Reliable Parts, a distributor of parts for major electronics and appliance manufacturers throughout North America, has elected to upgrade its legacy IBS Enterprise system to Enterprise Version 9 in anticipation of future expansion plans.

International Business Systems (IBS), is a global supplier of integrated ERP, warehouse management systems (WMS), and supply chain solutions.

Reliable Parts recently acquired Appliance Parts Depot (APD) of Dallas, Texas, expanding Reliable’s U.S. and Canadian locations by 15. The expansion comes after Svoboda Capital purchased Reliable Parts in 2014. The decision to upgrade to IBS Enterprise V.9 is expected to position the company for additional growth in 2017.

“We needed a solution capable of processing the thousands of transactions that Reliable Parts runs daily, plus the significant increase in daily transactions we expect as a result of our growth plans,” said Lowell Millard, Reliable Parts CTO. “IBS was able to demonstrate the processing power to manage the volume. We chose IBS over two competitors, not only because IBS Enterprise is transaction-capable, but also because it supports our wide geographic dispersion and ecommerce needs now and as we grow.”

Reliable Parts has been using the IBS system since 1999. Millard said it had proven to meet their needs, and the fact that it runs on an IBM iSeries platform was also important, as other systems would not be able to handle the load.

The upgrade will launch after Reliable effectively absorbs the APD acquisition, transitioning all APD locations to the original IBS platform before moving the entire company onto IBS Enterprise V.9, part of Business Suite 2016.

“This interim step allows us to transfer the existing knowledge base to APD and sets the stage for an easier transition to V.9 later on,” said Jim Smith, president of the Mesa Group, a certified IBS implementation partner.

Onboarding of APD locations will begin around July 2016, with the full transition to IBS Enterprise V.9 expected in the second half of 2017.

Reliable Parts, established in 1933, serves wholesale and retail customers for parts they need to service brands such as Whirlpool, GE, Samsung, LG, Bosch, Maytag, and Frigidaire. Reliable Parts operates from more than 60 branch and warehouse locations in Canada and the United States, covering both countries with next-day delivery.