Methven improves supply chain data flow with Wesupply EDI

Global designer and manufacturer of premium showers and tapware Methven, part of the global Methven Group, has switched to OneTime, Wesupply's fully managed Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) service, to improve the flow of its critical trading information with major UK builders merchants.

Wesupply's EDI service will increase the speed, ease and cost efficiency of Methven's exchange of critical business documents, including all invoices, credits and orders, with its key customers - NMBS, Unimer, Travis Perkins, SGBD, Wolseley and PTS. The service which replaces an on-premise EDI system recently went live.

OneTime is fully integrated with Methven's new Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP platform, helping to maximise order processing speeds, reduce order-to-cash cycles and avoid error-prone and costly data rekeying.

Problem management and resolution for Methven's previous on-premise EDI solution had a high dependency on both in-house knowledge and vendor support. Consequently the solution was proving costly to run and difficult to manage.

Wesupply's fully managed service will enable the company to simplify and de-risk its EDI investments while achieving gains in process efficiency and visibility.

Wesupply was selected by Methven after seeing the success the OneTime service achieved for one of its customers, SGBD UK, in a supplier facing EDI environment. Rich Evans, IT Director at Methven, said, "As we were already on the Wesupply network as part of our relationship with SGBD UK we had seen the benefits that could be achieved from a fully managed EDI service."

Evans continued, "EDI has been an important part of our business for many years but it has become increasingly so as document exchange standards have evolved and developed. Moving to Wesupply's service is allowing us to improve our own business visibility and performance whilst managing the cost and effectiveness of this critical supply chain technology."

Jerry Quinn, Sales Director at Wesupply, said, "Meeting the EDI requirements of building supply chains can challenge an organisation's performance and ability to focus on their core business. Methven recognises that by moving to fully managed EDI it can improve its efficiency whilst also gaining control of IT costs."

Methven plans to expand its use of Wesupply in the future, connecting more of its customers and exchanging critical information through a wider range of message types and formats.

Methven joins a growing number of suppliers to the building trade moving to the Wesupply service to trade electronically with customers, including Wavin, Garador and Ideal Stelrad.