MRP Software For Evridge Group Ltd

Evridge Group Ltd, based in Dartford, Kent provide NATO approved subcontract manufacturing services to various industries including aerospace, marine, defence and nuclear. Managing Director Glen Molineux had previous experience of 123insight after it replaced a failed system implementation at a previous company. “Production was handled using a Lotus database, but this did not link to sales so we evaluated MRP systems. We had actually looked at 123insight back in 2000 but  selected a different system later in 2005. £22,000 was spent up front, plus training costs and around 20-25% annual maintenance fee. As soon as we started the training everything that we tried to do required a different module. We didn’t manage to get that system live and had to write off those costs along with the man-hours spent trying to implement it.”

The Evaluation Workshop approach

Glen attended a 123insight Evaluation Workshop in 2005 and found the approach refreshing; “There was no pressure at all - they answered all of our questions. They made it clear that the system would work for us if we accepted certain criteria, which was actually common-sense and got everyone out of the ‘we’ve always done it this way’ syndrome, which I think holds a lot of companies back. I knew that to get the answers we needed then we had to change the questions we asked.”

123insight was successfully implemented at Glen’s former company, so when he moved to Evridge he immediately selected it to replace a Delphi database. Although the company kept low amounts of finished product stock the previous system did not notify them if stock was already available for new orders. Also, it could often take several days from receiving an order before it was ready to be sent to the shop floor. Glen noted; “Many assemblies consist of between 5 to 50 items. On our old system we'd have a part number and routing would go right through the whole job e.g. make this part, mill this, turn that, etc. The job sheet would have to be copied and sent to various places. Invariably something would get missed when we got to the assembly stage. We’d also often have incorrect and duplicate part numbers entered - one part appeared 20 times, which was a nightmare when it came to costing.”

'No-Obligation' Training - the risk-free approach

Glen attended the 6 days of No Obligation Training in July 2012, on the understanding that if he decided not to move ahead he could walk away with nothing to pay. He then provided downstream role-based training using the provided documentation. “As soon as I explained it there was virtually instant understanding - it was amazing how quick people just took to it.”

MRP data cleansing and migration

Data cleansing and import was performed between August and November 2012. “Getting data into 123insight was very clear. We were given spreadsheets that were all very well laid out that told us what information had to be placed where, what we did and didn’t need, etc. Once we had our data in Excel we could do what we wanted with it - very simple.”

Go-live, with immediate benefits

The company went live on 1st December 2012, and immediately improvements were seen across the business. Stock was reduced by 20% and lead times reduced by an average of 5 days, as information for repeat orders was instantly available. Glen added; “It used to take 3-4 days from receipt to get an order to the shop floor - working on a 5-10 day lead time meant that we’d spent half of that before the job got anywhere near the factory.” Orders are now received, loaded onto 123insight and sent to the shop floor the same day.

Working with companies in industries such as defence and nuclear requires stringent controls on quality. Evridge are in the process of implementing 123insight’s CRM option to take control of this; “We have one customer with lots of quality requirements. They require 'break points' during production needing third party inspection and testing. We have to notify them before we move onto the next stage. With the CRM we can put a break point at certain operations, so once that operation is complete the system advises us that the procedure has to be done before continuing. We’ve previously had jobs where we've missed an inspection and have had items scrapped as a result. When you work for industries such as nuclear that's what they are looking for - if you don't dot the i's and cross the t's you can end up putting products in the bin.”

Dealing with resistance to change

Staff accepted the system readily, with Glen citing that even those resistant to change saw the benefit. “One of the ladies in the office used to post invoices and match them to delivery notes, which used to take half a day on a Friday. When we started training her we spent 1½ hours - she did it quickly and said 'what have I missed?' I explained that the software took care of things such as job costing and stock values. Invoicing is now daily, with each invoice taking 30 seconds. Previously we had duplicate processes across systems, but with 123insight you put it in once and it's done.”

After the success of 123insight at Evridge and his former company Glen has recommended the system to other companies within the group. One company is scheduled to go live in Q4 2013 whilst the manufacturing from a third is being imported into the two companies using 123insight. Glen finalised; “It did everything we wanted. As I’d used the system already I knew what to expect but I regularly see staff with their mouths open thinking ‘how does it do that and why didn’t we do it like that before’.”