An ERP return on investment within 12 months
When wire manufacturer and importer Whites discovered their DOS-based manufacturing application was unstable and a risk, they found a solution in SYSPRO 6.0 ERP, which gives better processes and better service to customers…
If you've ever browsed through any of the nation's major hardware or rural supply stores, the odds are you've seen Whites Group’s products. A manufacturer and importer, Whites boasts the largest range of wire products stocked and distributed by any Australian company.
Whites' commitment to speedy service is underpinned by its widespread presence, with a manufacturing centre in Brisbane and a network of distribution centres and sales offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Townsville, Perth and Adelaide. Whites also maintains a regional office in China which provides access to the latest products at competitive rates and importantly, ensures that Whites' personnel have on the spot control over quality testing and material selection.
One customisation too many
In early 2009, during a business planning review, Whites' management identified the company's elderly U.S. developed, DOS-based manufacturing application as a growing business risk. The software had been through extensive customisation over the previous two decades and while this had enabled it to continue to meet the company's needs, such tailoring came at a cost. The application was no longer capable of accepting vendor updates. Worse, it was becoming increasingly unstable.
Paul Kelly, chief information officer at Whites explains. “We had a couple of contracted programmers who were responsible for developing the software for us but our review identified this as a risk because it made our systems reliant on just two people. The inability to take updates from the U.S. was a problem and although the software worked in a Windows environment, it wasn't Windows compliant. It was time to move on.”
Someone to trust
Kelly began researching potential replacement enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. He spoke to friends and contacts, looked at information technology magazines and websites. He received plenty of advice including the recommendation - which he readily took on board - that Whites' adopt an off-the-shelf solution with no customisation.
Next Kelly prepared a list of criteria which had as its base requirement a 50+ user system that could operate using thin clients across multiple sites. The software must have excellent backup and recovery capabilities, be well supported with local expertise, and have a documented roadmap showing a long term development direction. On top of this he added the need for electronic trade with customers using EDI and proprietary customer software; a sound warehouse management system; the ability to show goods in transit; inter-site stock transfers; landed cost tracking and calculations; a bill of materials process; and the potential for future adoption of radio frequency technology within the warehouse.
Two solutions were short-listed as being potentially suitable. To make the final product choice, Kelly narrowed his focus to examine service capabilities and each vendor's ability to carry out a speedy implementation.
Kelly notes, “Anecdotally you hear of lots of people who have huge issues when they change systems.
We had time constraints and wanted to move rather quickly. Our legacy system was not that stable and we were having issues. We needed to trust that the vendor had the right resources to manage the implementation.
With SYSPRO, the person doing the pre-sales work was also the person who was going to do the implementation and we felt confident that he would do what he said he would do. One thing that scared us about the alternative vendor was that they had a big team.
We didn't want a team. We wanted someone we could trust.”
A matter of control
To keep the project on track implementation was tightly controlled. Only three senior people – Kelly, plus Whites' financial controller and general manager of sales – were given responsibility for all implementation decision making.
“I knew our old system and I knew what we needed from SYSPRO. We wanted something that would mirror our existing environment,” Kelly says. “The users were excited about going to a Windows environment and we had their buy-in already, so I didn't have to discuss all the implementation details as other companies might do. Instead we designed a trial and pushed it through. With ERP, one thing I've realised is that there are a thousand ways to do things. If we'd had to put all the details to a committee, we would still be discussing them,” he adds.
That said however, Kelly was open to opportunities for process improvement. “The SYSPRO consultant brought up some good ideas during pre-sales and was very analytical and strategic in his thinking. He made some good suggestions in terms of enhancing our business processes, streamlining them so that we had less paperwork,” he adds.
Four months later, on 1 December, SYSPRO went live with minimal problems. “In terms of product going out the door, it all did exactly as it would have under the old system. Business continued to work,” Kelly notes. He suggests that the straight-forward cutover was a natural outcome of tight project control, thorough documentation, the ready availability of consulting expertise and SYSPRO's insistence on testing.
Better processes, better service
To date, the biggest impacts of the ERP are the changes to Whites' business processes and a more efficient service to customers. “There's less paper,” Kelly notes. “Our delivery manifests are vastly improved.
Our search functions are better. Our ability to track orders is much better. We no longer get calls on a Friday afternoon from a customer who's looking for an order that's been lost in the system somewhere.”
Reporting has also improved, thanks to an embedded version of Crystal Reports within the ERP software.
“We know what is happening in the business at a micro and macro level,” Kelly explains. “We are getting a much clearer picture of what we are making on each customer. We have more data about our products' profit and loss than ever before.”
Kelly sums up, “It's certainly enhanced the way we do business. The system we have now is cheaper and more stable. And within 12 months we got a return on our investment. It's crazy but we did it.”
> SYSPRO
W: www.syspro.com.au
Roslyn Young
E: info@syspro.com.au
P: + 61 2 9870 5555
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