ANM drives expansion with rapid ERP implementation

Managing Director Richard Mollison founded ANM having closed a similar company and purchased some of its manufacturing equipment, along with previous company's electronic data, and says that conventional ERP was too expensive. "Initially we saw 20 systems, ranging from a few hundred pounds through to systems costing around £30k. I was shocked at some of the prices, and the low end systems were just that – low end, with very basic functionality." He also mentions hardware specifications: "One company that quoted £15,000 for the software was also quoting another £12,000 for the server and client PCs to be upgraded," he says. And it was the same with maintenance contracts. "With 123insight, we pay a monthly fee that we know up-front. It includes all future upgrades and it's down to me whether I train the staff or send them on the training courses. All the prices are on the website and are at a fraction of the price of other systems," states Mollison. "The majority of our customers now send us BoMs in either Excel spreadsheets or CSV file formats, so we can manipulate the formatting and import straight into 123insight. This saves a lot of time and reduces the possibility of typing errors. I wouldn't part with it for the world." Stock levels have seen noticeable reductions, with inaccuracies almost disappearing completely, he says. Similarly, the number of data entry errors across the company has also been reduced. As for ANM's ISO9001:2008 and MET certifications, Mollison says: "Some parts require good inwards inspection, an example being one product that needs to be V0 rated for conductivity. When orders for this part arrive into goods inwards, staff are now prompted via a pop-up window to move them into quarantine for inspection."