Access ERP has helped Burts Potato Chips achieve operational efficiency

The business case

With aspirations to grow the business to £20m over the next three years, Burts Potato Chips needed a system that would provide integrated finance, production and stock management. Its Sage Line 200 system couldn’t provide the level of analysis and management reporting that Burts required, forcing it to use a range of Excel spreadsheets and manual processes to overcome some of the shortfalls.

The lack of adequate barcoding, which is required to control materials and track pallet despatches and transfers, resulted in duplication of effort. Due to continued expansion and the growing number of manual systems, combined with the lack of integration, Burts Potato Chips decided to review how it could implement tighter controls over its financial, production processing and stock control.

Implementation

Mike Cosby, FD for Burts Potato Chips, who has been responsible for driving the project, commented:

“I became familiar with the Access product suite through the FD Centre, where I used to work. This was the main driver as I knew it was right for us.”

Burts Potato Chips also looked at Microsoft, Iris Exchequer, and reviewed the cost implications of customising Sage Line 200. It didn’t prove fruitful.

“We’d also started a project to provide barcoding when issuing materials and to control the process of goods in and out, alongside stock adjustments. However, this project reached a point where it didn’t meet the demands originally scoped and the senior management team questioned whether it would ever do so within the agreed budget.”

Burts implemented Access ERP, an integrated ERP solution providing visibility of information across the organisation whilst facilitating the projected future growth of the business. The system, which includes barcoding, offers real-time data collection for stock and manufacturing. This has helped the whole business to function much more effectively including the production team who had to previously work from spreadsheets. The company has also recently gone live with Access Payroll and Access Expense.

Time-saving

With the new system in place, Burts is benefiting from significant time and cost savings.

“We no longer carry out monthly stock takes as inventory is reconciled in real time saving us around £12,000 a year,” said Mike, who explains that Burts now conducts a perpetual inventory and that barcoding has improved accuracy and speed."

“With Access ERP we can view the stock position on the system in real-time and know it’s 99% correct. This has given a real boost to our customer service as we have full confidence in the accuracy of the information we’re providing."

“The flow of information around the organisation and through the production process is greatly enhanced, with electronic data capture via handheld devices improving despatch processes too. It’s made a huge difference to our business.”

 

Planning ahead

With the new system in place, Burts Potato Chips are planning more efficiently too. Mike commented,

“We can more easily balance purchasing and production schedules, ensuring stock levels are always just right.”

The solution is also playing an important role in managing wastage.

“Access ERP gives us instant visibility of production costing, enabling us to analyse and reduce product wastage. Not only does this have a financial benefit, but it also has a positive environmental impact.”

 

Reporting

Moving away from paper-based reporting and improving access to information has definitely made life much easier.

“Reporting out of Sage would take an extra day at month-end,” said Mike. “With Access ERP I can get straight to the information I need.”

Burts Potato Chips are now able to readily carry out variance analysis, from purchase price to production costs, as well as retrospective stock valuation and comprehensive sales and product analysis – all of which was previously very cumbersome. Mike commented:

“We can easily create up-to-the-minute production reports allowing us to analyse activity in an instant; we also have full warehouse location visibility which we didn’t have before."

“Access ERP is helping us scrutinise every area of our business. It’s already saved us thousands of pounds through greater efficiency and faster access to information.”

 

With management reporting greatly improved, it is spurring Burts Potato Chips on to look at other areas of the business where it can drive greater performance.

 

Maximising success

From finance, sales order processing and purchasing to manufacturing, warehouse and stock management, the new system is helping Burts Potato Chips to deliver an even greater service to the customer as it continues to grow.

“The quality of our product is paramount and Access ERP is central into helping us maintain our high standards of excellence."

“With Access ERP we’ve future-proofed the business and could easily double or treble in size. We’re looking to grow to around £20m over the next two or three years to maximise production capacity; we’re confident that Access will easily support us every step of the way,” concluded Mike.