Four Star Takes the Technology Route
San Clemente, Calif.-based Four Star Distribution, which markets snowboards, skateboards and apparel for the actionsports market, is relying on the latest in software technology to get an edge in the competitive board-sports market.
The company, which markets Forum and Jeenyus snowboards and skateboards, C1, Special Blend and Foursquare apparel, is investing in Oracle Corp.’s financial and supply-chain management solutions to help it adjust to shifting market trends and to speed up production lead times. Using Oracle Financials, Oracle Distribution and Oracle’s E-Business Suite, Four Star hopes to speed up production time and improve efficiency. Oracle partner Abaris Inc. is helping implement the applications for Four Star.
“Oracle is a key component in our strategy to reach new markets and new customers faster than the competition,” said Markus Bohi, chief executive officer for Four Star.
“We will be more connected to key suppliers and more in tune to the retail sales trends of our products throughout the world. Winning the retail distribution game means we have to be first, faster and have better information. Abaris completed a rapid implementation of Oracle Financials and Oracle Distribution, which has enabled us to quickly lower costs through system consolidation and self-service. Additionally, we’ve accelerated our close times and enabled real-time visibility across our enterprise.”
Four Star has been expanding its international business in Canada, Switzerland, Hong Kong and beyond. It has also been broadening its product line to take advantage of the growing worldwide snowboarding and skateboarding markets and needed some help to control its growth.
“Our objectives were to improve the availability of inventory and order information, target gross margins for products globally, gain better insight into suppliers and materials,” said Steve Torres, executive vice president at Abaris. “This has enabled Four Star to more efficiently distribute products to retailers to handle the growing market demand for Four Star’s merchandise.”
Four Star’s domestic and international implementation of Oracle Financials and Oracle Distribution was done in two phases and took less than six months to complete. Abaris will be working on the third phase of its implementation with additional components of the Oracle E-Business Suite, such as Oracle Warehouse Management, Oracle iSupplier Portal and Oracle Supply Chain Management. —Robert McAllister
