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ProgressPlus Ticks All The Boxes For PE Composites

PE composites is a leading UK GRP composite design and manufacturer, providing high-quality innovative solutions. As well as composites they also offer engineering assembly and machining as part of the package. PE Composites markets have expanded from their origins in the defence and commercial sectors to encompass the design of GRP composite structures for extreme conditions.  New markets include the marine and renewable energy markets and they recently developed the Atlantic A5 (RIB) for Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

The catalyst that drove them to improve their systems was due to the assemblies for customers. For example, the new Artisan Radar Housing for BAE Systems required an extensive bills of materials (BOMs) with high traceability on BOMs and lots of high-value parts.

Why PE Composites selected ProgressPlus?

Before implementing the software, PE Composites were experiencing various issues with time-sensitive and error-prone manual systems. PE composites were using spreadsheets to input their data which often led to mistakes with employees’ manually entering and duplicating data. PE Composites found this a heavy burden on resources and additionally they couldn’t get the management information needed in their old system. They realised quickly that they needed robust software to gain control.

When assessing the software vendors, PE Composites went through a strict selection procedure. The factors considered were cost, how easy it was to use and functionality. They had an extensive list of questions and the choice was made after the demonstration of ProgressPlus. Berkeley Myles Solutions was able to answer all the questions without hesitation and actually showed extra functionality.

Mark Russell at PE Composites, commented: “During the thorough software evaluation we looked at other software vendors including Factorymaster and Jobshop. ProgressPlus was an easy choice to make. Berkeley Myles solutions approach was straightforward, clear and honest. They were thorough in explaining how their software could meet our needs and had no hesitations in providing us with evidence. ProgressPlus ticked all the boxes and more! The other software vendors struggled to show us what we were wanting and also struggled to show how their software could benefit us.”

Benefits

“One of the key reasons we selected ProgressPlus, over the others, is because of its ease of use. The full demonstration showed us how easy it is to use and how comprehensive it is in functionality. To date, we have benefited from improved stock control, traceability is spot on and overall the company has better control of business processes”.

ProgressPlus has increased PE Composites customer satisfaction. Better traceability has resulted in no complaints from customers and they are now able to provide them with the information they need at the touch of a button.

Mark Russell said: “Prior to implementation we wrote everything, such as job sheets, out by hand. It was all guesswork as the employee was expected to write out what they worked on for the week. Now we use the Time and Attendance module to job on and off via the touch screen on the shop floor. We now know what jobs employees were working on, how long it has taken them and if they went over planned time. This has resulted in us being able to produce the right cost/quote to the customer”.

Mark continued: “ProgressPlus is used throughout the company as business control software and is tightly integrated with Sage financials. Overall, Berkeley Myles Solution and ProgressPlus are excellent. We recently upgraded to the latest .net version and we have never looked back. We use the product on a daily basis and anytime we have needed help from the support team, Berkeley Myles Solutions have solved it straight away.”