If it ain't broke... Do fix it
October 1st 2007

If it ain't broke, don't fix it' is an often used phrase. However, this can mean that we become blind to the opportunity of improving our business processes – and it's often only when we start to look at these processes in detail that we realise the true levels of efficiency that could be made. In an increasingly competitive, globalised landscape a careful eye on manufacturing and distribution efficiencies is a must in order to meet customer expectations. This means ensuring every process is interlinked and automated where possible. Designing a software system with the flexibility and reach required to satisfy these needs is essentially what Access Supply Chain has achieved with its manufacturing and distribution solution.

By taking a modular approach, a business can add more functionality as it grows, enabling an organisation to start small and add to the system as requirements dictate.

The solution is also built on a single Microsoft SQL database, so all modules integrate seamlessly in real-time, cutting out the need to re-key data thereby avoiding errors. All transactions – from the shop floor to custom software packages and remote systems such as web sites – can be entered straight into the daily workflow. These completed transactions are updated on the system immediately and automatically, becoming part of the indelible audit trail and leading to greater transparency of trading and operational activities.

What this means is a greater ability for the operations team to maintain control over working schedules throughout the whole manufacturing and distribution lifecycle of a product. Rapid order entry, flexible pick-lists, and exception reporting, factors which used to make distribution more difficult, have been eradicated. It also serves senior executives with higher quality management reporting upon which to base their forecasts and business plans.

Business is won and lost on a company's ability to deliver the right product at the right time. Customer satisfaction is everything as reputation is either improved or diminished by the ability to deliver results. By implementing the right software solution, a completely joined up approach to manufacturing and distribution can be achieved, putting business firmly in the driving seat.

To help organisations successfully select a new ERP software solution, Access Supply Chain has published a Manufacturing and Supply Chain Software For Dummies guide in conjunction with publishers, Wiley. To obtain a copy telephone call the number below or email dummies@accesssupplychain.com

Case study: Flawless order accuracy

Floor-covering supplier Hall's Floorings totally transformed its operations, according to its financial director, John Wade, with the introduction of an ERP sales order and stock control system from Access Supply Chain. It also successfully integrated the Access solution with a warehouse management system.

"Our order accuracy now is fantastic – the credit note ratio halved immediately – and with the sales office and stock control functionality running smoothly, we can really offer a proactive service to our customers," says Wade.

Hall's supplies carpet to small independent carpet retailers throughout the country, as well as one large independent retailer, with department stores in most major towns.

Dealing with both ends of this customer spectrum places many demands upon the business, but the company succeeds by offering exceptional service – orders received by 4pm are cut, packaged and despatched for next-day delivery.

Previously, the warehouse was entirely paper based. Now, with the paper element removed, orders are fed through directly from order processing to the cutting table. "As soon as an order is taken, the details appear on pick-screens on the forklift trucks; the driver picks the product and takes the roll to the cutting table area," says Wade. "The roll card is scanned and the number of cuts to be taken from that roll is displayed on a PC sited on the cutting machine. All the operator has to do is press a button and the dimensions are transferred to the cutting table measurement machine. The cuts are taken and a packing note produced for each."

Case study: Plymouth Gin's 700 per cent proof

England's oldest gin distillery Plymouth Gin implemented a new ERP and accounting system to meet its planned increase in production of 700 per cent.

"Our manual systems were adequate when we were distilling once a month but producing a potential million physical cases means we would have to distil twice a day and we needed an MRP system that would work to our forecasts and dictate what stocks we needed to buy, as opposed to relying on human judgement," says Sue Hawley, the firm's financial controller.

Production at Plymouth is driven by demand from the company's national distribution centres and supplier orders are placed directly from the MRP system, which also provides Sue with reports to check the value of stocks for accounting purposes.

Whilst the gin has to be distilled in Plymouth, it is bottled in Essex and shipped direct to the distributor. The bottling plant (itself a user of the Access system) feeds batch numbers and lot numbers back into the distillery's Access system, so traceability is assured.

"Now we're really starting to use the system the way it was meant to be used; we're getting the reports from it we need and it has given people their time back – that's important as the business grows because it allows them to focus on productive tasks rather than admin," concludes Hawley.

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