Trackable audit trail provides information for more efficient deployment of staff
Unlimited user licensing offers growth opportunity without paying more in licensing fees
Single, real-time platform
Instantaneous mobile processing
Along with how our developers work with VAI, we’re able to do what we need to do service our customers better, run our business better, be innovative, ingrate acquisitions, and whatever else needs to be done.
Jason Tillis
President
Imperial Brady
Company
Imperial Brady is a leading independent distributor of foodservice, janitorial, and packaging products and solutions, headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. The company traces its origins to 1935, when it was founded as Imperial Bag & Paper Co. (also known as Imperial Paper & Packaging).
In 2007, the Tillis family assumed leadership, and under the direction of Robert Tillis and Jason Tillis, the company began a period of rapid expansion. A major milestone occurred when Imperial Bag & Paper Co. merged with Dade Paper & Bag Co., a prominent foodservice distributor serving restaurants, supermarkets, and cruise lines throughout the Eastern United States. This merger created Imperial Dade, which went on to grow aggressively through both acquisition and organic expansion.
Since 2007, Imperial Dade has completed 97 acquisitions. Combined with strategic growth initiatives, these acquisitions helped to position the company as one of the fastest growing leaders in its market. Notable acquisitions included Borda Products, Center Moriches Paper, Burke Supply, Wasserman Bag, Brawner Paper, JAD Building Maintenance Supplies, Royal Net, and Goldman Paper Company.
In May 2026, Imperial Dade and BradyPLUS officially unified under a single corporate brand, Imperial Brady, merging their respective networks of over 125 and 180 locations into a single footprint of more than 300 North American facilities. To manage this newly consolidated, $10 billion distribution powerhouse, which now commands a joint workforce of over 13,000 employees, the company selected the VAI S2K Enterprise ERP platform. This software implementation creates a unified digital ecosystem designed to maximize operational efficiency, optimize supply chain visibility, and scale the combined enterprise across Canada and the United States.
The Solution
Imperial Bag & Paper Co. had been a VAI ERP customer since 2012. After the merger with Dade Paper & Bag Co., the combined organization faced the challenge of integrating multiple disparate systems and creating a single, unified operational view. Rapid expansion had left Imperial Dade with fragmented software platforms and no centralized source of real‑time data.
To support continued growth, the company needed an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that was comprehensive, scalable, and cost‑effective. To address this, Imperial began a formal due diligence process in March 2012. After evaluating several ERP options, the company selected VAI ERP in May 2012 for several key reasons:
• Compatibility with existing infrastructure and equipment
• Ability to consolidate all systems onto a single platform with real time data access
• A strong reputation for reliability, flexibility, and support for long term growth
Deployment began shortly thereafter, and the company went live in May 2013. Ongoing professional consulting and pre deployment training ensured that employees were fully prepared to use the system effectively. This investment in training and process optimization has enabled Imperial Dade, and now Imperial Brady, to serve its customers more efficiently and with greater speed and accuracy.
Nucleus Research, a global technology research and advisory firm specializing in ROI-focused analysis, performed an ROI assessment on Imperial Dade to quantify the initial and ongoing costs of consulting, hardware, software, software license subscription fees, personnel time to implement and support the application, and employee training time to calculate Imperial’s total investment in VAI ERP over a 3-year period.
Direct and indirect benefits were also quantified over a 3-year period. Direct benefits quantified were the avoidance of additional warehouse staff, reduced in-house accounting personnel, transportation cost savings, reduced inventory carrying costs, and elimination of duplicative services. Indirect benefits quantified included the increased employee productivity driven by the deployment and were calculated based on the average annual fully loaded cost of employees using a correction factor to account for the inefficient transfer of time.
Said Jason Tillis, President at Imperial Dade, “In our business, it’s important to us to add value for our customers. Anything we can do to help our customers run their business better is what we want to do, and VAI has let us do that.”
The Result
The deployment of VAI ERP has enabled Imperial Dade to consolidate several systems onto a single, real-time platform. The flexibility and adaptability of VAI ERP has provided the base necessary for continued organic and acquisition growth of the company.
Imperial Dade deployed VAI ERP Enterprise to accommodate the fusion of multiple acquisitions under one ERP package. The company leveraged VAI’s unlimited user licensing to add hundreds of new users obtained during recent acquisitions. Nucleus found that VAI ERP enabled the company to migrate multiple software applications into one integrated ERP solution, providing a view of the entire business and providing real-time visibility throughout the organization.
The costs for the project consisted of consulting fees, initial hardware expenses, ongoing hardware maintenance, annual software license maintenance, and personnel time to implement and support the application. Imperial Dade also incurred costs for training its employees through both trainers’ fees and employee time.
ROI: 100% Payback: 1.1 years Average annual benefit: $1,194,353
Since the launch, Imperial has been using VAI’s ERP software to:
• Integrate in real-time all applications
• Reduce staff overlap and personnel costs
• Improve delivery times and efficiency
• Reduce transportation expenses, warehouse carry costs, and the frequency of inventory transfers
• Increase efficiency in accounting
• Increase flexibility and visibility and support for continued growth
This expansion continues today with the launch of the Imperial Brady brand. By centralizing on VAI S2K Enterprise, Imperial Brady will leverage real-time data across all branches to optimize procurement, logistics, and localized customer service.
Established:
1935
Location:
Jersey City, New Jersey
Industries:
