The challenge
As Bede expanded, there was a growing need for flexible business applications that would allow better management of its business processes.
Toward the end of 1999, external consultants drew up a recommendation for introducing a business management system capable of covering stock and job costing (including stock listing), BOMs, work in progress, gross margin per product and customer
(including cost of sales), consolidated budgets and management accounts, research and development (IBD costs), service costs and revenue as well as sales and marketing spend.
A new approach was required to improve the management of the asset register, inter-company balances (reconciliation), Intrastat and IPR (Intellectual Property Rights), debtors and creditors (currency/ageing), cash flow, and suppliers (including secondary)
with level of purchases/forecast and turnover by customer/agent.
Bernd Schalks, manufacturing manager for Bede, says, “Clearly, as a growing company we required a system which was able to form a sound base for further growth. Essentially, though, we needed to make sure we could guarantee consistency and quality to
satisfy our customers better.”
The solution
Following a competitive evaluation IFS Applications was chosen not only because it fitted Bede’s aims, but also because the quotation IFS provided included impressive references from other customers. The evaluation process included visits to some of IFS’
other customers. Seeing the software in action at reference sites confirmed that IFS could provide the best solution for Bede’s requirements.
Describing the IFS system Bernd Schalks says, “It’s not the cheapest solution, but it is going to give us a great deal of flexibility and scope for future growth. Moreover the system instills a level of discipline in our processes that we need to maintain
and improve our quality, it makes people carry them out in a set way, and that’s good for transparency and control.”
Implementation
The IFS system went live during September 2002. “We weren’t replacing any existing systems so staff did not have to switch from one method of operating to another,” explains Bernd Schalks. “Because we are a small company we didn’t use any professional
systems until a year ago, certainly no MRP systems or integrated systems. Departments within the company had developed their own systems, but as they weren’t linked together it was difficult to look at the overall picture. We had Excel spreadsheets for
registering customer orders, MPS, BOMs and shipments, a database for serial numbers and Microsoft® Word® for quotations and customer orders.
IFS Applications supports five key elements—bill of materials, part numbers, customer orders, manual material requisitions (MMRs) and purchasing requisitions. A lot of the initial effort went into completing data on product-build instructions and bill of
materials.
Training was given to key members of the Bede staff as the system was developed so that a core team could be on hand to offer assistance to other members of staff once the system went live. The staff has being going through a learning curve with the new
software, but everyone is enthusiastic to see it work well.
Benefits
The main benefit to Bede Scientific since installing IFS Applications has been that the company has been able to introduce structure, yet maintain flexibility, into the way that it operates.
Says Bernd Schalks, “Now we can improve control, implement structure, and offer transparency and reporting. The structure is there because the system confirms the business processes that are required. In the past if someone asked for the cost of goods for
an instrument we’d just shipped, it could take as long as a week to tell them. Now we can get that information in just minutes. Already we are getting significant benefits out of the system.”
On completion of Phase 2, the IFS system will also manage consolidated budgets and management accounts, service costs and revenue, sales and marketing spend, asset register, inter-company balances, debtors and cash flow.
While Bede Scientific itself is already seeing real benefits from using the IFS system, much of it is also producing tangible benefits for its customers. The first orders that the system produced included detail that would previously have been very
time-consuming to compile. IFS Applications has also simplified the process of building and shipping a complex, high-value product.
Bernd Schalks concludes, “I am very pleased with IFS as a company and the support from the whole IFS project team. I’m convinced we made the correct decision. We now have a system that has the ability to grow with us and the flexibility to accommodate any
changes that we or our customers might think of.”
Software
IFS Manufacturing
Hardware
Windows 2000-based PC network,
External EXP300 Disk Array as database server and a separate terminal server facility
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