Back in 2002 the company looked at how it could cut down on its own downtime, or more specifically wasted time. The problem was that the firm was running its core business on a hodgepodge of software packages, some of which weren't up to scratch for a rapidly growing specialist firm. "We had bits and pieces of different software, and were looking for one that we could replace them all with," Daly explains.
One of its first steps in this process came in early 2003 when CPS began to turn what was a workable but inefficient stock and inventory system into a much leaner one that, importantly, would help the company save time and money. CPS installed a materials and labour management package aimed at manufacturers, Alliance/MFG, which was delivered by Irish firm MXI. Daly says the move was the right one and benefits were real.
"One of our biggest problems was with inventory and stock control," she says, noting that the company relied on packages likes Excel in some instances, or had no software at all in others. "Our mechanical engineers do rely on computers for things like drawing and designs, but we really weren't relying on computers for stock."
Among other things, the decision to upgrade to a commonly used package designed for manufacturing companies helped CPS to get a clear, real-time view of its own inventory. Now, a year after it began the implementation process, the company can "see" what materials it has on hand, simplifying the process of re-ordering and speeding up the time it takes to get materials to a customer's site.
"It turned a process that used to take two hours into one that takes five minutes," Daly says, referring to the time the company saved when looking through stock to meet a customer's demands. What's more, creating an inventory list, a process that previously took a day to compile and a week to enter into its systems, now takes about an hour.
Better information means easier job costings
But perhaps the most important benefit of the firm's new system is the clarity it provides when tallying the cost of a project, since the materials costs are now more easily managed, making the firm's billing process simpler. Furthermore, CPS' more accurate view of its inventory means that it does not have to stock up on materials "just in case."
Though Daly admits there were some teething problems, she says the system has run smoothly for months after being installed on a phased basis from March 2003.
"It's hard to say what the return [on investment] was, because we didn't actually know what we were spending before," Daly notes. And although the firm has yet to cut back to a single software package, it is now running just three and is aiming to activate more of the functions on the Alliance/MFG package, including labour booking, and perhaps even integrating it into accounting software.