SYSPRO is Preferred Manufacturing and Distribution Option for Leading Bakeware Company

A SYSPRO 6.0 ERP system, supplied by McGuffie Brunton, is already helping leading bakeware manufacturer, George Wilkinson to gain significant benefits in both its manufacturing and distribution operation.

After an exhaustive evaluation process involving a wide range of potential ERP contenders, George Wilkinson's management finally chose SYSPRO 6.0 ERP because it offered them a high degree of software functionality, flexibility and system integration in the key areas of manufacturing and distribution.

According to the company's Commercial Director, Tina Carswell, "Many ERP systems we investigated were either strong in manufacturing or strong in distribution, whereas SYSPRO covered both areas equally well and was the best balanced offering for our business."

The Burnley company manufactures a range of bakeware cake tins and oven trays and distributes accessories such as kitchen tooling and gadgets, which it outsources. Key customers include major UK and international retailers like IKEA, for whom they export worldwide, major supermarkets and various independent stores.

Orders are received on a daily basis directly from customers via EDI, which links seamlessly through to SYSPRO, as well as by fax and telephone from a team of reps and agents. The EDI/SYSPRO integration has, in the words of Tina Carswell, reduced, substantially, the amount of work involved in sales order processing,  "Before SYSPRO we were seriously thinking of bringing in another sales order processing administrator to manage the workload," she added.

Since replacing an SSA Global ERP solution and going live with SYSPRO in January, perhaps the biggest change and benefit so far has been with stock accuracy. "In the past, we estimated stock in the information system in the absence of real, accurate data. Now, we know precisely how much inventory we hold and, just as importantly, how much of it we can supply to our customers, " commented Carswell.

Over the past few months, the company has been using SYSPRO's integrated Advanced Warehouse Management module with the specific aim of improving inventory accuracy and reducing overall levels of finished goods.

Bar code labels are fixed to every manufactured item, which are then palletised. Forklift drivers are able to scan in the bar code from the pallet to give them the exact location for put away in inventory. Then, when orders are fulfilled, the picking list details which pallet or pallets to pick from. Tina Carswell commented: "Advanced warehouse management is providing us will full traceability of products and full documentation. In the past, pallets could often be misplaced, but they are the exception with the use of SYSPRO. "

With the first phase complete, the bakeware firm plans to install SYSPRO CRM in the second half of 2006, for use not only as a marketing tool, but as an automated way of improving relationships with customers. The marketing team has looked at the CRM module and are suitably impressed that it will further improve internal communications within the company as well.