Jet Technologies fuelled for growth at an affodable cost

Faced with a quadrupling of staff, SAP Business One wrapped up inventory, cashflow and forex issues for the printing and packaging supplier…

Requirement
With rapid growth Jet Technology’s revenue doubled and its staff quadrupled. This resulted in mounting challenges across key areas, including accounting, inventory, product management, and international operations.

The major issues they needed to handle were:

• monitoring of cash flow, receivables and multi-currency transactions
• managing inventory, including a need for visibility of products by location
• managing three warehouses and 26 consignment locations
• managing international operations
• obtaining an integrated view of the customer
• managing products by product group
• improved management reports.

“We lacked the ability to monitor cash flow or receivables or foreign currency management accurately,” says Jet Technologies General Manager Sam Dickson. “In inventory management, we couldn’t view all of the inventory in a single screen shot, making it difficult to easily see what was on hand and available at various locations. Our leads and contacts management was managed with an external database system that didn’t meet our needs and there were other issues.”

Inventory can be complicated, because Jet Technologies has three company warehouses holding stock plus 26 consignment stock locations, including New Zealand, the US and South Africa.

International operations contribute to roughly 20 percent of sales.

“With our previous accounting software, we were unable to break and manage sales into product groups, This is very important for our business, because separating out the diverse product groups is necessary for monitoring sales performance by product group, item and or by employee, for matching products to revenue, and in producing sales targets and budgets.” says Sam

Solution
Having made the decision to replace the existing accounting software, Jet Technologies management met with an Enabling consultant to address the key issues that needed to be solved.

They chose SAP’s Business One ERP solution, selecting Enabling for their implementation and support.

Enabling undertook a detailed planning process, producing a blueprint for the new system to keep the whole project on track.

A key challenge was the need to move to a higher level of sophistication from the old accounting software. A wide range of capabilities could be delivered that would make Jet’s business more efficient, but this also meant that supporting processes needed to be put in place. Another challenge was the unique nature of the business. Jet Technologies has a lot of warehouses “drop ship” or sell on indent, and consignment warehouses storing product before being processed by a third party.

The installed solution provides a range of standard functions, with little added to out-of-the-box functionality. Capabilities are based around standard product components. SAP Business One provided all of the processes needed to run the business.

It includes a complete set of business management functions designed specifically for small business. It integrates all critical processes and provides support for sales, customers, purchasing, inventory, operations, financials and human resources. It was designed to be installed quickly, and is straightforward and easy to use. These factors were all of importance to Jet Technologies including Business One’s capability to adapt the software to meet changing needs as the business grows. There are numerous add on modules available, and the software can be customised to meet special requirements.

“A key factor in selecting Business One was its reputation,” says Dickson. “It is well established, and used throughout the world.

This makes it easier to integrate operations with our business partners.”

Results
Jet Technologies have been running the SAP Business One solution now for three years. The solution has delivered on its promise, solving the major issues which needed to be addressed, while providing a range of additional benefits.

Key business outcomes for the company were:

• more efficient business processes
• improved cash flow and inventory management
• improved sales and financial reporting
• reliable P&L’s, balance sheets and cashflow reporting functions
• continuity of supply with improved stock turns
• improved product management.

“We are seeing improved workflow processes, ensuring better efficiencies with fewer mistakes,” says Mr Dickson. “Our aged receivables have improved significantly with less than 2 percent of our receivables aged beyond 90 days.

We have more accurate sales reporting, that structures the business into product group segments. And there are improvements in inventory management, forecasting capabilities, and minimum stock level alerts, resulting in better continuity of supply to our customers and better stock turns for the business.”

All stock locations and the material sitting in those locations are now easily viewed in one screen, making the whole system easier and more efficient. The system has proven itself, and has operated with few, if any, crashes.

Performance has remained stable, and operation has not suffered even with additional users.

“For Jet Technologies, SAP Business One will ensure the power and flexibility to support our business for the next five to seven years,” says Dickson. “The combination of Enabling and SAP Business One has provided real value for our company.”

Although ROI is hard to quantify, Jet Technologies is now processing five times the volume of sales orders as before, with only one additional accounting staff member.

Future
The relationship with Enabling has remained strong since the new system went live in early 2007. As Jet Technologies’ business continues to grow, additions will be needed to extend its capabilities.

Business One’s flexibility and customization possibilities will make it possible to scale the software to meet expanding requirements.

With a successful implementation in place, Jet Technologies is moving to expand its Business One solution by adding Material Requirements Planning (MRP), backorder processes and Informanager tools enhancements. The company is planning to add capabilities such as sales automated order confirmations soon.

Enabling remains fully committed to helping them achieve their business goals.





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