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Consolidation Continues and PFW Continues to Shine

PFW Password - Spring 2001 Over the past two years the construction equipment industry has continued to undergo massive consolidation. John Deere Construction dealers have led the way, and PFW Systems is proving that the combination of the IBM eServer iSeries and the PFW Dealership Management System is an ideal solution for multi-store, multi-state enterprises. Ontario-based Ontrac Equipment Services, for example, has grown over the past two years to represent 20 branches in Ontario and Quebec. Some of the consolidated dealerships were using PFW and others were using JDIS. Today, all are served by a single iSeries and the PFW Dealership Management System from the Ontrac branch in London, Ontario.

The Minnesota-based Nortrax venture consolidated John Deere Construction Equipment distributors in northeast and southeast regions of the US. The most recent Nortrax venture involved consolidating Norwel Equipment, Furrow-Justice Machinery, Barton Equipment and East Texas Machinery. All but one of these multi-store dealerships were using the PFW Dealership Management System. As often happens, timing for data conversion and system consolidation became critical for the new company, known as Nortrax South. PFW worked with Nortrax South to upgrade the iSeries 400 located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where it serves all 23 locations across five states.

The iSeries has growth capacity well beyond the expectations of most dealerships and is well positioned to serve the construction equipment market as consolidation continues. The iSeries, coupled with the PFW Dealership Management System, is a winning combination for both single-store dealerships and multi-location, multi-line enterprises. While these consolidations represent some of the larger PFW installations, the iSeries can grow over 100 times the current processing/capacity being used today. The PFW Dealership Management System has always been recognized for its strength in responding to the needs of larger, more complex enterprise solutions. It is only under this new era of consolidation that PFW and the iSeries have really been able to demonstrate the extensive growth capacity and stability of this perfectly-matched pair.