effectively ceased to exist. The company has also completed three successful platform upgrades since go-live, a track record that stands out given the 14 total software systems Lohmiller operates.
Customer Stories
Hear from the businesses making every decision count
“The ERP handles transactions. Blue Ridge handles the intelligence. That's the difference.”
Brad Smith
SVP, Procurement & Sales
Southwest Traders supplies national restaurant chains – Panera, Einstein, Starbucks, Panda Express – from a buying team of nine to eleven working on an AS/400 ERP. Blue Ridge cut order-build time from days to a few hours, held service levels at 99.95% across blue-chip customers, and let the company onboard new brands without adding to the planning team.
99.95%
Service level across national restaurant brands
~18.5
Days on hand
“Blue Ridge has been the most user-friendly, results-driven system that I've seen so far. Our whole planning and buying team absolutely loves it.”
Stephanie Hunn
Senior Manager, Planning
Before Blue Ridge, ISN was struggling to optimize fill rate and inventory turns simultaneously. The team evaluated multiple vendors and chose Blue Ridge for the onboarding, training, and ongoing system improvements baked into the relationship. They went live and saw measurable results from the first operating cycle forward – with the Strategic Success Practice supporting every step.
~99%
Forecast accuracy maintained
50%
Improvement in fill rates over twelve months
“The goal wasn't just to reduce inventory. It was to have what we need, when we need it. That's exactly what Blue Ridge helped us do.”
David Mays
VP of Operations
West Virginia Electric Supply is an electrical distributor running eight branches on the Eclipse ERP. Centralizing inventory and moving to data-led replenishment let the team strip out the dead stock that had quietly accumulated for years – while service to contractors and customers held above 96% and the planning organization shifted from firefighting to forward-looking decisions.
70–80%
Reduction in dead stock
96.3%
Service level to contractors and customers
"Blue Ridge has the best interface and analytics you would need as a professional purchasing buyer"
Thelma Chavez
Director of Operations
Jackson Systems is a six-division HVAC distributor generating roughly $40M in annual revenue. Before Blue Ridge, the planning team reviewed every SKU manually – a process measured in days, not hours. Exception-based planning compressed that work, freed cash from excess stock, and pushed service levels into a range the team had never sustained before.
~$1M
Drop in inventory on hand
98.1%
Service level, up from 88%
Get Started
Build a supply chain that's ready for what's next
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