EFACS E/8 Newsletter Spring 2009

Exel Computer Systems pic was established in 1985, and today the company is a leading force in the provision of integrated ERP business solutions for manufacturing, accounting and commercial control.

The company philosophy is to supply companies with state-of-the-art, flexible business solutions, and to enable their customers to achieve leading edge business operability.

Exel Computer Systems pic are specialists in the provision of integrated business systems, serving an increasingly diverse customer base, which includes small, medium and large size companies.

With hundreds of successful implementations, and thousands of users, EFACS EI8 is a proven product helping to run some of the world’s most well known companies.
Bankside Patterson is the market leading manufacturer and supplier of chassis and modular steel frames to the holiday home, leisure and modular building industries.
Prior to investing in EFACS, Bankside Patterson had been using an ageing business management system combined with a growing assortment of spreadsheets and manual processes. Managing Director Chris Adams doesn’t mince his words in describing why this was less than ideal. “We were using an accounts package to try and run a manufacturing company. Not only that we were a manufacturing company that was undergoing considerable sustained growth and also changing the very way we did business.”

Since implementing EFACS, a major benefit experienced early on was an increased visibility of information on what was happening throughout the company. The biggest impact has been the way that EFACS has not just coped with but arguably enabled Bankside Patterson to grow at the rate it has.

Welcome to our EFACS E/8 Spring Newsletter.

Our Spring issue contains details of new EFACS modules, recent case studies, the annual User Group, as well as showcasing some important EFACS functionality.
We would also like to inform you about our forthcoming EFACS Et8 ERP overview events, including details of how you can register for these sessions.
We hope you find this issue informative.
Exel Computer Systems plc

Hazardous Goods

The activities of storing, processing, transporting and labeling hazardous or dangerous goods are surrounded by strict national and international legislation. The fully integrated EFACS Hazardous Goods module can assist with all aspects of controlling these operations. The module provides a comprehensive yet flexible solution for the storing and manipulation of all infornlation required to meet the stringent and complex standards in place around this important area of business.
The Hazardous Goods module may be summarised as follows:

• UN, CHIP, EU and COSHH standard hazardous information concerning products and chemicals can be maintained.
• Carrier selection logic can be based on carriers’ hazardous capabilities.
• Stock location restrictions, based upon hazardous goods properties and storage segregation rules.
  .* Creation, modification and issuing of statutory documents, datasheets and labels.
• Multiple language ‘Phrases Database’ to hold standard hazardous phrases which can be used to build statutory documents.
• Molecular formulae printing within the standard EFACS report writing language EARL.

Business Benefits

• Simplifies and controls all aspects of a company’s hazardous or dangerous goods transactions.
• Automated procedures create faster processing speeds and increased staff productivity .
• A multi-lingual and fully auditable record of statutory documents, datasheets and labels.

Return Material Authorisation

The Return Material Authorisation (RMA) module represents a new stage in the despatch/return process; where a customer’s request to return goods is recorded, a reference number is generated and details about the return, such as collection can be recorded. A RMA will typically be created when a customer calls to arrange the return of goods. Customer details and information about the goods to be returned are captured within the EFACS system. EFACS RMA functionality provides the following business benefits:

• Automated lookups for speedy and accurate customer service
• Visibility of all customer returns at any given time
• Reduced administration and a reduction in costly manual errors

Support for multiple item returns

This new module allows the manufacturer and distributor to track customer returns, product failures and product repairs. The data collected from returns provides critical information for future product design and stock levels.

The Right Time to Upgrade to EFACS E/8

Recent economic uncertainty has caused many business sectors to slow. Management must now review their business models in-line with their revised forecasts to ensure they are lean and operating at optimal efficiency in order to ensure success during the forthcoming years .

Upgrading to the latest version of EFACS E/8 8.5 will allow businesses to take advantage of enhanced functionality and access to new developments and features, in addition to benefiting from effective control of resources, cost reductions and real-time access to business information.

Upgrading has never been more cost effective:

• Existing customers who have a software maintenance agreement can upgrade their version of EFACS for FREE.
• Enhanced functionality and access to new EFACS E/8 features.

For further information on upgrading your current system to EFACS E/8 Version 8.5 please contact your Account Manager

Consistent quality delivered on time with EFACS

Martin Aerospace is a global supplier of precision manufactured products to the aerospace and other quality critical industries. Such is the company’s reputation that it works extensively with leading global aerospace manufacturers, all of which demand the most rigorous manufacturing processes.

When Martin Aerospace needed to replace their existing fragmented systems it was obvious to them that EFACS would meet their needs. Previously the company relied on a mixture of disparate systems that meant it was impossible for anyone to accurately identify where any particular job was at any time on the production floor. The company also had zero visibility of the true costing of each process prior to investing in EFACS.

With EFACS now in place, arguably one of the most notable impacts has been the removal of all the pain and time involved with the manual creation of each unique works order. The real-time updating of information brought immediate and massive improvements in visibility and time savings across the entire company. This was crucial in helping Martin Aerospace to analyse completed job cards, and use this information to determine whether the efficiency could be improved.

In fact Andrew Wallace, IT Manager, comments that “it is now possible to do as much business in one day as it previously took a week to do.” The system is still evolving in step with the company, with Wallace looking to further refine the planning and scheduling capabilities to take into account increased capacity arising from new machine investments. It is therefore understandable that with regards to EFACS, Wallace says “We couldn’t live without it now – it helps keep the company alive and we couldn’t have got to where we are without it.

Annual EFACS User Group Meeting 4th November 2008

The EFACS Annual User Group Meeting took place on Tuesday 4th November at Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire. There were around 80 attendees on the day representing 40 companies across all versions of EFACS.

After an introduction by the Chairman of the User Group, Jonathan Ornle, the session was opened with a demonstration of the latest EF ACS Business Intelligence Dashboard functionality. This was followed by a demonstration of the Landed Costs module, and an overview of the Hazardous Goods module.

Following on, Margaret Craddock,Operations Manager from Dyer Engineering, talked about the issues Dyer Engineering face as a company and their experiences of implementing the EFACS Capacity Planning module.

John Breedon, the IS/IT Director at Lactalis McLelland then spoke about the multiple EF ACS implementations within this large multinational group producing cheeses and other dairy products.

After lunch two of the Exel Account Managers demonstrated some of the latest EFACS developments, including new functionality in the area of Return Material Authorisation.

The day was rounded off by Hanida Abas, talking about her experiences as IT Manager prior to, and during, the selection of the EFACS E/8 system at Fixing Point Ltd in Cheltenhanl, Gloucestershire.

During the breaks the users were able to meet with a number of Exel Implementation Consultants who were on hand to answer questions about their systems.

Exel would like to extend our thanks to all those who attended. It was great that so many of you were able to take the time to come. We look forward to seeing all our members again next year.

Magellan Aerospace UK EFACS delivering real business benefits

Magellan Aerospace (UK) Limited is a leading design to manufacture supplier of aerospace structural components and assemblies. A wholly owned subsidiary of Magellan Aerospace Corporation, the £70m turnover company is a tier one supplier of products ranging from small intricate valves through to single one piece spars exceeding 18 metres in length.

Magellan’s previous system was largely manual and augmented by spreadsheets, whiteboards and paper which while effective after a fashion, could not deal effectively with the challenges the growing company faced. Indeed, it was the ongoing growth and development of the Magellan group that necessitated the change to an integrated business management system that was powerful yet flexible enough to deal with Magellan’s manufacturing requirements.

Balancing load versus capacity is one of Magellan’s major business challenges as well as ensuring consistency of on-time delivery, so any system chosen would have to cater for this effectively. The scale and variety of manufacturing that Magellan has to accommodate complicates things further, as at one plant alone they could have as many as 3400 live works orders. The shortest may only take half an hour while the longest can involve up to 53 different operations and take months to complete. EFACS was selected due to its combination of functionality, scalability and value for money.

All of Magellan’s main UK sites are now running EFACS and Eric Shelly, Business Information Systems Manager comments, “for us EFACS is simply an essential part of how we do business now. The company has grown in terms of sales and profitability which EFACS must take some credit for as it is in operation on all of our sites and is consistently delivering what we require from an ERP solution.” It is clear that EFACS has become an integral part of Magellan and proven invaluable to them right across the company.