Manufacturing Software For Meridian Medical Ltd

Meridian Medical, based in Littlehampton, Sussex has seen their disposable medical products business increase by around 50% in the last 10 years, despite a double-dip recession. Spread over four sites, the company has expanded its product range and focussed on quality to grow the business, but has also seen a trend of business migrating back to the UK from overseas. 

Technical Manager James Fenton explained; “We’re the same kind of business, structure and people as before - we’re just making more products. A lot of people are bringing manufacturing back to the UK, so that’s good. The software's been really good in the sense that it does manage the workload well. We've only increased the amount of staff to assemble the products. All the assembly areas, the clean room and the workshop have now got more staff, longer shifts, but we have the same amount of admin staff.”

ISO quality tracking

One initial reason for implementing 123Insight was to have a single system as the basis for the company’s ISO13485 and ISO9001 quality accreditations. Regulations are significantly tighter than they were 10 years ago, but 123Insight continues to deliver the information that Meridian Medical need. Said James; “ISO13485 has been ramped up significantly, so the amount of paperwork we have to produce is much higher. In terms of what 123Insight does, it’s always worked well. The reports we need are available very quickly when we need them.”

Sage Accounts integration

Meridian Medical is taking advantage of the AAI (Advanced Accounts Interface) to Sage 50, linking 123Insight’s sales order processing and purchase order processing with the Sage 50 Accounts sales and purchase ledgers. James noted; “AAI does exactly what it's supposed to do. We've now got two separate computers running Sage with two AAI links working seamlessly with our 123Insight database.”

Over the last decade James has seen the popularity of 123Insight grow with suppliers and customers, often recognising documentation from other companies as being produced by 123Insight. He has also assisted a new customer that recently implemented the system; “One of our customers set up their own manufacturing facility and implemented 123Insight. They get on with it really well. We work quite closely with them and they phone us up and ask us questions about how things can work as we have exactly the same products and types of manufacturing.”

Benefits through upgrades

There have been many upgrades in the last decade, with each one delivering incremental benefits. James was most impressed with 123Insight’s ability to associate documents; “The best thing about the upgrades is the document attachments. It's a game changer. Now we can attach 15-20 different documents - purchase specifications, compatibility, material data - everything. It's very good.” 

He was also satisfied with the option for upgrades to be performed by 123Insight; “I'm happy with the upgrades in the way that it works. You can pay a small fee and the team just does it. I'm really busy and I don't want to take time out to do upgrades.”

Future proof

After outgrowing their previous MRP system in just five years, Meridian Medical has been a long term 123Insight customer. The company plans to further expand 123Insight's reach within the business by rolling out barcode stations across stores and production, taking advantage of the system’s built in Shopfloor Data Capture functionality. 

James concludes: "If you're in a situation where you have no system then this would be a very good solution to start with. I was talking to my neighbour recently who’s just started his own manufacturing business and is using his accounts system. I told him to get a proper system! I don’t know what we’d do without it.”

See 123Insight in action

Ready to discover what 123Insight can do for your manufacturing business? Our short demo video provides more detail on 123Insight's capabilities and functionality. Follow the link to find out more.