Access Supply Chain provides cutting-edge formation for Thermotec

Based in Witton, Birmingham, the vacuum-forming specialist was part of the Sertec Group until a buy out in July 2006, when it decided to look for a new ERP system. Operations director Rob Parsons says the company went for Access Supply Chain because of its flexibility and ease of use. “Access Supply Chain won the day on several counts,” he says. “The system seemed much more flexible and user-friendly, it was better value for money and their people really understood what we wanted to do with the solution.” As part of the 10-user system implementation, Thermotec Plastics is installing data capture centres on the shopfloor – touch screens that will give operatives instant access to job specifications, while the management team gets an immediate view of work in progress. The project is currently underway: with Thermotec and Access Supply Chain setting the scope, before piloting in phases. Parsons says that zero-defect quality is the top priority and anticipates that the new software will underpin process improvements across the board: “Access Supply Chain will run everything from cradle to grave: from order processing, through shopfloor data capture, finished goods despatch and beyond,” he says. “Once this system is up and running, we will be able to view data that is relevant, accurate and which has only been keyed in once. We won’t need separate spreadsheets to gather information and we’ll be able to compare material and job costings, for example, at the push of a button.”