Problem
- Retirement left a skills gap
- The company needed a proven system to streamline their operations
- Wanted a system to remove human error
As custom moulders, AJ Glassfibre supplies a wide range of components to industries such as commercial vehicle, construction, general engineering, leisure, airport and utility industries. AJ Glassfibre was founded in 1999 by John Irving and Andrew Mallinson to design, manufacture and install GRP components. John retired from the business in 2014. Due to his retirement, the company quickly realised there was skills gap. Andrew felt they needed a new business management system that would support their legacy and growth while also keeping the business stable.
The business was using manual and fragmented systems which were causing lots issues particularly due to human error. They also felt that production control software would make them more organised and would support their growth.
Andrew Mallinson, managing director of AJ Glassfibre gave an example of one of the errors in a simple process. “Every order is entered into a large Excel spreadsheet when the order is delivered we tick off as complete. However, in some instances when someone was in a rush they would handwrite a delivery note but forget to tick as complete on the sheet therefore making us over deliver.”
With a business management system, this full process would be electronic. It makes everything transparent so anyone can see where a job is at any particular time. This makes the business more organised and professional.
Solution
- The best solution to fit the process
- Better documentation
- Improves what we do today but also gives us depth and makes us futureproof
Andrew commented about his selection procedure, he said: “Everyone was recommending Sage but I wanted something that would suit our processes and not a system that we would have to change our ways to suit it. I loved that ProgressPlus was a specialist solution, it was exactly what we wanted.”
Berkeley Myles Solutions implementation manager, Matt, helped install ProgressPlus for AJ Glassfibre. Andrew said: “Matt was great, he spent the day understanding our business and how we worked and then taught us how to use the system. The beauty is all layouts are configurable so we adapted what we do manually on to ProgressPlus.”
“He also made life easier for our production manager. One of the production managers job was printing out all outstanding orders. Originally, this document had too much information. With ProgressPlus Matt customised the report so it would show the exact information the production manager needed – order number, part description, how many have been ordered and  how many have been shipped.”
“Overall, the main benefit is the amount of time we are saving as everything is on one system.”
Results
- The company has expanded opening up a new factory
- Purchased more licenses due to growth
- Reduced time managing processes
- Less human errors and makes the company more professional
- Better communication with customers and suppliers
Andrew continued “Berkeley Myles Solutions is one of the few companies that under promise and over deliver. I have been 40 years in business and it is rare that this happens. I would highly recommend ProgressPlus – it does exactly what it says on the tin.
Support – you cannot fault them, every time you ring up they solve your issue. Well, I say issue but it is more that we are not familiar with everything ProgressPlus does and a call to support refreshes the memory.
Better communication overall – customers and suppliers love that the documentation is better. Also, if any customers asks, we can instantly give them an update on their order.”
Andrew concluded “I am really happy. It is the best money I have ever spent and it is not expensive. There are not many companies I would recommend but Berkeley Myles Solution is one that I do.