Greater use of enterprise resource planning software is
helping Pressed Steel Products in County Durham to extend its
product range and double its turnover.
The manufacturer, which has grown from 10 to 30 employees since
1998, announced plans in May to increase its £3m turnover to
between £5m and £6m by offering a wider selection of products.
Since Pressed Steel Products went live with an Epicor Vantage
ERP system two years ago, the company has cut idle time by 25% and
delivers 93% of orders on time.
Now the firm, which makes architectural facades, is making more
use of the software’s customer relationship management capabilities
to allow it to link with architects and become involved with
customers earlier in the design stage of development.
“The system is now linking with the architects from the design
stage and throughout the delivery, which will allow us to improve
our cost estimations,” said Tamer Qaqish, IT manager at Pressed
Steel Products.
The project to bring in ERP systems started in 2002, when the
government-funded Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme enabled
Pressed Steel Products to work with Durham University to improve
its business processes. Even as a shortlist of ERP suppliers was
being drawn up, the company started to move to new business
processes.
“The result was that the move to the new software was a really
smooth transition,” Qaqish said.
“It is normally quite difficult for a small company with limited
resources to manage the implementation of a new ERP system. But the
implementation process itself can help all involved get a better
understanding of fundamental business processes.”
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