Success Stories

Builders Merchants

Customer: Haldane Fisher

Site link: www.haldane-fisher.com

Cutting-edge business intelligence allows Haldane Fisher to enhance their customer service

Established in 1946, family-run building and timber merchant Haldane Fisher pride themselves on continuously improving their business and providing outstanding customer service. For many years, the merchant has run K8 - the flagship ERP solution from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) - as the core business management system to streamline their trading and finance management. As part of Haldane Fisher’s drive for continual improvement, they chose to implement Phocas to integrate with K8, allowing them to operate with enhanced business intelligence (BI) and improve the speed and quality of their decision-making across all areas of their operation.

Neal Boomer, Group Finance Director at Haldane Fisher explains how K8 has successfully driven many developments over the years as the system has grown. "The openness of K8 provided us with the means of becoming one of the first builders’ merchants in Northern Ireland to go live with a fully-functional and integrated ecommerce website, allowing customers to check stock availability across our branch network as and when they need to."

Michelle McKee, Group Project Accountant at Haldane Fisher highlights how K8 is an intrinsic part of the business. "All transactions are processed through the system, and our staff use it daily for sales, purchasing, finance and stock management. Ultimately, K8 is at the heart of our day-to-day operations and has the capability to store huge amounts of data."

To further enhance their customer offering and business efficiency, Haldane Fisher wanted to digitally transform and modernise their data management. Consequently, they recognised the benefits of taking the transaction and business data within K8 into the cloud-based BI and analytics solution that is Phocas.

Since the successful implementation, Haldane Fisher have been able to transform their data access with informative insights that enhance decision-making for the benefit of the company and their customers.

Michelle explains how Phocas helps them to efficiently analyse large volumes of data. "Phocas is a self-service system that’s fast and easy to use, empowering our staff to find the answers to questions immediately rather than waiting for weekly or monthly reports. This not only increases efficiency but also means staff have objective knowledge in an easily understandable, visual format, to help drive improvement in all areas across the business."

Key benefits

• Sophisticated stock and logistics management
• Scalable, easy to deploy
• Simple to use, yet powerful order management
• Integrated email for invoices, statements, purchase orders, etc

Would you like to know more?

The latest version of K8 has all the tools you need to deliver your digital strategy and allow you to compete better in the connected world. Book a demo to discover how K8 can benefit your business.

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Caswellsgroup Wholesalers

Samuel Kirk  Builders Merchants

Wholesalers

Customer: Caswellsgroup

Site link: www.caswellsgroup.com

Caswellsgroup power ahead with the latest K8, the ERP solution that underpins its digital strategy

Caswellsgroup, a leading supplier of industrial consumables, implemented K8, the flagship ERP solution from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) during the lockdown period and has not looked back since!

The K8 system was implemented remotely as nobody could physically visit the site when strict lockdown rules were in place. Although a new approach had to be adopted by all to deliver the project, it was a great success and brought immediate benefits to the business.

‘KCS took a pragmatic view of the project and how we would get it from A to B while not being on-site,’ says John Caswell, Project Manager. ‘The important thing we found throughout the process is that you don’t need to be a technical whizz to make the implementation a success - it really is intuitive, and the team were great to work with.’

James Platt, Operations Director, explains further. ‘I was part of the KCS team that delivered the K8 project into Caswells, and it was a pleasure to work with such like-minded individuals, despite the strange times in which we all found ourselves.’

Upgrade to the latest K8

Since joining Caswells, James has upgraded to the latest release of K8. ’We are an ambitious business, and we want to take complete advantage of all that K8 has to offer. Therefore, it just makes sense to implement these new functions and processes on the latest software release.'

‘That way, we know we’re taking advantage of all the latest innovations from KCS,’ James continues. ‘I’m a firm believer in the mantra “Get current, stay current” because it’s bad practice to let your core business system fall behind. And particularly as so much is changing so fast all around us!’

Digital solutions that add real value

Caswells have now embarked on the next stage of their digital journey, implementing the latest apps from KCS.

They have rolled out the K8 ePOD app, which enables drivers to download their delivery manifest and then be guided to each drop. When there, they can easily check off the goods while capturing signatures and any images and pictures that help confirm delivery. ‘There are huge benefits to having our drivers use ePOD,’ James says.

‘Not only does it make the delivery process much more straightforward, but it also ensures that once a delivery is confirmed, it’s immediately available for invoicing. If the driver finds an issue, they can immediately notify us via the app. We can then deal with the issue there and resolve it for our customer. The fact that the signed POD and images are immediately uploaded to our system means that we have instant access to this information in the event of a dispute.’

Extending its internet presence

Caswells is also planning to extend its web presence beyond the personalised portals that are currently offered to customers. It sees this as a core element of its digital strategy and wants to ensure that this is fully integrated with the core business platform.

‘K8’s openness is crucial to us,’ James explains. ‘We can utilise K8’s core APIs and other tools to integrate our web solutions seamlessly. So, we can avoid re-keying in transactions and avoid all of the potential errors. Also, it’s important customers see price and stock availability in real-time and know that the moment they place their orders, we are on it for them.’

Fast and accurate goods receipt

The eReceipts app enables the team to receive and book goods in a single action, ensuring that they are immediately registered. Additionally, any issues found can be notified electronically to the management team so they can take swift action. ‘eReceipts really makes a difference to our picking and backorder clearance process. We now find that inventory is available for picking throughout the day, not just when somebody finally gets around to booking the goods in at a terminal.’

Empowering the sales team

James is also planning to introduce the SalesRep Portal. This app enables the remote sales team to capture orders on their phone whilst visiting with a customer.

‘Too often, keying errors can arise when orders are emailed to the office and then keyed into the system. We want the customer’s order to be immediately available for processing as soon as a member of our sales team takes it. Not only will this remove errors, but it will also mean that we can get the goods to our customers in less time and deliver even greater customer service.

We have already delivered a wealth of information to our sales team to help them better understand our customers’ needs, so it just makes sense to automate this process fully. Naturally, they’re all really excited at the benefits this will bring.’

Would you like to know more?

The latest version of K8 has all the tools you need to deliver your digital strategy and allow you to compete better in the connected world. Book a demo to discover how K8 can benefit your business.

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Caswellsgroup Wholesalers

Lawsons Builders Merchants

Builders Merchants

Customer: JTD Building Supplies

Site link: www.jtdbuildingsupplies.co.uk

JTD Building Supplies quadruples in size with K8 - the ERP solution that keeps on growing

Established in 2011, JTD Building Supplies has used the intuitive functionality within K8 from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) to make great strides in its development. Implemented in 2017, K8 is an ERP business management system that uses a comprehensive range of modules to help merchant businesses source effectively, stock efficiently, sell profitably, and service competitively.

Based in West Yorkshire, JTD Building Supplies is an independent builders’ merchant providing building materials and supplies to construction firms, trade customers and retail customers across the region. The company grew from values of sustainability and customer service and was explicitly looking for the right ERP software when its Managing Director, Tony Sharkey, was invited to attend a business management strategy course run by Goldman Sachs. One of his goals set through this course was to find a good software package. Tony knew that a number of leading builders’ merchants were using K8 software, so after a lot of research and comparisons, Tony decided to implement K8 in March 2018 at JTD.

The transformation since then has been remarkable.

Starting from a small base with eight people and a turnover of two million, JTD now has two full purpose sites and a full-time staff of thirty-seven people. Moreover, they’ve just recorded a global turnover of ten and a half million pounds.

Highlights

• Sophisticated stock and logistics management
• Scalable, easy to deploy
• Simple to use, yet powerful order management
• Integrated email for invoices, statements, purchase orders, etc

Would you like to know more?

Discover how K8 can benefit your business and book your demo today.

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EH SmithBuilders Merchants

Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Timber Merchants

Customer: Terry Howell

Site link: www.terryhowell.co.uk

Terry Howell goes digital with K8 from Kerridge Commercial Systems

In 2020 Terry Howell, an independent family timber and builders’ merchant in South Wales, partnered with Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) to implement their leading ERP solution, K8. The business selected K8 because it is specifically designed and developed for the merchant industry, improving efficiencies and their end level of customer service.

K8 is a sophisticated and intuitive trading platform that enables merchants to manage everything from front-end sales to back-office administrative functions. Additionally, the software is designed to help merchant and distribution businesses improve their day-to-day performance with boosted profits and margins they can manage in detail.

Recognising the need to streamline and improve accuracy with business management software, Luke Brown, Head of Retail at Terry Howell, explains why the timber merchants chose K8. ‘What really stood out to us about K8 was the scope for tailoring the system to suit our specific business needs. In addition, we were really encouraged by the knowledge and expertise of the consultancy team. Having individuals on our project who understood our industry was a huge help in the build stages, with the ability to bounce ideas off each other and share best practices on how we could get the system to work for us.’

Highlights

• ERP software tailored to suit the needs of the business
• System implementation run by timber-industry experts
• Efficient sales and inventory processes to meet demand
• An improved end-to-end customer experience

Would you like to know more?

Discover how K8 can benefit your business and book your demo today.

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Howarth Timber  Timber Merchants

Lakeside TimberTimber Merchants

Tiles

Customer: Tileflair

Site link: www.tileflair.co.uk

K8 helps leading tile distributor, Tileflair, expand with ease and confidence

Fifty years ago, Tileflair started trading with a small team of four people in one store. Passionate about being the best at what they did, they aimed to create a first-class experience for their customers. Such vision and the desire to deliver top-class service led the company to implement K8, the market-leading ERP solution from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS). K8 helps busy distributors, wholesalers and retailers, like Tileflair, manage their trade and finance effectively.

Highlights

• Sophisticated stock and logistics management
• Scalable, easy to deploy
• Simple to use, yet powerful order management
• Integrated email for invoices, statements, purchase orders, etc

Would you like to know more?

Discover how K8 can benefit your business and book your demo today.

Tiles

Customer: Hyde Park Tiles

Site link: www.hydeparktiles.co.uk

Hyde Park Tiles switch to K8 Trader as their business grows into the future

Stoke-based tile and bathroom company, Hyde Park Tiles, have transferred their business software to K8 Trader by Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS). A family business with stores in two locations, Hyde Park Tiles offer a tailored range of products to meet the tastes of an ever-changing market.

Highlights

• Save time with intuitive single-screen processing
• Easy to learn for fast business implementation
• Manage stock with powerful import/export functionality
• A simple interface helps you buy from different suppliers

Would you like to know more?

Discover how K8 Trader can benefit your business and book your demo today.

Builders Merchants

Customer: Reeds of Wantage

Site link: reedswantage.com

K8 Trader sets Reeds of Wantage up for a digital future

Independent decorators’ merchant Reeds of Wantage has been using K8 Trader for almost three years. During this time, the software has supported an almost doubling in turnover and helped the business trade through the coronavirus pandemic - something that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible. The company is now looking forward to reaping the benefits of ecommerce as it transitions to a digital future.

Highlights

• Ability to access K8 remotely and continue trading off-site
• Improved product margins allow more informed customer pricing
• Batch invoice processing is now around four times faster
• Enhanced stock reporting to identify slow-moving items

Would you like to know more?

Discover how K8 Trader can benefit your business and book your demo today.

Distributors

Customer: Fenton Packaging

Site link: www.fentonpackaging.co.uk

The benefits of Vecta’s sales analysis

Fenton Packaging, a national packaging stockist and distributor, is reaping the benefits of up-to-date, accurate insights into its sales activity after renewing its focus on Vecta over the past 12 months. The business intelligence (BI) tool is now benefiting every area of the organisation, saving considerable amounts of time and eliminating manual data input processes.

Highlights:

• Remote access, has improved the level of service

• Improved product margins allow more informed customer pricing

• Sales manager can accurately track their area

• Enhanced stock reporting to identify slow-moving items

• Reducing the need for physical paper work

Would you like to know more?

Request more information or arrange a call from the Vecta team.

Electrical Wholesalers

Customer: Grant & Stone

Website: www.grantandstone.co.uk

Solutions for a digital age

Independent merchant Grant & Stone has always considered itself to be ahead of the curve when it comes to technology – and there was no better time to go digital than in 2020. With K8 at the core of its operations, the independent builders’ merchant has gone from strength to strength, benefiting not only from the core cloud-based system, but also its associated apps.

Electronic proof of delivery and ecommerce are just two of the areas where the business has thrived over recent months, and a number of additional products and services from KCS will be integral to its future success.

Gains and benefits - watch the video to see more

• Cloud deployment has facilitated expansion of the growing business

• K8 ePOD cuts down on paperwork and stores signatures electronically for easy access

• Luckins catalogue integration with K8 ensures accuracy of pricing and product descriptions

• K8 WebTrade, a B2B ecommerce solution, allows customers to access their accounts online

• Remote working and increased IT security facilitated by the cloud

• Ongoing relationship with KCS has positioned the business for future success

Discover how K8 can benefit your business and book your demo today.

Builders Merchants

Customer: EH Smith Architectural Clay Products

Site link: ehsmithclayproducts.co.uk

Working in partnership with Kerridge CS saves EH Smith ‘dozens of man hours’

Ensuring customers can deliver great service with maximum efficiency is at the heart of the partnership Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) offers to its customers. This means providing the tools they need to source effectively, stock efficiently, sell profitably and service competitively in their respective markets.

K8 business management software provides KCS customers with a vast range of industry-specialist features designed to ensure they have that competitive edge. Sometimes, they need something extra to really make sure they have a real advantage over the competition - and the KCS team works in partnership with customers to create a solution.

One business to have recently deployed an application such as this is EH Smith Architectural Clay Products, a division of independent builders’ merchant EH Smith who have 98 years’ experience in the construction industry as established specialists in bricks and building materials. The Architectural Clay Products division deals with companies specifying large-scale projects across the UK, and is well established in the sector as an industry leader.

James Cave, Senior Business Analyst at EH Smith, reveals that creating a tailored application was necessary for the administration team, and how the results have led to considerable time and efficiency savings.

Highlights

• Saving dozens of man hours
• Simplification of day-to-day operations
• Time and efficiency savings across the business
• Administration team can deal with different scenarios with ease
• Changing data through a single mass amend grid

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EH SmithBuilders Merchants

Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Builders Merchants

Customer: EH Smith

Site link: ehsmith.co.uk

EH Smith embraces digital era with solutions from Kerridge CS

Digital solutions have helped many builders’ merchants future-proof their operations and open up new opportunities, including EH Smith. Senior Business Analyst James Cave reflects on how Kerridge Commercial Systems’ (KCS’) K8 software has helped the company grow, adapt, and meet its digital ambitions for the future.

The need for builders’ merchants to adopt digital solutions has never been greater. Technology has proved integral to helping merchants tackle challenges, including those posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but also position them for future success.

EH Smith, one of the UK’s largest independent building, timber and brick suppliers, is the perfect example of a merchant that is using digital solutions to become more agile and adaptable. EH Smith installed its K8 business management software two-and-a-half years ago, and now supports the business with everything from sales right through to general management and finance. The business learnt a number of valuable lessons during the implementation phase, which James believes any builders’ merchant should consider when choosing a new ERP provider.

Highlights

• Establishing a digital roadmap to future-proof operation
• Being able to access the K8 system remotely
• Automation of purchase ledger processing
• Eliminating time-consuming delivery management processes
• Plans for adopting e-apps, including K8 ePOD and K8 eReceipts

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Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Desi Building Supplies Builders Merchants

Builders Merchants

Desi Building Supplies anticipates better stock control with K8 Trader

New builders’ merchant chooses Kerridge Commercial Systems’ (KCS) business management solution to speed up stock checking and improve efficiencies.

Choosing software for a new business venture means weighing up the features that are most valuable - and for Desi Building Supplies, stock control functionality was an absolute must. The company was established in early 2020 shortly before lockdown took hold, and it soon became evident that automating stock management processes would make a real difference to the business.

Cliff Bennett, Branch Manager at Desi Building Supplies, had previously used solutions from KCS, and believed K8 Trader would be a good fit for the new venture.

“K8 Trader will give us the visibility we need to be able to gain a better overview of our business,” Cliff explained. “At the moment, we’re using a system that doesn’t have any stock management functionality, so we don’t know exactly what we’ve got in stock at any given time.”

The stock management module within K8 Trader enables users to gain full control over their assets, by managing and automating core processes throughout the business. Desi Building Supplies will be able to track costs and access sales history, and there is scope to use the software across additional locations in the future.

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Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Trading Depot  Builders Merchants

Wholesalers

Customer: Caswellsgroup

Site link: www.caswellsgroup.com

Remote K8 implementation delivers efficiencies for Caswellsgroup

Unusual trading conditions have arisen for many businesses over recent months, and for one company, the coronavirus pandemic came just as it planned to move to a new ERP software provider.

Caswellsgroup, a leading supplier of industrial consumables, was due to go live on Kerridge Commercial Systems’ (KCS) K8 solution when lockdown rules were enforced. Still keen to go live with its new 32-user system, Project Manager John Caswell explained that KCS put forward the idea of a remote implementation.

“I’ve worked on system implementations as project manager before, but I’ve never done or considered a remote implementation,” explained John. “Having said that, I’ve worked remotely from home for about 30 years so I know that with the right mindset, these things are possible.

“In a very short space of time, I thought ‘well why not, let’s give it a go’.”

Caswellsgroup met members of the KCS team before lockdown, so the team still experienced some of the personal touch a company would expect from installing a new system.

A number of tools and technologies were put in place to open lines of communication between KCS and Caswellsgroup and give the project the best possible chance of success. “We used a mixture of Trello, Microsoft Teams, email, text and telephone calls, basically everything apart from face to face. One of the positive outcomes was this meant we had better records of the process than we would have done if everything had been carried out in person.

“KCS took a pragmatic view of the project and how we would get it from A to B while not being on site. The important thing we found throughout the process is that you don’t need to be a technical whizz to make the implementation a success - it really is intuitive.”

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Trilanco Wholesalers

Routeco  Distributors

Wholesalers

Customer: Trilanco LTD

Site link: www.trilanco.com

Vecta supports field sales team at Trilanco

Trilanco is a Lancashire-based specialist equine, pet and agricultural products wholesaler. The company supplies brands from all over the world and offers more than 20,000 product lines.

Supporting Trilanco’s retailer and distributor customers are an in-house customer service team, a network of sales managers based across the UK and Ireland, exclusive monthly offers and promotions, and next day delivery via Trilanco’s own fleet of vehicles.

Gary Molloy is Business Systems Manager at Trilanco and explained why the company implemented Vecta in 2019 to work alongside the company’s existing eCommerce platform. He said, “We were looking for a self-serving BI tool, with CRM capabilities, to help our field sales team spot gaps and opportunities, and to better report back to the office with regard to customer interactions and relations. Recommendations and our research led us to a shortlist of two and, following demonstrations, we were convinced that Vecta was the best choice for us.”

Gary said that one of the benefits of Vecta is that it’s a great reporting tool for the remotely based field sales team, giving them the visibility they need around customer history and performance. He added, “We’ve also found the CRM side of Vecta is particularly good and our field sales team are really on board with it. They use it daily to book appointments and meetings and for interacting with and reporting back tothe office.”

Gary said he still has work to do on the system internally to set up the alerts that will help the team spot gaps and opportunities, which they are currently spotting manually. “Vecta is already helping us grow our business,” he said. “However, once we’ve completed this work, then I’m confident Vecta is going to support us even more.”

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Norbain  Electrical Wholesalers

Routeco  Distributors

Discrete Manufacturing

Customer: Gresham Power Electronics

Site link: www.greshampower.com

K8 MFS software is the perfect fit for Gresham Power Electronics

For more than 50 years, Salisbury based Gresham Power Electronics Ltd has specialised in designing and manufacturing bespoke naval power conversion and distribution equipment for the marine defence industry – in the UK and worldwide.

“Our equipment is deployed by the Royal Navy as well as many foreign navies,” explained Director of Operations & Defence Business, Karen Jay. “everything we build is usually bespoke to an individual class ship. All our equipment is hand built and we have no automated processes at all. Following customer approval of our designs, we then manufacture prototypes and deliverables. Some products take several months to build and test, and the equipment may go through shock, vibration and EMC testing. It’s therefore critical for us to understand what our project costs are from start to finish. And, because we must support our products for 25 years, it’s crucial we have traceability of every component used for when the equipment comes back to us for servicing and cleaning, as well as for tight engineering control.”

Gresham Power chose K8 MFS software to manage their business processes after their incumbent supplier was no longer able to provide support to their 20-year-old system. “The old DOS based system had been updated with a Windows interface which looked quite user friendly but was anything but,” remembered Karen. “It was such a struggle to get to the information we needed quickly and impossible to extract data for reporting. It was also impossible to delete obsolete parts and the system was getting really clogged up as data cleansing was far too time consuming. We did however have plenty of warning that we would need to upgrade so we had time to look at a number of systems.”

Karen said that the ability of a system to calculate ‘actual’ costs was a key requirement as they seldom made the same piece of equipment twice. “Calculations based on standard or average costs just don’t work for us. We also needed to be able to export all of our existing data to any new system because of the very long-term support we provide. We eventually chose K8 MFS because it provided the costing model we needed, and the team reassured us they could successfully extract all our data. The Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) team were also able to train us using our own data. This made it far easier to check the data fields imported were correct, as our users were working with familiar data. Virtually every other provider we looked at only offered on-line training with documentation that didn’t match what you could see on their videos - with dummy data that bore no relevance to our business.”

“The software is also very intuitive to use, and the Financial Controller and I decided it was just what we needed. As a small company it was a big undertaking to implement a new system and we don’t have the luxury of an IT department helping us out. It’s now used in every part of our business – for material control, purchasing, sales, engineering and finance. The integrated accounting is also a big bonus.”

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Martel Instruments Discrete Manufacturing

Techflow Flexibles Discrete Manufacturing

Timber Merchants

Customer: Lakeside Timber

Site link: lakesidetimber.co.uk

K8 delivers business efficiencies to small family-run merchant

Lakeside Timber operates from a modern showroom in Gillingham and supplies a huge range of timber, sheet materials, decking, doors, windows and tools to customers across the Medway area. One of the company’s specialist areas is the supply of loft conversion products. Established in 1989 by Del Peters, today the company is managed by his son Lee, who is a director. There are eight full time employees as well as two apprentices. Business is split fairly evenly between retail and trade customers with many of the trade account holders having dealt with Lakeside since the company started.

“As we’re a small, family run business, we have a great relationship with our customers because we know most of them well,” explained Lee. “They trade with us as we can compete on price with the big nationals and our staff offer a great service and are all highly trained in the products we sell.”

A Fisher Price toy till eventually made way for some early business management software which has only recently been upgraded to K8, a modern ERP system developed by Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS).

Lee said, “Our incumbent provider informed us they were no longer supporting our software at about the same time we realised it was time to upgrade to a more modern system. We needed more functionality around business intelligence and accurate visibility of stock. I looked at one other solution before choosing K8. Cost was a factor in my decision but not the only factor. I was more impressed with the attitude of the K8 sales team and the quality of their demonstration.”

KCS is well known in the builders’ and timber merchant industry for its core solution, K8, which is relevant to all types and sizes of business, including those with less than 20 users. K8 offers all the functionality a business needs around sales, purchasing, stock control and accounting and can be set up to manage a business the size of Lakeside Timber very quickly, with minimal training required.

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Howarth Timber  Timber Merchants

Terry HowellTimber Merchants

Timber Merchants

Customer: Terry Howell Timber & Builders Merchant

Site link: www.terryhowell.co.uk

K8 underpins growth strategy at Terry Howell

According to Craig Mayor, MD at Terry Howell Timber & Builders Merchant, there aren’t enough words to describe the changes he expects the implementation of K8 software will make to the business!

Accepting that it will entail a huge transformation in the working practices of many of his team, he believes the benefits, in terms of visibility and accuracy across all business processes, will far outweigh any initial challenges caused by the introduction of a modern ERP system.

Stock control and reporting are the areas in which Craig is anticipating the biggest changes. “Having a suite of reports produced from our sales figures will enable me to keep my finger on the pulse of the business,” he said. “And to have total visibility of all of our stock within the system will be a massive benefit. We run a complex business and buy in huge volumes of timber. We’ll be able to accurately track it as packs get broken down and the timber is moved around the business to make different products. I’m also looking forward to the ability to manage and monitor our trade accounts more efficiently and accurately, particular in terms of pricing and credit control.”

Craig has already created a new website for the business which offers customers delivered or collected online sales. “We may integrate this with K8 but that will be a project for the future,” he said. Similarly, he’s keen to adopt other digital solutions offered by Kerridge CS such as the ePOD app, which would process deliveries by the company’s fleet of 16 vehicles, but these developments will follow implementation of the core package.

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Howarth Timber  Timber Merchants

Barlows  Timber Merchants

Tiles

Customer: Collinson

Site link: www.facebook.com/CollinsonCeramicsScotland

K8 software set to deliver automation and visibility to Collinson

Scotland’s leading independent tile distributor, Collinson Ceramics, is to implement K8, the fully integrated, business management software solution, developed by Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS).

Collinson imports and distributes ceramic and porcelain tiles and operates out of a flagship showroom in Edinburgh, branches in Inverness and Dundee and a distribution centre in Dalmeny. Predominantly a trade business, it also supplies retail customers, kitchen and bathroom showrooms, and high specification commercial projects across the UK. Some stock is sourced from the UK but most tiles are imported from Italy, Spain and Dubai.

Stewart Wilson is Operations Director and has been with the company for seven years. He said, “Our key differentiator is customer service and we like to go the extra mile. For example, our drivers start at 6am to ensure we can get deliveries to site by 8am. We’re also proud to have been trading for 35 years and to have so many long-standing members of staff.”

Over the years, the company’s legacy system was upgraded and modified several times to keep up with the demands of the growing business. Eventually it became clear to Stewart that it was time to move to a more sophisticated solution. “Our old system just wasn’t very intuitive to use and processing anything was very labour intensive,” he said. “Our sales have doubled in the last five years so I started to look for something that would give us the automation and visibility we needed.”

Stewart thoroughly researched the functionality of a number of systems before eventually narrowing down the choice to K8 and one other option. Although he could see benefits in both offerings, Stewart concluded that K8 was by far the best solution and KCS the partner of choice for the Collinsons business. “It was a combination of reasons in the end,” he said. “Some of our buying partners use K8, and they told us what it could do. Secondly the professionalism of the KCS team when they demonstrated the system and put the whole package together was very impressive; but primarily it was because right from the outset I believed K8 software was by far superior to anyone else’s in the market.”

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Beccles Tile Centre  Tiles

Tileflair  Tiles

Fixtures & Fastenings

Customer: Olympic Fixings

Site link: www.olympicfixings.com

Gains and benefits

Vecta, the on-line sales analytics and CRM solution, has enabled Paul Gordon, managing director of Olympic Fixings, to spend more time managing and directing his business - rather than chasing data!

Olympic Fixings was founded in 1989 and supplies British and Irish merchants from distribution centres in Accrington and Bangor with over 3,500 catalogued and stocked SKUs. A trusted brand among electrical wholesalers, tool and plant hire businesses, builders’, plumbers’ and agricultural merchants, the Olympic product offering includes all types of fixings, drill bits and blades, cutting and abrasive products, hand tools, sealants and cleaning products. Customers are served by a 20-strong, highly experienced field sales team and can also use the company’s online catalogue that shows their own negotiated prices.

Vecta stores a company’s data in the cloud and is accessible by sales and management teams over the internet. Uniquely, it combines transactional data from a company’s ERP system with customer and contact records to deliver an instant and comprehensive picture of performance, margins and opportunities directly to desktops, tablets or smartphones.

“Our sales team were previously using manual systems to report and record their activity,” said Paul, “so effectively we had no visibility from a CRM perspective. We had recently upgraded our ERP, which enabled us to integrate with a CRM system and so we looked closely at three providers. In addition to the functionality Vecta gave us, we discovered it was also successfully integrated with another user of our ERP system and this proven link gave us extra confidence in its implementation.”

Vecta has revolutionised the ability to capture customer information at Olympic. Paul said, “Before Vecta, the only thing we knew internally about our customers was where to send their invoice! Now we have several thousand email addresses and we’ve been able to engage in direct marketing campaigns to key customer contacts where we send special offers and get orders in return! Previously the only way we sold was through direct selling from the rep, so Vecta has facilitated a more multi-channel approach.”

Results:

• Vecta has enabled multi channel selling with direct mail campaigns resulting in orders by return
• Managers now investigate variants themselves rather than asking colleagues to create reports for analysis
• Vecta delivers link and upselling opportunities, as well as gap analysis and customer branch comparison data
• Variances can be investigated quickly using Vecta’s margin report

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Bearing Man  Fixtures & Fastenings

JT Dove  Builders Merchants

Builders Merchants

Customer: JT Dove

Site link: www.jtdove.co.uk

JT Dove selects K8

Leading Builders’ Merchant, JT Dove Ltd, has made a significant investment in a new ERP system to improve efficiencies and allow for the next phase of growth.

The new chosen ERP system, Kerridge Commercial Systems’ (KCS) K8, will be used across all of JT Doves 19 locations by around 190 users throughout the group, across the branches and in head office. The system will allow for better customer service through better support of the team and their daily activities.

The decision follows a rigorous tender process. Managing Director at JT Dove, Steve Robinson, said:

“We made the decision to upgrade from our legacy system to improve efficiencies right across the business, in line with our continuing growth. After a detailed review of the ERP market, I have confidence that this is the right System for JT Dove and that there is no other product with such a depth of advanced functionality for builders merchants.”

K8 is a fully integrated system that comprises financial accounting as well as a suite of apps designed to digitally transform delivery, showroom and warehouse management tasks. These are accessed through the KCS Digital Services gateway that enables users to access, and proactively use, data from their version of K8 on an iOS or Android device.

At JT Dove there will be 60 drivers using the K8 ePOD app that will enable them to access and manage a branch generated electronic manifest with signature capture. KCS’s latest generation digital services will also be used to support their digital web development.

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Lawsons Builders Merchants

Raven Roofing Builders Merchants

Builders Merchants

Customer: KRM Building Supplies Ltd

Site link: www.krmbs.com

Vecta delivers in depth sales intelligence to KRM

KRM is an independent, family run builders’ merchant serving Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The Ilkeston based company supplies a wide range of building products including timber and landscaping materials.

There are 28 staff employed at KRM and customers range from local builders and ground workers to DIY enthusiasts. The experienced team at KRM also offers a brick matching service and materials quantity estimating.

Vecta combines world-class integrated sales analysis with CRM using up-to-date transactional data from a company’s ERP system alongside contact history, diary and more. A fully mobile, browser-based solution, Vecta is accessible 24/7 from desktop, tablet or smartphone.

Vecta provides the ‘granular’ sales analysis that Business Development Manager, Rachel Carter, was looking to achieve. She explained, “We’re quite different as a company in the way we look at sales. We don’t just want to see that we’ve won the sale, we also want to know if we lost it and, if so, why and who to. We like to look at this information in depth and really slice it and dice it.”

Results

• Granular sales analysis provided for the KRM team
• Lost quotes monitored and analysed in depth
• Effective diary and call management with link to Outlook
• System tailored to suit KRM’s needs
• Sales team able to review performance and customer status
• Opportunities and issues highlighted via alerts

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Lawsons Builders Merchants

Raven Roofing Builders Merchants

Discrete Manufacturing

Customer: Marcrist

Site link: www.marcrist.com

Vecta enhances efficiency and performance at Marcrist

Marcrist International Limited specialises in the production of diamond-based products for cutting and drilling. The company, seen as a technology leader in its field with its premium quality products, distributes to professional users through merchants and distributors.

Its Swiss owners established Marcrist in 1979; today the company is based in Doncaster, UK with additional sales teams operating in Germany and Switzerland.

IT Manager, Simon Johnson, who has been with Marcrist for ten years, is responsible for running all systems used within the business and directs the company’s overall IT strategy. He explained, “We migrated from our previous ERP system to a new sophisticated solution in 2012 but soon realised that although we had a better system to manage our sales processing and warehouse operations, we were still lacking in functionality around our growing CRM, sales and marketing activities. There was a lot of double handling of information and duplication of work because our sales teams on the road in the UK, Germany and Switzerland had no remote access to the ERP system. Information about customer activity had to be emailed to the customer service team who then had to re-key it into the system which resulted in delays and the added risk of input errors.”

Simon looked at other CRM systems before discovering Vecta but his main incentive to find out more about Vecta was how it was designed to integrate with an ERP system and combine in-depth sales analysis with CRM. He remembered, “Having those two features together within one application was a big driver for me as it meant that the sales team could use it to get sales information independently, with the added bonus of sales management functionality.”

Results

• Smooth implementation of combined sales analysis and CRM solution
• Browser based customer and sales data always accessible via user dashboards
• Sales representatives able to generate their own bespoke reports
• No more re-keying of information into ERP system
• Gap analysis identifies further sales opportunities
• Total management visibility of team diaries and performance

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ADM Pressings Discrete Manufacturing

Burtons Medical Equipment Discrete Manufacturing

Automotive Aftermarket

Customer: FPS

Site link: www.fpsdistribution.com

The sales intelligence that drives FPS

How does a leading national wholesale distribution business like FPS use its business systems to stay ahead of the competition?

Vecta for K8 integrated sales analysis and CRM, helps manage customer relationships by uniquely combining world-class sales intelligence with up to date transactional data from a highly sophisticated, wholesale distribution solution. It’s fully mobile, cloud based and accessible 24/7 from desktop, tablet or smartphone.

With over 3,000 trade accounts ranging from independent outlets to large national chains, the business focus for FPS is on fostering strong relationships throughout the supply chain so that its customers can service their customers profitably.

“Vecta is usually the first thing my team look at in the morning,” said Graham Knight, Operations Director – South, at FPS. “We all use it on a daily basis and invariably I have it running in the background all the time.”

Now in its 85th year, FPS is a national wholesale distribution company that primarily distributes motor components to motor factors and retailers. The company operates from 22 regional sites and a national distribution centre in Sheffield. It’s the partner of choice for a number of leading automotive brands, handling part or all of their UK distribution.

“We needed a better handle on our business intelligence and in particular sales analysis at customer level,” explained Graham. “We needed to see not only what they had bought, but also the gap analysis showing what they hadn’t bought and what they could buy. We needed the ability to quickly chop up data in any way we wanted for any given scenario. Before we had Vecta, we had to ask to have reports written for us and invariably we didn’t get quite what we wanted.”

K8 from Kerridge Commercial Systems is the main business management system, handling over 50,000 line picks per day at FPS and all the transactional data from K8 is updated into Vecta each evening. There are 70 Vecta users within the business and each user has a personalised dashboard that shows them just the information that is pertinent to their individual sales or management role.

Graham elaborated: “The territory or product group sales managers see the performance of their own customers so they don’t have to go looking for it. The information is right there in front of them when they log on. My dashboard however gives me information about the performance of all the 11 branches I am responsible for. I can see year on year comparisons in total, by month, product group, team, individual or customer. But one of the beauties of Vecta is how you can write your own one-off enquiries to help you find answers. For example, I can interrogate it with simple questions such as which customer hasn’t bought the five most popular brake pads; or who is buying commercial oil filters but not commercial air filters. Whatever I need to know I can invariably write an enquiry that gives me the answer – and I can then pass this information to my sales team to action.”

Results:

• Provides sales and gap analysis at customer level
• Personalised dashboards present the information you need - no need to search
• Interrogatable data provides answers to one off enquiries
• Manages and monitors customer activity

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Elta Automotive  Automotive Aftermarket

Brookwells  Automotive Aftermarket

Timber Merchants

Customer: Taylor & Sons

Site link: @taylorandsonstimbermerchants

Kerridge CS supporting growth at Taylor & Sons

Ian Taylor’s early career was the perfect education for setting up his own timber merchant business in 2012. Working for a timber importer and processor on the Isle of Dogs he was immersed in the logistics of how timber came in to the UK from Poland, Canada and South America, as well as the machining process. His next job with a timber merchant taught him another aspect of the industry as well as providing valuable product knowledge about sheet and insulation materials.

Before moving into his current premises, Ian ran Taylor & Sons from home and stored his timber in a range of rented farm buildings and at the local cricket club. “In the early days my sons used to help me load up deliveries for the next morning,” he remembered. “In the evenings we could be seen walking the lengths of timber across the pitch as we weren’t allowed to drive the lorry over the grass near the club!”

Taylor & Sons started by supplying timber and sheet materials to contacts Ian had made over the years and still focuses on supplying 100 or so small to medium sized builders, including specialist basement contractors working in and around London. “We’ve now been in our unit since 2016,” said Ian, “and I’m proud of how the business has grown organically since the early days. I employ a driver to help with deliveries now and I’m looking to take on another sales person shortly so I can concentrate on developing the business further.”

Ian now uses K8 for sales, purchasing, accounting and stock control. He said that since he’s entered all his stock on the system it’s been an eye opener to see the true value of what the business holds. He said, “I estimate the system has made the business 50% more efficient than it was before. Invoicing used to take me two or three weeks, now it’s done in less than a day. To me that time saved is priceless.”

Ian also plans to use the system to help him set and monitor sales targets when he takes on his new salesperson. He can log in to the browser-based system remotely allowing him to work from home when he needs to. Quotes and purchase orders are emailed directly from the system and the business intelligence K8 provides is delivering further cost savings. “The system showed me how many deliveries we were making to the same sites so I’ve been able to make savings by planning my deliveries more efficiently. Also I’ve got a much clearer picture of the stock we hold and, by checking it against sales history, rather than having stock hanging around for months, I’m starting to buy much more efficiently which is helping our cash flow.”

Results:

• Business now 50% more efficient
• Invoicing completed in less than a day
• Business intelligence has led to cost savings
• Improved cash flow through more efficient buying

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Howarth Timber Timber Merchants

Barlows Timber Merchants

Food & Beverage

Customer: Planglow

Site link: planglow.com

Kerridge CS provides high quality support for early adopters Planglow

Plangow was established in the 1980s to supply a labeling solution to caterers and other food providers. The team developed a simple but effective computer programme and shrewdly pitched it with one of Alan Sugar’s early Amstrad computers and printer kits as a ‘label printer’.

In 2005 the company expanded into the supply of environmentally friendly, compostable branded food packaging for restaurants, sandwich shops and contract caterers.

However, labeling software is still core to the company’s offering and the current web-based product is designed to be quick and easy to use for catering companies that don’t employ IT experts and, typically, don’t know what ingredients will be need to be printed on a label until the last minute.

Plangow’s industry expertise gave them a head start when they decided to offer their existing customers a range of environmentally friendly cardboard sandwich packaging. The early success of this initiative then led to the company’s first off-the-shelf range of sandwich and other food packaging. Styles developed by the in-house design team have evolved from basic craft paper packs to the bright sherbert colours of the new botanical range.

Planglow was an early adopter of K8 LV and started using the software in 2005. Before that the team used a DOS based system for accounting. Director, Bethen Darby, realised she needed a more sophisticated solution that would integrate accounts with sales information and would give her visibility of sales history and available stock. She chose K8 LV because she believed Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) would deliver high quality support and a personal service – a view she still holds to this day and which is now borne out of personal experience.

Features:

• Accounts integrated with sales information
• Easy to track order history
• Total visibility across the business
• Wide-ranging reporting capability
• Great support from the K8 LV team

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BI Europe Ltd Food & Beverage

Sarnia Foods Food & Beverage

Plumbers & Heating

Customer: Primaflow F & P

Site link: www.primaflowfandp.co.uk

A modern system

The UK’s largest plumbing and heating wholesaler, Primaflow F & P, has implemented K8 ERP software across its three regional distribution centres, five regional sales offices and extended trans-shipment network, from which goods are delivered directly to independent merchant customers using the company’s own fleet of vehicles.

K8, provided by Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS), powers the sales transactions, stock allocation, warehouse picking and route planning and delivery completion. Invoicing and credit control are also managed in K8 through the integrated general ledger.

Following an acquisition four years ago, Primaflow and F & P merged to complement the shared customer base with a broader range of products. Primaflow was already using K8 software and a decision was taken to extend it across the new entity. Three months before go-live, Primaflow’s version of K8 was upgraded to match the latest version being installed at F & P.

David Dunbavand, Programme Director at Primaflow F & P explained, “Our key requirement was to standardise the platform within Primaflow and F & P and we had a number of options. It was a relatively easy decision to standardise the group by building on the K8 system already in use at Primaflow. We could see K8 was a modern, flexible and robust system that could cope with the demands of our industry, but it was also important for us to have an ERP backbone that was ‘open’ and that could be linked to third party applications such as eCommerce websites and ePOD. The Primaflow website was already integrated with their K8 software, with web orders transacting successfully through to the system, and all of these factors were key in our decision to implement K8 across the group.”

Once the decision was made the Primaflow F & P team chose to deploy their K8 software on the K-Cloud. This meant that KCS would take on the responsibility of maintaining the system and there would be more flexibility around disaster recovery and the ability to grow and scale the system as required.

Results

• K8 provides an ‘open’ ERP backbone linkable to third party applications
• Web orders transact successfully through the system
• Everything on day one picked and delivered successfully
• Clear stock visibility helps warehouse team maximise customer service
• K-Cloud deployment means more flexibility around disaster recovery

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William Wilson Plumbers & Heating

Express Plumbing Supplies Plumbers & Heating

Food & Beverage

Customer: Sarnia Foods

Site link: www.sarniafoods.co.uk

For success choose an ERP system that can grow with you

Sarnia Foods develops and manufactures food products for a variety of brands that, for whatever reason, are unable to take their own ideas forward into manufacturing. This allows their clients to concentrate on sales and marketing while the Sarnia team source packaging and ingredients and manage stock, production, packing and shipping. Through a direct link to some of its clients’ websites, the Sarnia team can take orders directly.

Sarnia currently produces products such as soups, sauces, juices, smoothies and vegetarian sausages and burgers. Clients also send products manufactured elsewhere to Sarnia for them to pack and ship. To keep transports costs down, the team has designed specialist packaging that keeps products frozen for 48 hours. Director, Patrick Finigan, said, “Generally we act as an extension of our clients’ business. We’re often the point of contact for their customers too if there are any issues.”

“To save us the disruption of moving again in around five years, we recently decided to take a big step and move to a much bigger factory,” continued Patrick. “Upgrading from a 3,000 sq ft site to one of 21,000 sq ft has enabled us to operate larger manufacturing, packaging and storage facilities and to keep everything on one site.”

Patrick and his business partner set up Sarnia Foods in 2013 and both had clear views about the type of software they wanted to drive the company. “We knew we wanted to work directly with a software provider, rather than a reseller, because from experience we knew this would give us more influence over the software’s future development. We also wanted a system that held all our data in one place - rather than having to resort to using tons of spreadsheets. And it obviously had to have all the functionality we needed as a food manufacturer, such as batch traceability and the ability to cope with variables – the weight of cauliflowers for example! Finally, we wanted a Cloud based system so we didn’t incur the capital costs of installing our own server or have the hassle of maintaining it and running back ups.”

When the team from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) contacted Patrick to talk about K8 LV software, he thought it sounded too good to be true! “It gave us everything we needed, and I know we made the right decision,” he said. “We wanted to reduce the paper trail involved in our business and the system has allowed us to utilise scanning throughout all our processes and barcode everything as it goods in. We were able to address rotation issues and start seeing exactly what yields we were getting.”

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BI Europe Ltd Food & Beverage

Burtons Medical Equipment Discrete Manufacturing

Food & Beverage

Customer: BI Europe Ltd

Website: www.bilimited.com

The Client’s Situation

BI Europe Ltd manufactures and supplies a variety of affordable condiments. Initially providing portion control condiments for the travel industry, expansion into the Retail, Food service and industrial clients has vastly contributed to them becoming an established worldwide brand.

They acquired a fully comprehensive ERP solution from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS), which has successfully enabled the smooth running of their manufacturing & wholesale processes.

For decades prior to K8 LV, BI Europe Ltd had been using a normal server based ERP system, and as Priyan Dhutia, Head of Operations at BI explains: “this was fine for wholesale but we were in need of a complete manufacturing system”. It was at this stage that BI Europe Ltd undertook research into various comprehensive ERP systems, with the aim of finding an approachable company who could provide efficient, adaptable and affordable software. With K8 LV not having such a big brand name as their competitors, they were not even on BI Ltd’s radar to be considered at this stage. This was until they received a call from KCS’s Sales & Marketing Director who was able to offer the solution they had been searching for.

Kerridge Commercial Systems Software

K8 LV is a real-time system reacting to day to day changes which occur within the sales, purchase and nominal ledgers, along with providing live visibility of current and future stock. This system ticked all the required boxes and after detailed consideration and various software demos, KCS were instructed to help support BI Europe move forward as their new ERP supplier.

K8 LV being a fully integrated end to end solution, it provides BI Europe Ltd with various tools vital to their business, such as; Batch Traceability and Recipe Management.

Client Satisfaction

BI Europe Ltd is now a long standing client of KCS, utilising the system and other available modules such as MRP to help with planning and the efficient management of their processes. With a forever remarkable working relationship, the companies work together to provide BI Europe with a smooth operational system.

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Burtons Medical Equipment Discrete Manufacturing

Fenton Packaging Distributors 

Discrete Manufacturing

Customer: Burtons Medical Equipment Ltd

Website: www.burtons.uk.com

Overview

Established in 1981, Burtons Medical Equipment Ltd manufactures, distributes and services high quality healthcare equipment to the medical and veterinary professions. By 2005, it had become increasingly clear that the company’s existing management system was unable to provide the consistent level of data retention and integrity necessary to cope with the demands of a successful and growing business – especially in such critical areas as stock control – which in turn was putting Burtons’ operating systems under pressure.

In replacing this with a Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) solution, Burtons has benefited from a number of key performance improvements throughout the business. In particular, K8 LV’s market-leading batch control functionality has enabled to the company to provide the level of traceability essential to meet rigorous client KPIs and ensure it meets the quality demands of ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 13845:2003.

Challenge

Burtons recognised the need for a stable, Windows-based platform which would allow for easy migration of existing computer skills within the business.

”At the same time, it had to bring together the three distinct aspects of our production, distribution and support operation with centralised data storage and control,” recalls IT manager, Mike Best.

“By consolidating information in this way, we would have complete visibility of every sale across all departments, so improving internal efficiencies and providing a better service to our clients.”

Solution

Having explored several options, Burtons selected KCS as providing the ideal combination of relevant and robust functionality, personalised.

“In addition, KCS worked closely with us throughout the development to ensure that our processes were perfectly aligned with the software,” he says. “As a result, implementation was smooth and the K8 LV solution has remained remarkably trouble-free ever since.

“Another important outcome of this partnership approach to implementation was a much sturdier and more resilient set of processes fully capable of managing our planned business growth.”

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ADM Pressings Discrete Manufacturing

Techflow Flexibles Discrete Manufacturing

Electrical Wholesalers

Customer: Bonus Electrical

Website: www.bonuselectrical.co.uk

Gains and benefits

Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS)’ K8 software has delivered cost and time savings across every area of business for Hull-based wholesaler Bonus Electrical. A key element of the software is its ability to provide the business intelligence that the management team needed, enabling them to analyse sales in more depth.

Company spokesperson, Carl Dearing, said, “Unlike national wholesaling groups, who have very strict rules, Bonus is extremely flexible. We can do things for customers that no one else can. Where local competitors may have one or two vehicles and offer a next day delivery service, we offer a shuttle service using a large fleet of vans. If we have what customers want in stock, the average delivery time is 90 minutes.”

In 2013 the Bonus management team was given the remit to double the turnover in two years and to make the business more profitable. At the same time the incumbent software system was always crashing and the search for a new solution began.

“We ultimately chose K8 because of the attitude of the KCS salesperson,” said Carl. “He really listened to all our concerns and we felt he genuinely understood them. The fact KCS had implemented systems for other electrical wholesalers, whereas the other providers hadn’t, also gave us comfort.”

Being able to send out invoices by email delivered the first immediate cost and time saving benefits. And, on the trade counter, staff were able to access accurate pricing which speeded up service straight away.

Bonus’ Jamie Dawson said, “The integrated POD system is invaluable and helps us deal with queries quickly and more efficiently. Some of our customers ask for a lot of PODs and I often used to waste time wading through files and scanning paper copies for emailing. Now, I just retrieve them from the system by entering the order number. The time this has saved us is incredible.”

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MacLean Electrical Electrical Wholesalers

Norbain Electrical Wholesalers

Builders Merchants

Customer: Reeds Wantage

Website: reedswantage.com

Gains and benefits

Growing business, Reeds Wantage, has chosen an ERP solution from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) to support its future growth and deliver efficiencies to the business.

Reeds was founded in 1972 as a builders’ merchant and ironmongers. It gradually transitioned away from supplying heavyside materials to focusing on paint, tools and hardware, and today is known primarily as a painting and decorating merchant.

Around two thirds of its customers are trade account holders, the remainder being retail. Reeds Wantage supplies all major paint brands as well as specialist products such as anti-graffiti and fire-retardant paints.

Buyer and Operations Manager at Reeds, Euan Mead, explained, “We started to look for new software around 18 months before choosing the KCS solution. We were using a basic accountancy package that was ‘creaking’ as our requirements grew. We needed something that would improve our efficiency, give us better business insights and, because we are looking to add an additional premise, with multi-location functionality.”

Euan looked at a broad range of options including combining separate accountancy, ePOS and stock management solutions. “This option had several drawbacks including limited functionality, the complexity involved in getting the solutions to talk to each other effectively and redundant functionality where there was an overlap,” he said. The Reeds team also considered more sophisticated solutions - from KCS and other providers – before making their choice.

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Lawsons Builders Merchants

Kuipers BMH Builders Merchants

Builders Merchants

Customer: Tadhg O'Connor Ltd

Site link: www.tocfurniture.ie

Gains and benefits

Limerick based Tadhg O’Connor Ltd, one of the larger stores in the Topline group, is about to implement a new ERP system provided by Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS). The family owned business operates two builders’ merchant branches and a furniture store.

Business is split 50/50 between trade and retail customers and there are more than 600 trade account customers.

Managing Director, Eoin O’Connor said, “We’re successful because our staff offer excellent service and our customers know they can rely on us having the right stock delivered in a timely fashion in perfect condition and at good value.”

The 12-year-old computer system currently used by the company lacks the functionality to bring the business up to the level where Eoin wants it. “One of our guiding principles is to make our customers’ lives easier,” he explained, “and we want to be able to provide them with an eCommerce platform where, not only can they log in and place orders on line and get the same prices they would at the trade counter, but also have the ability to access their invoices, proof of deliveries, open quotations and standard orders etc.”

Client Focus

• One of the larger stores in the Topline group
• Business is split 50/50 between trade and retail customers
• Family owned business operates two builders’ merchant branches and a furniture store

Eoin was also looking for better stock visibility, seamless sales processing (with back to back purchase ordering for specials), greater accuracy with purchasing and tighter margin control. He explained, “We wanted a system that allows some flexibility over what level of discount can be given so we can manage our margin better and increase profitability. Once we’re live on the system I believe K8 may help us achieve up to a 1-2% increase.”

K8 was also chosen because the sales team liked its look and feel. “We also felt that KCS were delivering a more bespoke solution with the potential to give us more flexibility than some of the more widely used systems in our industry,” said Eoin.

The field sales team will be able to access the full system remotely and an ePOD module will allow Eoin’s drivers to capture proof of delivery signatures ‘on glass’. A suite of fully integrated reports will automatically deliver the most important KPIs to the staff who need them.

“Six months after we go live we plan to start online trading, and our goal is for 20% of business to come through that channel within 12 months. Our builder/plumber customers will be able to place orders in the evening rather than having to stop work an hour early to come and see us. With K8 not only will we have better functionality around sales, stock control, purchasing and credit control, the potential of having an online platform is also now within our reach.”

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EH SmithBuilders Merchants

JHC Hardware  Bathrooms & Kitchens

Builders Merchants

Customer: Kuipers BMH

Website: www.kuipers-bmh.nl

Challenge

Kuipers BMH (Building materials and stone) is one of few remaining independent wholesalers of building materials in the northern part of the Netherlands. Not affiliated with a specific brand or a specific buying organisation, but simply operating from one’s own extensive experience and knowledge in this industry.

Two linked software applications, an accounting software system and an order processing application, had to make way for K8 Babbage of Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS). Kuipers had now been working with the ERP solutions of KCS for almost a year.

“We were in search of a total package which would allow us to choose what functionalities we would or would not be using. Often you will find a basic system with the possibility to keep adding and paying for additional modules. We wanted to be able to choose what we want to use.” (Jan Kuiper – Kuipers BMH).

Kuipers BMH has the ambition to hold a large and accurate range of stock available in each branch, ready for customers operating in the professional building industry. The trading company established in 1998 has grown into an organization of around 60 employees and operates from multiple locations spread throughout Overijssel, Drenthe and Groningen.

Gains and benefits

• More efficient inventory management, including inter-branch orders
• Time savings order fulfilment
• Better and faster insight in debtors
• Improved access to company wide information

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Lawsons  Builders Merchants

John Davey Builders Merchants

Builders Merchants

Customer: John Davey

Site link: www.johndaveydiy.co.uk

Gains and benefits

At the end of 2013, John Davey, a third generation family owned Welsh builders’ merchant, upgraded from a manual invoicing system to ERP software from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS).

A year later, General Manager, Rhys Davey, saw that margin and turnover had both increased significantly. He remembered, “Once we had a full year of history within our K8 solution we could see the scope of how much the software had helped us. Our turnover had risen from £1.1m to £1.5m and we were showing an increase of 2% in our gross margin. Using a manual system I think it had been easy to make mistakes in calculations plus we were always missing opportunities to increase our margin. I think the improvements were largely down to being able to work more accurately.”

John Davey has been trading for 50 years and offers a mix of lightside, heavyside and timber to an equal mix of cash and trade account customers. The company operates from one site in Bridgend where five of the 13 staff use the K8 software. With the Pencoed site running at full capacity, there are already thoughts to open a second site in the future. Rhys believes their high quality customer service is what keeps customers coming back.

One key driver to upgrade from a paper system was the time it took Rhys and his team to manually input customer invoices into the accounting system each month end. He said, “It took us seven working days each month to do this – there was paper everywhere! Also, we’d had problems with pilfering and needed a system to monitor our stock levels more closely.”

Rhys started his search for a new system simply by ‘googling’ software and speaking to other local merchants - a few of whom already used K8. He eventually invited three providers to demonstrate their systems. “K8 was in the middle of the road when it came to pricing,” explained Rhys, “but we chose it because KCS offered us a perfect hosting option and also because of the strong endorsements for K8 from other local merchants.”

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Lawsons Builders Merchants

Trading Depot Builders Merchants

Distributors

Customer: Site Supplies & Services

Site link: www.sitesuppliesandservices.co.uk

Gains and benefits

Fire protection equipment supplier, Site Supplies & Services, has decided to use a software solution from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) to manage its Hertfordshire based operation.

Specialising in the supply of sprinklers, dry risers and other residential fire protection equipment, Site Supplies & Services operates alongside sister company, Peter’s Transport Ltd, which looks after its deliveries and collections on a 24/7, 365 days a year basis. Established in 2000, the company has a reputation for providing excellent customer service.

Director, Maggie Wilbor said, “Our business, which is growing year on year, has outgrown the basic accountancy system we’ve been using since 2006. We needed more sophisticated functionality to manage our stock across two branches, our customer data and price lists. We also wanted a system that would be easy for all our staff, including new staff employees, to use. Some of our suppliers also use K8 software and recommended it to us. Other factors in our decision were the confidence we had in the future development of K8 and the knowledgeable team who demonstrated the product.”

KCS solutions can be delivered in a variety of ways and Site Supplies will be accessing theirs via SaaS or ‘Software as a Service’. The software will sit on the K-Cloud and the seven users at Site Supplies will access it over the Internet. A key benefit of SaaS for small or medium sized companies, with no in-house IT expertise, is how the software provider handles all system maintenance automatically and remotely and there is no need for servers on the business premises.

“Our current system makes hard work of daily tasks,” said Maggie. “My trade counter and back office team is looking forward to working more quickly and easily when K8 goes live.”

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Dickson Bearings Distributors

Trading Depot Builders Merchants

Process Manufacturing

Customer: NanoDiamond Products

Site link: ndp.diamonds

Challenge

NanoDiamond Products (NDP), established in 2009, is a thriving and successful manufacturer of industrial diamond products.

The Irish company, based in Shannon, sells mostly to distributors in Europe, North America, India and the Far East, in addition to a small, direct customer base. Such is the nature of its products, quality has to be a given customer expectation; service levels and rapid shipment distinguish NDP and drive its competitive edge.

Prior to implementing K8 Manufacturing, NDP mostly relied on manual systems, but had reached the point where paper-driven processes were becoming too onerous given increased business volumes.

The decision was made that an integrated ERP system was required to take the business forward. Alex Engles, Process and Development Director said: “We chose K8 Manufacturing for its best fit to our requirements; a primary consideration was for a system that we didn’t have to customise to manage the specialties of our business. Going from mostly manual systems meant that we didn’t have much data to convert – it was principally a clean sheet situation for our company in terms of creating data records. What was important; at the time we employed just seven staff, was to go live without stopping the business. Many of our customers work with us on a just-in-time basis; hence uninterrupted service was paramount. Working closely with the Kerridge Commercial Systems team, which had acquired a solid understanding of our business, the implementation went well and the immediate post go-live period was well-managed.”

Gains and benefits

• Supports specialist ‘BOM’ needs
• Manages carat stocking/jar unit profile
• Fully functional picking and packing app
• Robust product/material tracking
• Quality certification export facility
• Supports business development needs
• K8 was the best-fit choice
• Successful transition from manual systems
• Integrated and controlled business processes
• Considerable manual effort reduction
• No major customisation requirements

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Hargreaves Foundry Process Manufacturing

Tor Coatings Process Manufacturing

Discrete Manufacturing

Customer: ADM Pressings

Site link: www.admpressings.co.uk

Challenge

Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, ADM Pressings is a renowned manufacturer of pressings, assemblies and fabricated products for the automotive industry. ADM’s customers include Aston Martin, Bentley, JLR, JCB and Caterpillar.

The company first implemented K8 Manufacturing in 1999 and played a key role in supporting the development of the system’s management information dashboard tools.

The K8 Manufacturing system in use at ADM today is a much more advanced integrated product than the version which was first implemented in 1999. Since then, as the business has developed and newer software releases have been introduced, the system’s value to ADM has grown progressively.

In terms of overall benefit, K8 Manufacturing enables ADM to operate efficiently with tight process controls in every area. From customer contacts, enquiries, quotations and orders through to purchasing, stock control, production scheduling and despatch, the system lies at the heart of the business.

“K8 Manufacturing enables us to fully integrate our business processes and helps everyone to understand how the business operates and interconnects. We also use the system to administer our production assets for maintenance planning, inspection scheduling and repair orders. With everything flowing through to the accounting applications, K8 Manufacturing enables us to manage inbound and outbound invoicing, payables, receivables, cash-flow and payroll very effectively.”

Gains and benefits

• A robust, integrated software platform
• Fully supports business processes
• A scalable system for future developments
• An enduring, trusted partnership
• Integrated process control sales order to delivery
• Effective stock control and purchasing
• Comprehensive production and resource planning
• Integrated accounts and robust financial management
• User-defined and maintained management dashboards
• Real-time data for effective decision making

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Anglo Stainless Discrete Manufacturing

Fluid Transfer International Discrete Manufacturing

Discrete Manufacturing

Customer: Martel Instruments

Site link: www.martelinstruments.com

A platform for growth

Martel Instruments, based in Durham, is a long established and successful manufacturer of specialist printers and printing solutions. With an extensive product range, coupled with design software, tooling and manufacturing expertise, the company serves the automotive, industrial, law enforcement, medical, retail and scientific sectors and exports around 75% of its production mostly to Europe and the USA.

As an electronics business, Martel has had to adapt to new technologies, market opportunities and response to customers’ requirements. In 2007, Martel was acquired by an investment company, enabling the company to develop further as a respected manufacturer and supplier. Based on a combination of manual recording and stand-alone, PC-based tools, Martel’s systems had become increasingly inadequate. Growth was inhibited by a lack of management information, business controls and effort was being duplicated. Martel made the decision to implement a fully integrated ERP solution, heralding a big change for the company and its employees.

Considerable benefits

Martel has seen wide-ranging business benefits from implementing K8 Manufacturing. In headline terms, it has helped to support the growth of its product base from 200 to around 500 lines, with an estimated 3,000 variants. “In difficult trading times we have had to become more competitive to serve more customers in more sectors often with exacting requirements. As a supplier of ‘peripheral’ products – our products are mostly integrated into third party-supplied equipment, the system enables us to handle more complex orders. Materials planning for example, is a much more efficient and accurate process than previously. In production areas, the use of barcodes captures every process and component movement, giving us real-time visibility of what’s going on and we can back trace everything if any issues arise.”

K8 Manufacturing’s integrated functionality has enabled Martel to improve how their departments work together. “With a combination of regular call-off orders and customised projects which can have an 18 month gestation, the system is proving its worth in helping us to manage our component ordering with lead times of up to 20 weeks. And to enable orders to be delivered quickly, we use the system to help us forecast our sub-assembly requirements and economic build quantities.”

Highlights

• Management information culture
• Answers at the click-of-a-button
• Back-trace capability
• Supported product range growth
• New complexities fully managed
• Exception reporting and fast resolution
• MRP manages component lead times
• A platform for greater competitiveness
• More time to manage opportunities
• Optimised workflow practices

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Fluid Transfer International Discrete Manufacturing

Techflow Flexibles Discrete Manufacturing

Discrete Manufacturing

Customer: Fluid Transfer International

Site link: www.fluid-transfer.co.uk

Lean principles

Based in Gloucestershire, Fluid Transfer International is a market leader in the design, development and manufacture of aviation and naval refuelling equipment – a major supplier to the Ministry of Defence and UK airports.

Implementing K8 Manufacturing in 2001–the system provides the company with complete process control from sales order through to delivery. Richard Iles-Caine, Finance Director said, “We aim to use just-in-time principles to keep inventory investment to a minimum but at the same time any delays in production can have huge implications. A refuelling truck, one of our core products, typically comprises more than 1,000 items, but only 50 or so cost more than £100. Because every order is bespoke to customer requirements, we work K8 Manufacturing hard to support the whole cycle from quotation to completion.”

The company also has to manage relatively long lead times and with vehicle chassis taking up to nine weeks to arrive from the manufacturer, a large order can take several months to deliver. “We support a combination of new and existing customers, some of whom have programmed replacement or refurbishment cycles. We also have the capability to respond quickly - a significant export order for a customer in Indonesia being delivered in just 10 weeks.”

Meeting customer needs

With such a mix of customer demands, the management team make very effective use of K8 Manufacturing and use its workflow tools to manage situations as they arise. “Manufacturing around 50 vehicle refuellers annually, as well as our other products, we appreciate the system’s versatility in being able to handle all types of purchased parts, assemblies and kits. With each order based on standard labour times and material costs, we use the system for contract reviews to compare actual data and then make any necessary changes for future orders.”

Gains and benefits

• Complete process control for parts, assemblies and kits
• Job bar-coding saves time
• Accurate contract reviews
• Dashboards aid decision making
• Monthly accounts produced fast
• Quick quotations boosts service
• Configurator tool saves time
• Fully-managed quality issues
• Stage payments = better cash flow

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Anglo Stainless Discrete Manufacturing

Martel Instruments Discrete Manufacturing

Discrete Manufacturing

Customer: Anglo Stainless

Site link: www.anglostainless.co.uk

Challenge

Anglo Stainless is a major stockholder and manufacturer of stainless steel fittings. The privately-owned company serves around 400 active customers, predominantly in the chemical, oil, gas, brewing and food sectors. From its base in West Yorkshire, Anglo Stainless is a well-established supplier in the M62 corridor and throughout the UK, with export sales planned to grow.

In 2008, Anglo Stainless realised that their computer and manual systems were no longer suitable. Duplicated effort was necessary in many areas and although checks and balances were in place, the risks of error had to be reduced to fulfil the need for accurate real-time information. Hence the need for a modern, fully functional, integrated system.

Steve Brooke, operations director said, “We had to increase productivity, make the business run more efficiently and improve traceability of every product. Without investing in IT, growth and development of our business would be much more difficult to achieve.” A key requirement for Anglo Stainless was a system that could support the company’s combined distribution and manufacturing activities - including a direct, seamless interface between the two. “We reviewed a number of alternative systems, all of which had their own particular strengths and we were then introduced to the Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) solution. Ticking all the important boxes, we chose K8 Manufacturing for its rich functionality for all areas of our business, including inter-company trading as standard.”

K8 Manufacturing went live in July 2009 and the benefits of giving the business much greater control, accurate management information and improved decision making tools were soon apparent. “Shop Floor Data Capture was a major gain for us – no more manual monitoring of production data. We were able to review actual versus allowed times on an exception basis – no need to check every job.”

Gains and benefits

• Shop Floor Data Capture capability
• Intercompany trading facilities
• Improved decision-making tools
• Exception reporting for cost control
• Electronic invoice submission
• Control of customer forward orders
• Full product/order traceability
• Consistent sales quotation pricing
• Time savings allow focus on priority areas

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ADM Pressings Discrete Manufacturing

Fluid Transfer International Discrete Manufacturing

Discrete Manufacturing

Customer: Variable Message Signs

Site link: www.vmslimited.co.uk

Setting the scene

Variable Message Signs (VMS) is the UK market leader for transport signage systems. Serving road, rail, airports and seaport sectors, the Hill & Smith-owned company has considerable technical capabilities as an innovator and developer. K8 Manufacturing is an integral part of the business; processing transactions, controlling costs and managing profitability.

In 2014, Hill & Smith acquired Variable Message Signs. A strategic move that, combined with its Techspan Systems operation, formed a world-class provider, with an extensive, multi-sector product range. VMS and Techspan Systems now operate together as VMS and have one of the UK’s largest installed bases of programmable sign systems. Customers comprise Highways England and Transport Scotland, joint venture organisations and large corporates including Balfour Beatty and Carillion. The merged company processes around 500 to 1,000 orders annually; with a lead time of up to three months. The pipeline is typically 80-200 orders at any one time, which can comprise up to 2,000 signs and equipment provision.

Working with Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS)

Variable Message Signs Ltd were already using K8 Manufacturing and in 2015, the Techspan Systems operation transferred across to K8 Manufacturing, forming part of the project to integrate the two companies. The stock control, purchasing, sales order and job ledger applications are central to managing the business on a day-to-day basis. Louise Martin, Finance Director, said: “With its extensive flexibility, the system allows us to operate the business our way and not according to fixed processes and disciplines. We are in the driving seat with K8 Manufacturing and can easily amend production schedules and customer requirements as necessary.”

More than just a software developer, KCS is fully committed to its partnership role, working closely with customers as needs change and evolve. Referring to the Techspan-VMS integration, Louise referred to a demanding schedule. “Even though we set a tight timetable for the work, we had the benefit of combining two similar trading companies. Full support from KCS’s knowledgeable training team, with their excellent understanding of our business, contributed to the project’s success.”

Job Ledger is key

For VMS, the K8 Manufacturing Job Ledger module is key to managing orders and maintaining accurate records. “The Job Ledger is the system hub and used very effectively across the business. Collating order detail; from sales order input, through purchase orders, weekly time sheet records and parts issued, we have an accurate picture of what’s going on. Work-in-progress adjustments are easily managed, the invoice position is straightforward to determine and hence the values that can be released into the P&L.” said Louise.

Gains and benefits

• Integrated solution
• Comprehensive functionality
• Job Ledger – a vital tool
• Flexible process disciplines
• Effective business control
• Real-time information
• Platform for future development
• Close working relationship
• Excellent training provision
• Professional help-desk

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Martel Instruments Discrete Manufacturing

Techflow Flexibles Discrete Manufacturing

Process Manufacturing

Customer: Tor Coatings

Site link: www.tor-coatings.com

The requirement

For over 30 years, Tor Coatings has manufactured its own branded products as well as products for other well known brands. The Birtley-based business is a subsidiary of RPM International Inc., a multi-national multi-billion dollar business with subsidiaries which manufacture and market high performance coatings, sealants and speciality chemicals.

In 2008, Tor’s management team concluded that their existing software, which integrated stock control, EDI and batch traceability, was no longer fit for purpose as they required a ‘real time’ solution which offered accurate business critical information. Parent group RPM also required improved information on financial performance.

The existing software was also text-based, matching Tor’s past production requirements, but what they needed was a graphical user interface (GUI) solution which could display KPIs in a dashboard style view for management purposes.

The solution

K8 Manufacturing consolidates data from across a business into a single source, ensuring all information is both accurate and up to date. The system was easily configured to work within Tor’s manufacturing and multi-fill requirements, and also offered a till sales module for use with the company’s sales counter.

Gains and benefits

• Configured to suit the business
• Complete control of raw materials
• Improved warehouse management
• Purchasing reflects sales orders
• Platform for business growth
• Opportunities to extend system use
• Pro-active business management
• Future proof - turn on functionality

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Hargreaves Foundry Process Manufacturing

NanoDiamond Products Process Manufacturing

Discrete Manufacturing

Customer: Techflow Flexibles

Site link: www.techflowflexibles.co.uk

Challenge

Techflow Flexibles, based in Cramlington, is a market leader in the analysis, design, manufacture and supply of hoses for the oil and gas industry. The company’s customer base includes BP, Total and Samsung, with order values that can range up to £2m.

The company spent several months evaluating a number of alternative systems before choosing K8 Manufacturing - predominantly for its flexibility and tailoring capabilities - a standard system without the need for bespoke developments.

In addition, the company also appreciated that Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) knew the industry and how it operated, but also took the time and effort to understand Techflow Flexibles’ specific business processes. Clearly, implementing a new system represented a major change for the company, Terry McDonnell, commercial manager, said “We needed to improve the quality of our processes for everyone’s benefit. It was also essential to have accurate, real-time management information covering all areas of the business. To an extent, implementing the new system was a leap into the unknown, but with the support of KCS, we were confident of achieving the results we were looking for.”

One step at a time

K8 Manufacturing went live in September 2012 and by taking a step-by-step approach to transform functions in each department, the company ensured that everyone was comfortable with each phase before rolling out the next module. “We took the decision to go for some quick wins, particularly in accounts and purchasing, and be able to demonstrate the benefits to everyone. There were no major issues or stumbling blocks as we progressed, and virtually from day one, K8 Manufacturing began to prove its worth.”

K8 Manufacturing delivering

There is little doubt that K8 Manufacturing is delivering the value and benefits that Techflow Flexibles require. More importantly, the company’s management team and staff are continuing to work hard on stretching the system’s wide-ranging capabilities to suit business requirements. “The job card and bill of materials functions give us complete control of every order and our production planning processes have been improved and are much easier to administer.” The company is also able to use K8 Manufacturing more effectively to manage lean manufacturing principles.

Gains and benefits

• Stage-by-stage module introduction
• Complete control of every order
• Improved production planning
• Lean manufacturing supported
• Real-time management information
• Better informed staff
• Continuity with established processes
• Full audit and traceability
• Platform for growth and development
• Successful partnership with KCS

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Martel Instruments Discrete Manufacturing

VMS Discrete Manufacturing

Process Manufacturing

Customer: Hargreaves Foundry

Site link: www.hargreavesfoundry.co.uk

Challenge

Hargreaves Foundry specialises in the manufacture and distribution of cast iron products. Having diversified and expanded its products to service customers’ changing requirements, the company implemented K8 Manufacturing to take the business forward.

Focussing on the system’s most tangible benefits, customer service features strongly for Hargreaves Foundry. Being able to process orders from national customers with multiple points of delivery, into a single invoice point, is a major time saver. Likewise, accommodating line by line discount structures also ensures accurate pricing. “Stock holdings have been reduced by around 17% - with greater visibility, demand forecasting and max/min functionality. Lead times on standard items have also been shortened by at least two days; made possible by having two months’ supply of finished goods available in the picking area - replenished from bulk storage. With improvements in stock record accuracy, our ‘on time in full delivery performance’, which we were unable to properly measure before, is up from around 95% to over 99%.”

Gains and benefits

• Business growth and development
• Efficiency improvements identified
• Comprehensive process review
• Swift user acceptance
• Greater functionality
• More efficient SOP
• Better customer service
• Reduced stock holding
• Demand forecasting
• Improved management info
• Supporting future needs

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NanoDiamond Products Process Manufacturing

Tor Coatings Process Manufacturing

Builders Merchants

Customer: Trading Depot

Site link: www.tradingdepot.co.uk

Gains and benefits

Trading Depot, the online trading sister company to Grant & Stone, offers more than 48,000 product lines to a loyal and growing customer base who maintain its ‘excellent’ rating on Trustpilot, the online review community. The company supplies plumbing and electrical products, sanitaryware, flooring, PVC windows and doors, some heavyside materials such as paving and more than 30,000 tools.

“We’re seeing huge growth,” said Trading Depot General Manager Darren House. “While around 70% of our customers are homeowners, the remaining 30% are tradesmen who are happier shopping in an online environment today than they were 10 years ago. Although we don’t offer trade accounts, we offer a choice to builders who are looking for a keener price and are happy to wait a day or two for their delivery. We also offer a click and collect service from our warehouse. I like to think there’s a traditional merchant feel about the business as we offer great customer service including technical support over the phone at pre-purchase stage.”

At the front end of Trading Depot’s business is a Magento eCommerce platform that interfaces directly with their ERP system - K8 - a solution developed by Kerridge Commercial Systems. As each order is placed, the data is drawn into K8 and, if the product is in stock, a pick note is automatically produced in the warehouse and data sent to the labeller ready to print.

Before going live on K8 in April 2017, the team at Trading Depot had to manually re-key orders in to their legacy ERP system. “It was a really cumbersome process,” said Darren. “We used to print out the orders from Magento and, while one member of staff spent all day re-keying them into the old system, another used to type out the labels! We were working on two totally separate systems and only able to process around 50 – 80 orders each day. Plus, there was a high risk of making errors when retyping postcodes and product codes etc. We upgraded for a short while to exporting orders from Magento on CSV files every couple of hours, and then importing them to the old system. But the process wasn’t reliable so we still printed them out and cross-referenced them manually!”

When Darren joined Trading Depot from sister company, Grant & Stone - which was implementing the K8 system across the group – a demo from KCS showed how upgrading to K8 could totally automate sales order processing. And, he was able to protect the investment Trading Depot had already made in Magento using K8’s Magento plug in. (Companies with no existing eCommerce platform can take advantage of KCS’s Web Builder when they implement K8. It’s a responsive eCommerce suite that enables the fast deployment of fully integrated online trading and a B2B online customer portal.)

The benefits were immediate. As orders come in from Trading Depot’s website or the company’s Amazon or eBay shop, they are automatically drawn into K8 and a pick note for goods in stock is processed with no human intervention. If part of the order is direct, a member of staff briefly intervenes to instruct K8 to send that part of the order directly to the supplier. On the old system the team had to type a separate email to the supplier along with the re-keyed customer information.

“Now that our Magento platform interfaces with K8, customers can see an accurate reflection of our stock levels,” explained Darren. “So many websites tell customers that products are in stock when in fact they’re not. This annoys customers who only find out after they’ve placed their orders, and end up waiting lengthy delivery times rather than risking not getting a refund. We like being straight with our customers and can now confidently show the actual stock position on around 80% of stock in our warehouse or held by manufacturers and other third party suppliers - and we’re working on increasing this figure.”

This new confidence has also enabled Darren to make shipping more profitable because knowing something is definitely in stock means he can offer and charge more for a premium next day delivery service. K8 also allows Darren to take advantage of ‘buy 10’ deals because purchasing and sales can be set up separately - unlike on the old system.

Further significant cost savings have been made from not having to replace the three staff lost due to natural wastage since the implementation of K8. “The business is now so streamlined we don’t need to replace them,” he said. “In fact turnover has doubled in the seven months since K8 was implemented and, although I can’t put that all down to K8, there’s no way we could have managed the current level of business using the old system.”

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Haldane Fisher  Builders Merchants

Lawsons  Builders Merchants

Bathroom & Kitchens

Customer: Howdens Joinery

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.howdens.com

Howdens and Kerridge Commercial Systems – working together to build strong systems

A company that operates 642+ branches and manages 450,000 trade accounts clearly needs robust software to ensure sales are processed efficiently and inventory is managed visibly and accurately. Ten years ago Howdens Joinery chose K8, an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution developed by Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) to replace its ageing legacy system. Since then the relationship between the two companies has evolved into a strong partnership that has seen the KCS team working closely with Howdens to help them achieve their business objectives and regular reviews to plan future strategic developments.

Howdens has a simple philosophy according to CIO Clive Cockburn. “We firmly believe that having a kitchen fitted by a trade professional is absolutely the best way of doing it. It’s a complicated process that can involve other trades like plumbing and electrical work. There can also be design changes made along the way. We’re therefore committed to providing a great service to local builders to ensure they always have everything they need in stock at their local depot, to support them as they work and to help them make money.”

Gains and benefits

• A strong ten year partnership between Howdens and KCS
• Fast order processing and clear visibility of stock
• Seamless integration with Howdens' manufacturing solutions
• A flexible system that suits Howdens' trading style and autonomous depots
• A scaleable solution used effectively across Howdens' 642+ depots

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Howdens Joinery  Bathrooms & Kitchens

Howarth Timber  Timber Merchants

Automotive Aftermarket

Customer: Elta Automotive

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.lucaselectrical.co.uk

Challenge

ELTA Automotive is a major component importer and distributor based in the West Midlands and holds the UK licence for the Lucas Electrical brand. Established in 1993, Elta supplies around 2,000 motor factors and accessory shops from its central warehouse in Coleshill.

Stuart recommended K8 to his managing director because, as well as being a system that was fast and easy to use, he liked how Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) was a ‘one product’ company, committed to developing its core K8 solution. He was also reassured by KCS’s automotive heritage and how several large companies in the industry were already using it successfully.

Gains and benefits

• There is now complete visibility of the supply chain.
• Customer service is improved through fast, accurate response to stock enquiries.
• Pick and stock adjustment errors are now minimal.
• Reversing costs when customers return products is easy.
• K8 helps the Elta team work faster and more efficiently.

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FPS Distribution  Automotive Aftermarket

Brookwells  Automotive Aftermarket

Automotive Aftermarket

Customer: Amex Auto

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.amexautospares.com

Challenge

The automotive after-market in Kenya is fragmented and competition comes from one-branch businesses. Amex Auto have decided to invest in K8, a sophisticated ERP system, developed by Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS). K8 software will deliver the scalable technology they need as they grow from a small, family run business to a multi-branch operation. They are also planning to open 2 distribution centres later this year. The investment they have made in their team will also, they believe, provide a foundation to support their planned growth.

Established in 1988, the privately held company is led by husband and wife team, Sajni Shah and Devesh Patel, who are Co-CEOs. Sajni joined the company in 2013 and saw the potential to take the business to the next level. She moved the company head quarters from the town of Kisumu to the capital Nairobi and expanded to 4 branches. Over the same period of time, the team grew from 4 to 56.

K8 software will deliver the scalable technology they need as they grow from a small, family run business to a multi-branch operation.

Gains and benefits

• Real time access to actual data and performance
• The ability to better monitor the performance of each branch, product line and individual salespeople
• The capability to drill down to gross margins achieved for each product

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Allmakes 4x4  Automotive Aftermarket

Elta Automotive  Automotive Aftermarket

Builders Merchants

Customer: Parkers Building Supplies

What we did: Implemented K8

Site link: www.helpmebuildit.co.uk

Challenge

Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) offers ‘cutting edge software for the merchant industry’, according to Ian Mitchell at Parker Building Supplies. Ian is Information Systems Manager at the leading independent and award winning timber and heavyside builders’ merchant.

The company was established in 1984, since when its philosophy has always been to offer high quality customer service backed up with good stock availability and an efficient delivery service. Today the company employs 280 people and trades from 25 locations across the South East.

“We have used K8 software since 2004,” said Ian. “At the time we needed to upgrade from our existing system to bring about a change of culture and KCS offered the best solution. Since then it has come on in leaps and bounds and we have continued to upgrade to the latest version each time a new version is cut.”

Gains and benefits

• K8 upgrade means sales team can access software remotely on their tablets.
• Web Builder will provide a portal for customers to access their accounts and print off invoices, PoDs etc
• Parker’s now able to plan a ‘click & collect’ service for the future
• An earlier upgrade delivered K8’s General Ledger - integrated with the trading system

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Trading Depot Builders Merchants

Lawsons Builders Merchants

Tiles

Customer: Tilespace

What we did: Upgraded K8

Site link: tilespace.co.za

Challenge

Tilespace has been a customer of Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) since 2010. They have two branches. Tilespace offers an unrivalled selection of exclusive, imported brands specialising in tiles, sanitary ware, taps and fittings. They recently upgraded from K8.07 to Babbage.

With an executive board counting on 75 years of collective industry experience and bolstered by dedicated and experienced management and staff, the collaboration has been dynamic earning TILESPACE a highly respected reputation in the marketplace. Management’s daily hands-on approach to the business has resulted in a culture of agility, intimacy and virtuosity breeding trust amongst key suppliers and long standing clients.

Gains and benefits

• The cashbook functionality added benefits
• Real-time posting of transactions allowing up to date account figures
• The new look and feel for the Babbage accounting module was a welcomed change
• Having a web based application where they are able to login to the system and do credit limit overrides on the go
• Data warehouse providing more in depth analysis of data

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Tileflair Tiles

Plumblink Plumbers & Heating