The Keim Company

About Keim

The Keim Company is a fourth-generation family-owned and operated business that began in 1911 as a lumber mill for community woodworkers. Over 100 years later, the company has expanded to offer a multitude of products and services to builders, woodworkers, and homeowners alike. Today, Keim is a well-recognized and trusted leader in the lumber and building materials (LBM) industry, serving customers across the U.S. with a regional focus on northeast Ohio and surrounding states.

Challenge

The Keim Company faced a critical technology challenge when its existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system reached the end of its life and could no longer support the company's growth strategies. With over 1,200 orders per day to process, Keim needed a robust system that could handle its high-volume operations while maintaining accuracy and efficiency. 

The organization had invested heavily in several established internal systems, including an extensive catalog with over 65,000 SKUs and custom-developed in-house millwork manufacturing software. Any new ERP solution would need to successfully integrate with these business-critical systems rather than requiring costly replacements.

Solution

After evaluating several ERP options, Keim selected Klipboard ERP One for its industry-specific functionality and exceptional integration capabilities. From the start, the organization knew it needed a solution that could support high transaction volumes while adapting to the company’s established processes rather than forcing change.

Additionally, the implementation approach was just as important as the technology itself. Keim needed a partner willing to understand both how the business operates and why certain processes were essential to customer relationships or service standards.

What really set Klipboard apart was how interested they were in getting to know us, not just as a company, but as an individual customer with our own needs and expectations. Other vendors weren’t as flexible, but Klipboard took time to understand why we do things differently and bent the system to fit the way we work. They came alongside us as experts in ERP One and guided us through the entire implementation. The Klipboard team didn’t just say, ‘Here’s how it works.’ They said, ‘Let’s make it work for you.’

Ben Beachy, Executive Director of Technology

Benefits

With Klipboard, The Keim Company has transformed its operations and eliminated previous system limitations. 

The biggest thing that attracted us to ERP One was the speed of processing. When you’re working in a system all day, being able to get a line in, go on to the next order and keep things moving —that’s what keeps us efficient

Ben Beachy

ERP One’s flexibility has enabled Keim to preserve and enhance its processes, reducing the need for manual work and improving overall efficiency. 

ERP One provided more functionality in terms of its ability to connect to our current internal solutions. We built our own integration with our millwork system. Now, a salesperson can push a button and the whole order moves over. No more manual entry, no more copy and paste. That’s a huge win.

Ben Beachy

The system's Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) capabilities give Keim direct access to its data across systems, making it easier to analyze performance and make faster, more informed business decisions. 

Building on ERP One’s framework, Keim also integrated the system with OrderEase to support seamless, high-volume EDI trading with its primary hardware supplier. This extension of ERP One automates the exchange of critical documents and ensures accurate, reliable data flow beyond Keim’s internal systems.

By leveraging these ODBC and integration capabilities, Keim has created a unified business management ecosystem that supports complex inventory, processes thousands of daily orders, and upholds its reputation as a trusted leader in the LBM industry.

ERP One creates a whole new set of possibilities. We’ve implemented much better integration with our internal systems, including automatic integrations for a variety of configurators and design tools.

Ben Beachy, Executive Director of Technology

Today, ERP One supports Keim’s 1,200+ daily orders while maintaining the accuracy and reliability required to deliver exceptional products and service. Klipboard has strengthened critical systems rather than replacing them, combining modern ERP functionality with the tools that already underpin its business success. 

How Keim Uses OrderEase

The Keim Company uses OrderEase to handle EDI trading with Do it Best, its primary hardware supplier. OrderEase is a modern B2B Order Management System with built-in EDI, giving trading partners a reliable way to keep high-volume ordering running smoothly.

When Keim moved to ERP One, they needed a straightforward way to exchange keydocuments such as price catalogs, purchase orders, shipping notices, and invoices. OrderEase became the bridge between ERP One, Do it Best, and Keim Lumber, automating the flow of information so everything stays accurate, timely, and consistent.

The project came together through close collaboration between Keim, ERP One, Do it Best and OrderEase. This strong partnership is what makes OrderEase one of Klipboard’s preferred EDI connectivity partners.

Benefits Keim has achieved from ERP One and OrderEase include:

• Seamless System Integration - ERP One connects effortlessly with Keim's existing internal catalog of 65,000+ SKUs and in-house millwork manufacturing software while preserving business-critical systems
• Enhanced Order Processing Capacity - Successfully handles over 1,200 orders per day with improved accuracy and efficiency
• Streamlined Operations - Simplified order entry and comprehensive inventory management reduce manual processes and errors
• Comprehensive Financial Analytics - Real-time insights support better decision-making and long-term business growth strategies
• Scalable Partnership Platform - System grows with the business while expert implementation and ongoing support ensure maximum value from the technology investment