Access Supply Chain is the instrument of top performance at S Murray

Emley, UK - 30th December  2008 - Blending technology with tradition has allowed medical equipment manufacturer, S Murray & Co, to dramatically improve the efficiency of its business, making substantial financial savings in the process.

Established in 1915 S Murray supplies laboratory glassware, surgical instruments and plastic bottles and containers to schools, universities, laboratories and high street chemists. It employs just under 100 people at two sites in Old Woking and Sheffield.

Prompted by an ailing bespoke system and customer demand for improved efficiencies, the company introduced a fully integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from Access Supply Chain.

The system was implemented inside three months and is delivering benefits right across the business. Electronic invoicing - one of the drivers for change - has been introduced, with savings in time and stationery costs amounting to ?an absolute fortune?.

The quality and quantity of data from the system has provided a visibility of the business previously unattainable, whilst improved reporting via Crystal Reports, means the company doesn?t have to pay for costly bespoke reports as it did with its previous supplier.

The Access system has also helped S Murray make its processes more robust as the business improves in line with the technology - job cards previously completed manually for each surgical instrument, are now compiled at the click of a button, whilst full lifecycle traceability, allows the company to isolate specific lots if there is a problem with a product, rather than having to recall entire batches.

Systems manager, Mark Elton, says the company chose Access partly because the supplier displayed a better understanding of S Murray?s business than other suppliers, and partly because of the functionality of the software: "Access Supply Chain in multi-faceted; as we evolve, we will employ more and more of its features. At the outset we just wanted the functionality to duplicate our old system. Now we can pick and choose other elements as we grow and develop the business."

P.R