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Client profile
From its base near Middlesbrough, plastics manufacturer RPC
Cresstale exports its cosmetics packaging products across Europe.
In the UK, the company’s high-profile customer base includes
Revlon, Boots, Procter & Gamble, Avon and other well-known
cosmetics brands.
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“The time we used
to spend on generating reports can now be invested
directly in our business.”
Graeme Ratcliffe
Finance Manager
RPC Cresstale |
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Acquired by the market-leading RPC Group nearly two years ago,
RPC Cresstale is firmly focused on the future and is positioning
itself to embark on eCommerce to increase its competitive advantage.
The challenge
RPC Cresstale was an established Sage Enterprise Solutions customer,
with a Sage CS/3 UNIX-based business management system in place.
This system was chiefly used to support its accounts department,
and its distribution and manufacturing functionality was not fully
exploited.
To maintain control of an extensive manufacturing operation
demands quality management information at both tactical and
strategic levels. RPC Cresstale management became increasingly
aware of the need to be able to interrogate their database more
easily and extract both up-to-the-minute ad hoc and routine
reports.
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| Solution
summary |
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| Sage software: |
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Sage Enterprise – Finance/Distribution/
Manufacturing
modules, Business Alerts for Sage Enterprise |
| Operating system: |
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Windows NT® |
| Database: |
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Microsoft® SQL Server |
| No. of users: |
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24 concurrent users |
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The solution
When RPC Cresstale managers attended a seminar on the benefits
of moving their business management system from UNIX to NT, they
quickly recognised the potential benefits that migrating to a
new platform would bring to the business.
Such a move would achieve the company’s immediate objective
of gaining easy access to high-quality management information
and would also lay the foundation for taking the business online
via the internet at some future time.
With the Sage Enterprise solution, RPC Cresstale purchased finance,
distribution and manufacturing modules to extend the business
management system far beyond accounting to support its entire
operation.
The benefits
The new Sage Enterprise system now supports RPC Cresstale’s
whole operation, from ordering raw materials to sending the finished
product out to the customer. One of the primary goals of moving
to the NT platform – enhanced management reporting – has been
readily achieved. Reports can be easily produced using standard
tools such as Microsoft Excel.
Although it is still early days for the new system, managers at
RPC Cresstale are already experiencing the benefits. As Graeme
Ratcliffe, Finance Manager, comments, “Report-generating
used to consume large amounts of our time – up to two hours every
day for our Customer Services department alone. That time has
now been totally freed up, so staff can concentrate their attention
where it brings the best return – on our customers and on the
business. You can imagine the impact that has had.”
He adds enthusiastically, “Sage Enterprise lets us go straight
to the data we need without the time-wasting duplication and menu
navigation that our former database, C-ISAM, required.”
Graeme Ratcliffe goes on to explain, “Previously, we had
to work in batch mode, with delays before the reports emerged,
by which time the data was out of sync with events. With Sage
Enterprise and Microsoft SQL Server, we can readily obtain up-to-the-minute
reports exactly when we need them. Through ‘pivot’ tables
in Microsoft Excel, we can track sales invoices and stock movements
as they happen, simply and quickly.”
The Business Alerts capability of Sage Enterprise keeps RPC Cresstale
firmly in control of events and conditions that require immediate
action. Graeme Ratcliffe says, “As well as standard warnings,
such as informing us when minimum stock levels are reached, we
can use Business Alerts to streamline our manufacturing facility.
Now, for example, a delivery of materials can immediately trigger
the start of a production run.”
The future
Extending the functionality of its business management system
has been so successful to date that RPC Cresstale is looking to
take it even further. Managers are currently looking at implementing
shop-floor data collection and advanced production scheduling,
with a view to developing a fully integrated manufacturing resource
planning system.
As for embarking on eCommerce, Graeme Ratcliffe emphasises, “eCommerce
fails where companies generate demand they cannot meet efficiently.
Before offering eCommerce facilities to customers, it’s essential
that internal processes and back-office systems are absolutely
water-tight. The Sage Enterprise system we now have in place is
helping us take great strides to achieving this goal.”
For more details on the solution provided for RPC Cresstale, please
contact Sage Enterprise Solutions on 0845 600 5999 (UK only) or +44 (0)
118 927 0100.
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