Hammond Expanders UK LLP
Headquartered in Indiana, USA, Hammond Expanders is the
world's largest manufacturer of negative expanders. Hammond UK was
established in 2000 to pre-blend and ship its products throughout
Europe, Africa and Asia - products which are used in a wide variety
of battery-based applications including telecommunications and
lighting.
Staying ahead
With a 60-year history in the manufacturing industry and a
worldwide reputation for quality, Hammond Expanders has always kept
ahead of scientific developments to ensure its products lead the
field. It is this drive to retain market share that led Carolyn
Nichols, Finance Manager at Hammond Expanders UK to review the
company's business and accounting
software.
Carolyn explains, "We knew we needed to change our systems as
our business requirements and our hardware had changed - our
systems were the only thing lagging behind" Carolyn says. "There
were so many new technologies in the market - we particularly
wanted to improve our management reporting and
our production and distribution planning abilities. Integration was important to us
too, along with better help systems for our staff."
A fresh start
The UK division of Hammond Expanders was the result of a joint
venture between two companies, Hammond Group Inc and the Calder
Group. When Hammond Group bought the Calder Group's share in 2000,
Hammond UK inherited an 18- year old legacy system, which used a
standard package for financials and a bespoke system for sales
order processing and stock control.
With the new business set-up established, it was part of
Carolyn's brief to replace the outdated system for one that offered
full Supply
Chain functionality.
Initial research led Hammond Expanders to Sage as a potential
replacement for the software, but Carolyn also contacted a local
consultant who introduced them to Access.
The company's US headquarters initially recommended an Oracle
database, as used throughout the rest of the Group, but the costs
proved astronomical. This outcome proved positive for Carolyn, who
comments "we were then able to take matters into our own
hands."
Making the change
Carolyn was responsible for selecting the new solution, and had
three key items on her wish list. The overriding factor was
integration between the manufacturing
and accounting
functions. Secondly, the package had to address the functionality
issues - for example, there was no purchase order processing within
the existing system. Finally, Carolyn was keen that the whole
company would feel benefits from the system, so insisted that the
solution was easy to use.
"We had a look at alternative vendors, but the
integration between the manufacturing and accounts sides of the
Access solution really stood out for me." Carolyn Nichols
Finance Manager
Access Supply Chain impressed on all three counts, but the
integration capacity ensured that Access won the day. "We had a
look at alternative vendors, but the integration between the
manufacturing and accounts sides of the Access solution really
stood out for me."
Professionalism
In addition to these essential software requirements, Carolyn
highlights the professionalism of the Access consultants as a
reason behind choosing Access Supply Chain: "They are genuine
people and we felt comfortable working with them and they clearly
had the expertise to cope with what we were asking for. Perhaps
most importantly, other vendors had said we would have to accept
their software the way it was.
With Access, we were offered an alternative solution with scope
for configuration. The consultants were willing to work around us
instead and in the end, we only needed a few tweaks to the
configuration."
Getting up and running
Using the Access tried-and-tested implementation plan proved a
success. Consultants configured test data to fit the day-to-day
workflows of the company and then piloted it with the teams,
'walking them through' so that the users were ready to start using
the software
quickly. Carolyn comments that the transition period was "not long
because we were already familiar with the accounting modules in the
software."
As a result there was just two to three days between the initial
data transfer and the 'go live' date. "Our only real challenge was
to get used to a different way of working" says Carolyn. "All the
contact details, i.e. customers and suppliers, were transferred by
our consultant prior to the changeover so we had no concerns for
the integrity of the data."
Achieving targets
Carolyn is delighted with the results of the solution: "I can
confidently say we achieved all our goals - and within our set
budget too!
Our Access solution has had such a positive impact for us in
terms of functionality, significant improvements in efficiency and
performance, and has assisted us in growing the business."
Carolyn continues, "Our old system didn't help the user at all -
you had to know the product code before you went in the system to
find it. We can now get higher quality data - and much more of it -
out of the solution. The reporting functionality
is also great for devising your own reports - you can tweak things
to get exactly the information you need. It's now so easy to find
our way around the system to the items we need, as information is
so readily available."
Conclusion
Carolyn concludes, "With the help of our Access Supply Chain
solution, we've certainly been able to achieve what we set out to
do. The initial brief was to find a replacement for our outdated
system - and not only have we found the functionality and integration we were
looking for, we are confident that our solution plays a large part
in our drive to move the business forward."
Benefits
- Flexible solution configured to precise
working practices so staff can easily find the data they want
- Implementation methodology ensured
a fuss-free implementation with minimal impact on Hammonds'
day-to-day working
- Integration between manufacturing
and financial ledgers
gives staff greater visibility of information, with time savings
gained as the need for re-keying data is eliminated
- Addition of reporting facilities
gives staff information they need to make better commercial
decisions
This handy guide covers the end-to-end evaluation, selection and implementation process, raising all the key questions you need to answer before meeting with vendors. This guide also covers the key elements of any good ERP solution.
Find out more »
Blog
RSS
Twitter 
LinkedIn