Exel’s commitment to the advancement of ERP for manufacturing and field service ensures its spot in the ‘Top ten ERP solution providers of 2022’ list compiled by DigiTech Insight.
Exel Computer Systems plc, a UK-based software author, provides business solutions to small, medium, and large companies. Their increasingly diverse customer base includes both on-premises and cloud based systems in the UK and worldwide.
Most recently, Covid brought challenges; however, Exel is able to provide its complete offering of sales, consultancy, and support services remotely. The relationship with their hosting provider, iomart helped Exel and many customers rapidly migrate to secure and scalable home working.
Factory production during this time also faced several new challenges, with companies having periods of inactivity due to lockdowns and reduced staff numbers on the shop floor to accommodate social distancing. All of this shone a light on the effectiveness of a comprehensive ERP system.
EFACS E/8’s production scheduler enabled clients to be adaptable and get ‘back on track’ in the most effective manner.
Exel was established in 1985 by founder Dr. John Ellis. John, who sadly passed away recently, saw a gap in the market for an MRP/ ERP system that didn’t need to run on a mainframe computer and could be easily customised to the customer’s specific requirements. John’s philosophy remains the cornerstone of the business today – to supply companies with state-of-the-art, flexible business solutions and enable our customers to achieve leading-edge business operability – The company remains in the ownership of the Ellis family.
Today, Exel serves an increasingly diverse customer base, including small, medium, and large companies. With hundreds of successful implementations and thousands of users in the UK and around the world, Exel has a proven track record of working with some of the world’s most well-known companies.
“Exel are a British company with 37 years history in the development and support of business software. We are proud of our place in the long tradition of excellence in British engineering, from the Industrial Revolution onwards. Our objective is to continue to provide the best products, service and quality to our end users and distributors, using best class business processes. To achieve the best quality and most efficient operational control into the future, we will continue our established policy of providing software engineering and support services from our base in Britain.”
It is pertinent to mention that the company has a long history of continuous development of their solution – since 1985. They also have a passion for UK manufacturing and knowledge of its importance to the economy of the UK. It is a company heavily weighted to development, compared to sales & marketing, which also consists of long-term employees. Therefore, retention of knowledge regarding their clients’ markets is a big advantage. The company is specialised in providing comprehensive Accounts, CRM, Document Management, and Field Service Management solutions as part of their ERP suite.
Advanced Business Intelligence reporting technologies have been well adopted by the company, allowing the clients a greater insight into their business. It is only by using accurate, real-time, easily accessible information that organisations can make the best decisions for their business. Exel supplies companies with state-of-the-art, flexible solutions that enable its customers to achieve leading-edge business operability. “Through our ethos of continuous product development, we are able to offer this. Alongside partnering with like-minded, trusted companies, such as our Irish reseller Profits Flow and our hosting provider, iomart. The experience of our implementation team is invaluable to understanding the needs of our clients – at times, we are able to inform them of best practice within their own industry.”
The company’s EFACS E/8 is a comprehensive and flexible business solution. It is a highly customisable, component-based Enterprise Resource Planning software package built with the latest internet technology. EFACS E/8 can be easily adapted to fit the exact requirements of any business.
Their implementation team can conduct a complete business review; a new client may have been on their legacy system for anywhere up to 20 years, a lot would have changed since they adopted that system – if their previous provider allowed them to stagnate with older technologies or ideologies, Exel’s sales and implementation teams enable them to see what can be achieved via a modern, comprehensive solution.
Another key aspect of the EFACS E/8 ERP solution is the Customisation Toolkit. This is a module that allows users to fine tune the software for their own particular needs. The toolkit allows endless possibilities and is a feature that many of the clients really appreciate. Enabling customers to customise and adapt the software as their requirements evolve over time, allows them to future-proof their business – if their requirements change, they won’t need to change their business software solution. For this very reason, many of the company’s first customers are still customers today, over three decades later.
In an instance, PPC Philton, a company with impressive global reach, is a leading manufacturer of Dry Bulk Liners, Flexitanks, standard and specialist Large Polythene Bags, Covers, and Liners. Established in 1969, PPC Philton has been a client of Exel and a user of EFACS since 1996. After a quarter-century of working together, PPC Philton still entrusts their confidence in the developments made by Exel to the EFACS E/8 ERP solution.
Having recently upgraded to the latest version, the latest modules/functionality that will provide some of the biggest changes to the way things are currently run are MRP Workbench and Menu Dashboards. The EFACS MRP Workbench has been designed to provide an enhanced visual aid to improve the accuracy and efficiency of materials planning. The Workbench also provides a dynamic way of interacting with data within a single application.
Use of the MRP Workbench should bring many efficiency savings, as users can complete processes on a single screen. Previously, multiple programs and processes were involved in achieving the same result. Menu Dashboards allow users to view KPIs and reports relevant to their system; based on their permissions and roles, users can select different dashboards to display within different modules. These dashboards can either be BIRT reports or Microsoft Power BI reports.
These graphical dashboards present information in a format that enables efficient and more informed decision-making. The integration of data from multiple sources removes barriers and creates an integrated organisation – all of which enables a greater insight into how the business/a specific department/Product/Production line, etc. is performing.
Armed with such excellence, for the days to come, Exel will continue to be a leading force in the provision and development of ERP solutions for the manufacturing and service market in the UK and around the world. “We are able to meet the needs of the majority of manufacturing verticals due to the flexibility of our solution.”
