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Our Subscribers Say...
"There are numerous credit periodicals available to the credit professional today. How good is Credit Today? Is it relevant? I always have to read it late, or online because my credit analysts want to read it the minute it comes in. When my staff wants to read a publication before I have a chance to read it then something is working in that publication. We have cancelled our other subscriptions. When you have the best you do not need the rest."
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Corporate Credit Manager-World Wide
Thales Navigation, Inc.
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Corporate Credit Mgr
Fulton Paper Company
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Kimberly-Clark Customer Financial Services
"As a corporate credit manager with over two decades of experience, I consider Credit Today to be one of the best credit newsletters. Whether it is because of Credit Today's management, its distinguished panel of advisors, or the caliber of Credit Today's subscribers, it would be fair to say that some of the best and brightest minds in our profession are represented. The credit issues, technologies, news, credit department profiles, etc. are interesting and useful. Credit Today is a valuable reference and communications tool which I look forward to reading each month."
Paul Brunner
Corporate Credit Manager
Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. |
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The Best Credit Departments in the World!
Yes, that's what you'll read about here, in Credit Today's exclusive Credit Department Profiles section. You'll learn what's working at credit departments ranging anywhere from Fortune 50 operations to those with just one (overworked) person. Just a few of the world's leading credit departments featured include Campbell Soup Company, Georgia Pacific, Serta Matress, BJ Services Company, USA, Hachette Filipacci Magazines, VF Jeanswear, USXpress, and Canon USA. As you can see, we cover all industries, from manufacturing to media to service and everything in between. There's something valuable to learn from all of them! And don't worry - "world class" doesn't always mean big and deep pockets. You see, we also aim to find and highlight what every day credit operations are doing to get by - and excel, on less than adequate resources and unappreciative management. No one - even the best - has unlimited resources these days, so "world class" can often mean a small, underfunded operation that has found a way to do things very well despite their limited resources.
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Co-op Adds Security To the Credit Function
It turns out that credit can run a little more smoothly if your customers are also your owners. Margret Goodson is in a unique position as credit department and A/R manager for Affiliated Foods Inc. of Amarillo, Texas. The company is a wholesale grocery cooperative and distributor that works with about 700 stores and restaurants primarily in the southwestern United States. It also has bakery and dairy operations. The cooperative, however, represents the largest customer group. Goodson's credit staff handles about 2,000 accounts and $1.2 billion in sales. The team is broken up by business line. Four persons are responsible for the food service area, which serves schools, restaurants and independent grocers. They set up new accounts, review credit and collect on those accounts. . . . keep reading
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Payment Imaging Pays Off in Deduction-Process Efficiency
The three deduction service representatives (DSRs) who handle an average of 1,800 deductions each month for WD-40 Company (San Diego) will soon have a superb new information tool at their fingertips. It's a digital dashboard that will display of all relevant and up-to-the-minute data about their customers. . . . keep reading
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Nortrax Clears the Way for Heavy Equipment Sales, as the Credit Staff Spurs Innovation in Automation, Financing and Staff Training
Tom Leavitt likes automation. That's apparent in the paperless credit and finance offices of Nortrax Inc., a retail arm of John Deere (NYSE: DE). The Moline, Ill.-based company is owned by, and is an authorized dealer of, John Deere equipment for construction, earthmoving, material handling and forestry equipment. It operates some of the 58 retail outlets serving those industries in the U.S. and Canada. The shift to automation wasn't easy, but it wasn't an option. The company was founded in 1999 and grew through the acquisition of small independent John Deere construction-equipment dealers across the country. The plan was for Nortrax to develop the structure and resources for a strong, sophisticated operation that would provide high-level service, build the brand and grow customer loyalty. . . . keep reading
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Incentive Program Spurs Staff, Leading to Improved Collections, Lower DSO, and Reduced Past-Due Balances
DSO is down seven days. Collection percentage is up five percent. Hard to argue with those numbers. Dennis Miklavic is happy with them, anyway, although like any credit manager he would, of course, like to do even better. Miklavic is Florida Division Credit manager for Mayer Electric, a Birmingham, AL.-based company most of whose customers are commercial electrical contractors. What accounts for Mayer's 2007's credit numbers being better than those of a year earlier? Well, a number of factors, but asked to point to the most significant one, Miklavic says it's the company's incentive program. Upper management at Mayer has had the vision to realize that nothing improves performance like giving people a little extra reason to make a little extra effort. . . . keep reading
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Commercial Laundry Equipment Manufacturer Does More Than Extend Credit to Laundromats - It Finances Much of Their Operations!
Alliance manufactures commercial laundry equipment under well-known brand names like Cissell, Huebsch, Ipso, Speed Queen and Unimac. The brands are supported through an extensive network of distributors and route operators throughout the world. Alliance Laundry sells equipment to distributors who sell to "Mom and Pop" laundromats (their largest client segment), hotels and institutions like hospitals, colleges, universities and prisons. Here's where it gets complicated and interesting: The distributors can offer financing to their clients through the captive credit arm of Alliance. . . . keep reading
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DSO In the Seventies? What's to be Done? Tighten Internal Partnerships and Keep Close Tabs on Documentation and Information
When Penny Conaty came in about six years ago to supervise the credit department at Wisconsin-based Copesan Services Inc., a pest-control solutions service firm, she faced an immediate challenge. The company had never had a credit manager. And she had to hit the ground running, so to speak, because DSO was in the seventies back then and she had to get it down. By tightening the partnerships within her network and keeping close tabs on documentation and information, she and her staff of three have managed to get DSO down close to 60. She hopes to nudge it lower than that. . . . keep reading
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Rain or Shine, Tent-Maker Offers Fair-Weather Deals
Bill Riat faced a challenge. The vice president of credit and finance for Anchor Industries Inc. saw big swings in company sales and in his staff's workload and collection success, based on the season. Anchor, based in Evansville, Ind., makes canvas, vinyl and fabric products for the entertainment and amusement industries. Products include party tents, exhibit tents, circus tents, water park funbrellas, ride tops, game booths, concert shells, pool covers and military tents. "Anything that's held outdoors needs to prepare for all kinds of weather," Riat says. "We provide shelters for rain and sun, whether the Pope's coming to town or someone is planning a wedding or sponsoring a golf tournament or hosting the Academy Awards." . . . keep reading
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An Unlikely Marriage: How Harman Consumer Group Combined Sales and Credit Administration
Tom Walsh, vice president of customer relationship management at Harman Consumer Group, has seen products come and go. The latest craze is stereo systems for home and auto that complement digital music players. The units are big business now, but they weren't a few years ago, and they might become relics in a few years more. Short product cycles are a given at Harman: The high-end audio and electronics maker has survived and thrived for more than half a century in an industry where offerings are constantly in flux because of new technology and consumer trends. . . . keep reading
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The Drive for Efficiency: Broan's Credit Staff Makes a Big Push to Stay Small
Imagine your goal, year after year, is to reduce your credit department's budget. The only way to achieve that goal is to get buy-in from your staff. Oh, and by the way, meeting that goal will almost certainly require eliminating positions. That's the business landscape at Broan Manufacturing Co., where Stan Winarski is corporate credit manager. The Hartford, Wis.-based manufacturer specializes in ventilation products, everything from range hoods to bath fans. They also sell doorbells, central vacuums and intercom systems. Customers include big box home centers, independent retailers, electrical distributors, and original equipment manufacturers. . . . keep reading
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Shifting Gears: How Goldschmidt's Credit Manager Became a Believer In a New Way of Doing Business
Anita Fleming, credit manager for a specialty chemical manufacturer, wasn't a believer. When executives at her company considered restructuring the credit function to put more responsibility on the sales teams, she wasn't sure it would work. "I was so used to the traditional approach," she says. At the Care & Surface Specialties division of Degussa, also known as Goldschmidt Chemical Corp., that meant a stand-alone department. Others in the industry had involved sales and customer service in the credit continuum, but not at the level her company was planning, with full management of receivables through the business lines. . . . keep reading
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It's Not a Credit Decision, But a Business Decision
Ever had this happen? A customer asks for an invoice on pink paper. Your company issues him one on white paper. The customer tries to take a chargeback. Might sound extreme, but it's one illustration Bruce Diamond gives for the vital problem of getting everyone involved in the transaction reading off the same cue card. Bruce runs credit for Alco Industries, a privately-held New Jersey-based company that makes "things for the home"—which might be anything from bric-a-brac to candles—and whose customers are largely big-box chains like Wal-Mart. . . . keep reading
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With 53,000 Customers in a High-Risk Industry, Fraud Could Be a Big Problem: Here's How Virginia T's Keeps It to a Minimum
Meet Monique. Credit Manager Ann Riggs got her first introduction sometime in the fall of 2001 and has been trying to spread the news about her ever since. On Riggs' desk at Virginia T's, a Petersburg, Va.-based sportswear company, sits a binder bulging with information about Monique. Some of it Riggs dug up on her own. Other information she got from industry colleagues, through her role as chairperson of the National Association of Credit Management Sportswear Distributors Group. "One of the things we have ... come a long way with is fraud awareness," she says. "It wouldn't be possible without the credit group." . . . keep reading
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True Partnership With Customers Makes This Credit Department an Extension of Sales, Not
A Cost Center
It's the rare (and lucky) credit exec who has such a powerful brand or leverage that their product is absolutely must have. Most have to deal with competition, often times intense. And Smyrna, GA-based flooring wholesaler Space Flooring is no exception. Most flooring products are commodities, explains Vice President and Credit Manager Rocky Thomas. But at Space Flooring, that's where credit really stands out. The credit function is one of the selling points, and Thomas' staff has become an extension of their customers' own risk management. "We let them know that we will use our resources in any way we can to help them." . . . keep reading
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Minimize Risk? Well, Yeah, But Growing the Business Is the Focus at This Credit Operation!
Among its many lines of business, Nashville, Tenn.-based VF Imagewear holds the license to design and sell locker-room gear for Major League Baseball - shirts and other items tossed among players and showered with champagne after the big win. In 2004 that meant a huge opportunity, one the company was able to capitalize on because of a right-thinking credit staff. "When I get new associates I ask, 'What is the purpose of the credit department?'" says Darin Newton, director of credit. He gets the usual answers: to minimize risk, to follow up on bad debt, to qualify potential customers. "I tell them, no. We are here to grow the company." . . . keep reading
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An Inside Look at Cargill Credit’s Shared Services Operation
Credit analysts in the shared-services division of Cargill Inc. like to keep it simple: They promise a 24-hour turnaround on domestic credit decisions. “That’s pretty good,” says enior credit analyst Paul Calahan. “We are probably among the leaders in turnaround time.” The timeline is remarkable given that Cargill is an agribusiness behemoth: It’s the country’s second-largest private company, recording $71 billion in sales last year. It employs 149,000 people in 63 countries. Calahan is part of a group of 13 employees who handle credit for roughly one-fourth of the company’s 84 business units. . . . keep reading
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