Eikenhout : Roofing, Siding and Windows

Technology Began at Eikenhout

Look closely at this picture, circa 1970,  and certain technological systems stand out at Eikenhout.

It isn’t the 1966 Chevy sitting outside of our building, or the rotary telephone with multiple lines, or that Henry Schierbeek, our chairman, looks almost unrecognizably youthful.

The technology of the day, which never had a hard disk failure,  was being used  to create and maintain inventory.  Can you see it?  It is the card file box.

That $2.00 box was just as important then as all of the current computers running our seven stores are now.  Every day Henry Schierbeek or Dick Sonneveldt would hand write the changes in their inventory levels based on their sales slips for the day.  The kitchen table would become the evening office as the numbers were entered and re-entered.  It was tedious but accurate.  Those were the early scribes of Eikenhout history.

Today the computers instantly reflect inventory levels as sales are written up.  At a push of a button, our mega inventory is pictured in all of our locations even as material is scanned and out on trucks for deliveries.  Technology allows Eikenhout to be instantly receptive to our customers needs.

This responsive technology began as a 3×5 card system in a wooden box, taken out every night at the kitchen table to help Eikenhout maintain an accurate inventory.  You know those good ol’ days were a lot of work.