Success Stories

Headquarters: Broomall, PA
Number of Employees: 800+
Solutions: Sage Abra HRMS Modules: Payroll, HR, Train
 View the MAB Paints Success Story PDF

Over 100 years ago, Michael A. Bruder opened a small paint store in South Philadelphia. Since then, Mr. Bruder's son and now his grandsons have grown the company into a thriving operation employing more than 800 people. MAB Paints now operates 150 stores in 15 states, manufacturing and distributing its quality paints from three manufacturing facilities and four warehouses.

Primed And Ready
The company switched its accounting and operations software from a proprietary mainframe system in 1994, and selected Sage Abra as its new payroll and HR solution. Frank Burns, controller at MAB Paints since 1970, says the company has never considered another solution, "We've yet to see a payroll or HR issue that Sage Abra cannot handle." MAB Paints also chose HRMG Solutions to provide support and services for the system.

Full Coverage
Over the years, MAB Paints has acquired related enterprises. Burns is impressed that they did not need to buy any additional software to accommodate the new companies; Sage Abra supports any number of tax entities, tracking taxes and employee data separately. "As our business has changed, Abra has been flexible enough to change with it." With operations in multiple states, MAB Paints must be vigilant in complying with various taxing jurisdictions. Sage Abra makes compliance easy, and handles MAB Paints' multi state operations with ease. Quarterly tax table updates are provided to ensure the current rates are always being used. Hourly employees who work in the company's stores clock-in and clock-out using the stores' point of sale system. The payroll data is imported into Sage Abra during each pay cycle. This eliminates the need to manually enter hours and ensures that payroll is ready on time, every time.

Professional Support Team
Burns' long-term experience with Sag Abra means that he's often able to troubleshoot issues or questions that arise, yet he knows he has expert help available when it's needed. "They're terrific people," Burns says of HRMG Solutions, "They understand the urgency of payroll. They never say 'I'll get to you next week'."

Rich Feature Palette
Under its old payroll system, MAB Paints used preprinted check stock to generate checks for each of its employees. With Sage Abra, the company uses blank check stock, realizing a tremendous savings. Burns reports that the company paid for Sage Abra plus their new hardware purchases in less than two years with the savings. The efficiency Sage Abra brings to the year-end reporting and filing process keeps operations firmly on track. MAB Paints ran its last payroll of the year on Thursday, December 29. On Friday, Burns printed W-2's, 940s, 941s, and state unemployment reports, completing year-end processing by the end of the day. The company was ready to go on Monday morning, January 1. "I appreciate Abra's flexibility; we can do virtually anything with the software," explains Burns, "Perhaps more important, we can undo virtually anything." MAB Paints has a weekly payroll of about 600 hourly employees, and a monthly payroll of about 200 salaried staff. Burns says his staff starts payroll processing on Monday afternoon, and the entire process is complete by Tuesday. About 75 percent of MAB Paint's employees take advantage of Sage Abra Direct Deposit, which supports an unlimited number of direct deposit distribution accounts per employee. "Abra handles Direct Deposit beautifully," says Burns, "It produces the file in a bank-compatible format and we send it electronically."

Cohesive Solution
Sage Abra is a comprehensive solution of HR, payroll, training, and other modules. In addition to the Payroll and Human Resources modules, the company uses the integrated Sage Abra Train module to track its employee education program. The seamless integration between the modules means MAB Paint's staff has a single point of reference for all employee-related information. On Time As Promised, is MAB Paint's service commitment. In Sage Abra and HRMG Solutions, the company has found partners that honor that very same commitment.