Access Supply Chain is the right tool for the job for Caldwells
Press Release - Monday, July 02, 2007
Following four years of rapid growth, tool manufacturer Caldwells is implementing a new ERP system from Access Supply Chain to support the future development of the business.
Based in Warrington, Cheshire, Caldwell’s history goes back to 1770. It is still a family business and the current managing director, Andrew Caldwell, is seventh generation. The company manufactures a wide variety of professional hand tools from hammers to scythes and axes to shovels. In 2003 it moved from a wholesale model of distribution to direct sales and turnover grew from £3 million to £5.5 million. Its existing IT system was unable to cope with the demands of a rapidly expanding business so Caldwells selected Access Supply Chain as a replacement.
Andrew says, “Access Supply Chain will give us much greater control over the business and will help us improve customer service levels. It will remove the need for all our various subsystems and spreadsheets and integrate everything so the same information is visible to everybody.”
Caldwells sells to ‘blue-chip’ merchants such as Screw Fix and Wickes, which in turn, sell to the building, gardening and fencing trades. The company has more than 1,500 SKUs (stock keeping units) and although much of its product range is manufactured at its own factory, it also now imports some products and components from the Far East. Business is subject to seasonality too – for instance, sales of garden tools increase in the spring; agricultural tools in the winter. With an increasingly complex business, Andrew expects the new Access system to help improve forecast accuracy. “It’s all about customer service and making sure you’ve got the right stock; if you get it wrong, you can be out of stock for six to seven weeks. Access Supply Chain will help make sure that when a distributor orders something, it will be on their shelves within a couple of days.”
Caldwells has a reputation for providing high quality tools which last for a long time even under heavy use – three Caldwell shovels, in perfect condition, were recently excavated from a First World War trench in France. This quality - plus a certain ‘Made in Britain’ cache - has opened up a sizeable US mail order market (15 per cent of turnover now comes from outside the UK) and Andrew says Access Supply Chain is perfectly designed to develop with the business as it grows and diversifies. “I like the modular nature of the software; there’s lots of functionality you can add at a later date, like CRM and barcoding for the warehouse. You don’t need to do it all at once; you can take it in bite-size chunks.”
He says that probably the greatest immediate benefit of the system is the hardest to quantify at this stage. “Winning new customers is one thing but if you don’t deliver a certain level of service, you can’t expect to keep the business; there’s an almost intangible benefit from the software because we expect to see an upswing in orders just because we will be able to handle them better and provide better stock levels.”
The system is expected to go live in October.
For more information on Access Supply Chain or its software solutions, contact Claire Moore on 0845 170 8888 or visit www.access-supplychain.com
ASC.020707.LS.Caldwells
Editors’ notes:
About Access Supply Chain
Access Supply Chain specialises in the provision of manufacturing and distribution solutions for small, medium and large companies.
The Access Supply Chain software is a modular Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that helps manage and facilitate the operations of most vertical industry companies.
Modules cover every procedure from purchasing of raw materials, automation of works orders, bill of materials, scheduling and traceability, to costing, quotations, SFDC, warehousing and despatch.
With its scalable modular structure, excellent functionality and flexibility, the Access Supply Chain software combines all the advantages of a standard packaged software with the fit of a bespoke solution. It has limitless potential for integration and can be deployed with complete confidence in every part of the organisation.
Access Supply Chain recently received major honours at the Best of British IT Manufacturing Awards 2007 with two of its customers, winning 'best use of IT in supply chain management' and being highly commended for 'best use of IT in manufacturing and business management'. It was also recognised at The Manufacturer Awards 2007, when one of its customers won the 'IT in Manufacturing' category, and for its pivotal role in helping sister company Access Accounting win the title of Financial Software Provider of the Year at the Real FD/CBI FD's Excellence Awards 2007.
Access Supply Chain is part of the Access Technology Group of business software companies. Formed in 1991, Access was one of the first software vendors to recognise the huge potential of the Windows® operating system and to harness Microsoft® applications for the benefit of its clients, delivering them significant commercial advantage.
For further information contact:
Helen Carpenter
Head of Group PR
T: 01206 322575
F: 01206 322956
E: helen.carpenter@access-accounts.com
W: www.access-supplychain.com
