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The implementation of IFS Applications has given CryoService the flexibility it needed in its equipment hire operations. Moreover, administration time has been reduced by around 20 hours a week, stock records are more accurate, and invoicing has been speeded up, all leading to significant savings in time and money. And customer relationships have improved because the ease with which data can be retrieved from the system has enabled CryoService to offer key customers added services.
Lack of Flexibility Was a Problem
Having outgrown their previous ERP system, the management of CryoService thought long and hard about a replacement strategy—another package or an in-house solution based on best-of-breed applications software?
Financial Controller, Neil Grimshaw explains, “It was argued that some aspects of the company’s business, which involved the supply of special gases, equipment rental and distribution, were highly specialized and therefore warranted a more bespoke approach.”
Management relies heavily on data and the company’s existing ERP facilities were not very flexible in this respect. There were also concerns about continuing support due to the change of ownership of the supplier.
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"Another thing which impressed us was the fact that IFS consultants were prepared to visit in their own time. After a particular modification had been delivered, they would often pop in during the weekend to see how the testing was going."
Neil Grimshaw
Financial Controller, CryoService About CryoService
CryoService supplies liquid nitrogen, liquid argon, liquid oxygen, carbon dioxide, special gases and gas mixtures throughout Britainto a wide range of markets in the science, leisure and industrial sectors. Annual revenue exceeds US $40 million. Benefits Software
Service management components from IFS Applications
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IFS Applications Met All Requirements
As the selection process progressed, the way in which the team from IFS (UK) was able to address the cardinal requirements was to become a deciding factor.
IFS incorporated all of the requirements for the Special Gases Division into the standard IFS infrastructure without additional modifications. The main task was in developing new applications software to handle the equipment rentals requirements. This covered equipment movements and contract hire status, taking elements on and off contracts.
Credit control was an area in which the previous system offered very good functionality. In this instance, IFS provided adequate reporting tools that more than made up for any functionality gap.
The other main area of concern was long-term support. As Sales and Marketing Manager, Noor Ali comments, “We were looking for a partner capable of continuing development for future requirements. We want to carry forward ideas for customer access via the Internet and the use of mobile personal data and all the electronic interfaces that these would require.” Painless Implementation
The first conference room pilot was held in early February 2004, and subsequent pilots followed in April and July. Go live was initiated with a weekend session during August to cut across the financials data in terms of outstanding invoices. Compared with previous experience, the implementation was “relatively painless”. Administration Time Reduced
For Noor Ali, the modifications to the service management module to cover equipment hire were very successful. “The software offers great flexibility. On the rental side there are various options for payment by day, week, monthly in advance, or in arrears. It allows for discounting and automated charging. Although it has been customized for our operations, it could be adapted easily to suit any business operating equipment hire.”
The requirement for the Special Gases Division really demonstrated the strength of the core IFS software. This business is highly specialized and involves mixing gases of differing properties together. Procedures are controlled by a fixed bill of materials that must be followed precisely. There are also strict quality control requirements and the products are supplied through a bespoke cylinder rental system. Says Neil Grimshaw, “We originally thought that this section of the business would have to be left until a later stage. But it just dropped straight in. On realization, the only modifications were those relating to the rental functions.”
General improvements include the introduction of bar-coding for material tracking, a more flexible shop order system, double entry stock control, and the use of the IFS priority reservation system to manage the stock of cylinders.
CryoService has created its own application enabling service engineers to access the database from mobile terminals. Combined with IFS, these have cut administration time by around 20 hours a week. Mobile terminals have been introduced for tank installation and maintenance, enabling engineers to access the database and update works orders while offsite. Whenever a part is used from their van, the stock record gets updated directly. Previously the process relied on hand-written documents and was vulnerable to communication errors. The information could have been two or three weeks old before details were posted and any errors resolved, before eventually getting invoiced to the customer.
For Neil Grimshaw, the biggest single win is in the ease of getting data out of the IFS system in a format that is useable. “We are using this facility to offer key customers specific routines, extracting data from the system and sending it to them in e-mail form. They think this is great because we can supply them any information they want and it‘s easy to set up without getting involved in any complicated programming operations.” Project Support
In comparing the support provided by IFS with their previous experience, Noor Ali said that whilst he learnt a lot from both implementations, IFS provided better quality and more consistent support, which is very important. “A good project manager and a good team of people who are willing to understand your business are key to the success. The IFS project manager had a great deal of empathy with our business objectives.
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