WebSmart Snapshot in Productivity

Stanley Furniture

Since Stanley Furniture's founding in 1924, it has become one of the largest and most respected furniture makers in the country. With manufacturing facilities in Virginia, and North Carolina, Stanley now employees nearly 3,000 people. Sales for fiscal year 2003 hit $260.6 million. Stanley Furniture runs an ERP suite and other applications on an IBM iSeries, model 810.

Ten Questions for Alfis Jones, Systems and Solutions Manager at Stanley Furniture

BCD: What applications did you develop with WebSmart?

Jones: "There are lots of them. We have probably written between 75 to 100 different programs with WebSmart. Some are full applications and others are supplements to existing applications. In our manufacturing area alone, we have developed 12 different programs."

BCD: How much skill or effort was involved?

Jones: "Not much. A totally inexperienced programmer, actually a computer operator, wrote most of these programs."

BCD: Was any training necessary?

Jones: "We took a three day training class, they came here."

BCD: What led up to your selection of WebSmart?

Jones: "We looked at WebSphere, and another package that we actually purchased. It was a screen scraper and it was very difficult to use. You had to know a lot more VB script and ASP type programming-- we are all RPG programmers here. That package didn't really work out for us. Then I saw an ad for a free 30 day trial of WebSmart."

BCD: Does WebSmart save you any time or money?

Jones: "Yes, both time and money. It really shrinks development time. We have developed more web-based programs with WebSmart in a short period of time, than anyone else in my opinion."

BCD: What are a few things you really liked about it?

Jones: "The thing that most astounded me was how easy and quick it was to get a program up and running. When I got the demo copy, I talked to a tech guy for about five minutes over the telephone. Afterwards, I wrote a full maintenance program in about two minutes. I had never touched WebSmart before!"

BCD: Did it generate 100 percent of the executable code?

Jones: "In our case we had to modify the HTML to get the look and feel that we wanted. It generates basic HTML to where you have screens that work."

BCD: Are you using any other BCD products?

Jones: "This is the only one we use. We are in the process of having BCD rewrite our extranet in WebSmart, it was originally written by another consultant."

BCD: Did BCD's Technical Support team give you satisfactory answers when you called?

Jones: "We have had very good experiences with their support. If you pick up the phone and call, you normally will get somebody that's knowledgeable in WebSmart and can help you through your problems. They don't give up until they find the answer."

BCD: What would you like to tell others about your experience with BCD Products?

Jones: "If you want something to help get web programs up and running that is simple to use, WebSmart is a great product."