S Murray & Co
Medical equipment manufacturers in the UK face many
pressures, not least the growing threat of fierce competition from
lower cost economies. But one company in this sector that has
carved a niche for itself very successfully is S Murray &
Co.
A system under pressure
S Murray & Co knew it had reached the end of the line with
its business software. As systems manager Mark Elton describes, the
system was almost on its knees. "Back then, the system we were
using was totally outdated, largely bespoke and we'd reached the
stage where it was crashing frequently. Our existing provider was
encouraging us to move to their new package, but we felt that this
was aimed very much at larger, blue chip organisations, and it
didn't have the right feel for us."
Another prompt was coming from our customer base. One of S
Murray's largest distributors, Fisher Scientific, was looking to
move to electronic invoicing and S Murray couldn't meet this
requirement without further investment in the software to add that
functionality.
So the company looked at what was available on the market,
"First and foremost, we needed a manufacturing system," explains
Mark. "We needed something which could duplicate our bill of
materials, which we already had in place and move them to a new
system. We needed the system to be very user friendly and very
accessible - there are no restrictions here, people can look at
anything on the system. Our old software didn't have closed off
areas and we wanted something of a similar ilk."
Evaluating the options
S Murray evaluated several systems in detail, one of which was
Access
Supply Chain. From the start, the company was reassured. "All
contact with Access was very good and their demonstration was
excellent. Importantly too, they had a good understanding of our
industry," says Mark.
"We had great support from Access Supply Chain from the
start... they're always willing to help and resolve any problems."
Mark Elton
Systems Manager
"Some of the others, both systems and people, seemed to be much
more accounts driven. Access Supply Chain had a good understanding
of manufacturing processes and this was what clinched it for us -
we needed manufacturing to be the primary functionality, not a bolt
on to an accounts package."
So Access Supply Chain was chosen and the implementation began in
earnest. It took just over three months to get the system up and
running, and Mark says the level of support from Access Supply
Chain made the whole process much smoother and easier than he'd
anticipated. "We had great support from Access Supply Chain from
the start. Their people are constantly in contact with us and, even
now, some time later, their support is still superb. I reckon they
help us more than they probably need to, they're always willing to
help and resolve any problems."
Smooth implementation
One of the key reasons for the smooth implementation was the
system's ease of use. Despite the fact that S Murray had been
operating on old-style DOS terminals, the move to a Windows-based
system was very straightforward and little training was needed.
Mark explains, "I customised some of the screens to ease the
transition from old to new. This made the screens even more
user-friendly and meant our people were presented with something
they would immediately recognise.
"With the functionality of Form Designer to change the layout
and format of the screens, it was easy to replicate the look and
terminology of our old package."
The move to Access Supply Chain also gave S Murray the
opportunity to upgrade its technology base elsewhere - such as
moving from dial-up to broadband for email and web access. "We
really needed this boost and this helped us to modernise our
systems across the business," says Mark.
Now, the electronic invoicing - one of the drivers for change,
initially - is very simple, "To produce a comma separated value
(CSV) file from an invoice using Access Supply Chain is easy. The
work involved on our old system to do that would have cost
thousands."
Across the business, the new system provides excellent
visibility for S Murray. "And it's not only the visibility," says
Mark. "A huge benefit is the amount of data we now have at our
disposal. Before, if we needed a report based on sales for a
particular period, we'd have to apply to the software author and
pay for that capability as all reports were bespoke. Now,
everything is based on Crystal so it's straightforward - Access
trained me so that I can now create all these reports in house very
easily."
Cost-effective processing
The reporting capability saves the company time and money, too -
in other less obvious areas. Take stationery, for example. Before
the implementation of Access Supply Chain, S Murray spent "an
absolute fortune" on three- and four-ply continuous stationery for
everything from invoicing, to packing advice and so on. "Now, we
just need simple letterhead and the reporting functionality
means everything can be created at the push of a button."
As well as more visibility and comprehensive data, S Murray's
processes have become more robust as a result of the new way of
working, "It's been a gradual thing," comments Mark. "We're
evolving the business, the processes and the software all
together." One example he cites is that of job cards at the
Sheffield factory: for each surgical instrument, a job card used to
be raised manually. "Now, they just click on a report field and the
information is there - it saves them a lot of time." This ability
to have full product traceability has propelled the business to
another level. Being able to obtain full lifecycle traceability on
finished goods is invaluable and it's a direction that S Murray is
keen to move in. "With our old system, if a fault was found, or
suspected, with a particular instrument, we had to recall whole
batches of product. Now, we can isolate the specific lots and when
they were made, so we can see exactly where those products have
gone. To some extent, we were able to employ some basic
traceability before, but it was incredibly time consuming to do -
you'd get the instruments back, but probably plenty that you didn't
need to recall, as well."
Mark acknowledges that the company is not yet using all the
system functionality on offer. "Access Supply Chain is
multi-faceted; it does much more than we require at the moment, but
as we evolve we will employ more and more of the features. For
example, planning and forecasting is one area that we're keen to
explore soon. At the outset, we said we just wanted the
functionality to duplicate our old system, but that it should
provide a much easier way of working. It has certainly achieved
that aim. Now we can pick and choose other elements from the system
as we grow and develop the business."
It's clear that S Murray has a long history in manufacturing,
and now that it has blended tradition with new technology, it seems
certain of a successful future, too.
Choosing an ERP system from the wide range on offer can be a daunting task. Confronted with lots of conflicting advice about what's right, you want to be sure that your new system fits both your business and your budget. This guide, the first of two parts, will help you make informed choices during the first steps of the process.
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