Specialized equipment for a specialized clientele, SIP Corporation makes it their mission. The Simplex Ideal Peerless reel grinder is standard equipment at fine golf courses nationwide like Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill in Orlando, Florida, ensuring a keen cutting edge on the mowers used to keep the greens in trim. Specialized databases are an important part of the behind–the–scenes equipment at SIP headquarters, databases performing more efficiently than ever thanks to the enhancements found in FileMaker Pro 8.

Business Challenge

Based in Tampa, Florida, SIP Corporation manufactures a full range of specialized reel grinders under the Simplex Ideal Peerless mark, providing effective sharpening equipment to suit every course and every demand. The grinders are sold through an international dealer network served by three regional sales managers — all of which is achieved with a small, dedicated workforce. "We have to manufacture a broad range of complicated machines using what large companies call vertical integration and just–in–time inventory," comments company president Mark Pilger. "We need to know what costs are and where they are, so we can identify the areas where we can most easily reduce our costs and stay competitive with larger companies. We also need to be able to effectively market our products to a fairly small but sophisticated market."

SIP Corporation learned the value of FileMaker Pro nearly a decade ago — starting out with FileMaker Pro 3 and moving through each successive upgrade since. "FileMaker Pro was the first relational database that could handle multilevel bills of material without any complicated programming," Mark notes. And, he says, that advantage continues — with important new enhancements in the new FileMaker Pro 8.

Successful Solution

Two important FileMaker Pro databases make up the system at SIP Corporation. The first database, and the largest, is a high–powered inventory management application, which handles purchasing, invoicing, and labor–tracking throughout the manufacturing process. Over 24 discrete files are combined to make up this system, containing hundreds of thousands of individual records.

The second database is more specialized. It contains full product data, illustrations, and even QuickTime movie demonstration files, all of which are drawn upon to create customized multimedia sales brochures, generated on compact disc for distribution through dealers.

The ability to duplicate scripts, tables and fields has saved me countless hours of development time. I can now deliver custom databases in half the time it would normally take.

— Mark Pilger, President, SIP Corporation