Following a period of rapid growth and the successful acquisition of two of its competitors, pump and motor supplier KGN Pillinger needed to replace its existing IT system to support the demands of the new business. It chose SYSPRO from Information Engineering.
A private limited company with a turnover of nearly 5m, KGN Pillinger employs over 50 people at its two sites in Croydon and Ashford, Kent. Founded in 1965, the company manufactures water boosting and pressurisation equipment. As a major distributor for ABS, Ebara, Grundfos, EMU, KSB, Lowara, Stuart Turner, Weir and Wilo, it maintains the largest stock of pumping equipment in the south of England. KGN Pillinger also carries out repairs, service and installation work on behalf of pump manufacturers, water companies, local authorities and building services companies throughout the UK.
Following a period of rapid growth and KGNs takeover of two competitors, there was an increase in the range of products the company offered. With 5,000 customer records on different data bases and up to a hundred orders a day, KGN had to upgrade its IT system to meet the demands of a rapidly expanding business. Recognising its existing software could not deliver the functionality it required and having rejected the idea of a bespoke solution, the company turned to SYSPRO from Information Engineering.
Apart from anything else, we were getting large bills from the auditors because they had to work with disparate data from different sources, says Jeff Norman, managing director at KGN.
Purchase orders had to be controlled manually and raised on an individual basis - involving large amounts of admin time - and without a reliable database of suppliers, the company could not respond to competitive pricing for bought-in items.
The company has ordered a 15-user SYSPRO system from Information Engineering, including six CRM seats. Sales order and customer information will now be kept on a single database, eliminating unnecessary maintenance, improving data integrity and standardising customer pricing structures. The CRM system will underpin KGNs marketing programmes and support the companys service division by automatically creating engineers worksheets. SYSPRO will allow an accurate valuation of work in progress (previously only estimated) and will help prevent incorrect goods being sent against sales orders.
John Atkins, sales director: One of the appeals of SYSPRO is we wont outgrow it; we can add functionality as and when we need it, and theres no need for any bespoke work. Right now it will give us the information accuracy we need and complete, real-time visibility of the business. For instance well be able to see exactly what stock we have at both sites, instantly and in real time - we didnt know that before and it was frustrating because it could mean lost orders and opportunities.
The system is expected to go live by the end of the summer.
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