Automotive re-manufacturer goes for efacs ERP

National Autoparts, the clutch re-manufacturer and brake disc maker, expects to underpin European growth and improve customer service by implementing an efacs ERP system. Go live is to be in two phases – the first in May and the second in July. Technical director Andrew Clay is also looking for improved warehouse management, greater business efficiency and control, improved accuracy, and the ability to keep stock levels much tighter through access to up-to-date information. National’s managing director David Houlden indicates that the firm needs to provide 97%-plus availability across what amount to extensive product ranges, while maintaining quality and keeping costs down. “Last year we saw a 16% increase in our business and our first quarter this year was a record trading period, seeing a 20% increase on last year. In choosing Exel, we feel this will be a major advantage,” he says. The new system replaces an AS/400-based bespoke system implemented 15 years ago. Says Clay: “We chose efacs because it can handle complex manufacturing situations. Whereas we don’t do a lot of manufacturing compared to the rest of our business, what we do is complicated. Re-manufacturing throws up all sorts of scenarios that aren’t dealt with under normal production circumstances, and we needed a system that could cope with that.” One requirement, for example, was that the new system could monitor the availability of core items – mostly old units used to form the bulk of the bill of materials. Which units are in stock influences how production is routed.