Frontstep to keeps the meters running at Ampy

Peterborough-based Ampy Automation Digilog, the UK’s largest electricity meter supplier which has 75% of the country’s market, is due to go live with £200,000 worth of ERP software upgrade from US developer Frontstep (formerly Symix) this month. The firm says it wants to take advantage of SyteLine v6’s enhanced APS (advanced planning and scheduling) system to build on improvements in supply chain planning and inventory management achieved through its SyteLine v4.5 which was implemented in December 2000 to replace non-integrated manufacturing and accounting systems. Richard Wand, information systems manager at Ampy says that using SyteLine and Frontstep’s APS (advanced planning and scheduling) software, the firm gained better visibility of internal operations and the supply chain. It was directly responsible for enabling the firm to improve customer service by promising and meeting delivery dates, also improving supply chain management and resulting in better inventory planning. Wand: “The business has grown and improved over the last few years, and Frontstep’s software has contributed to this. On our manufacturing floor, the system has enabled the fulfilment of vastly increased orders... If we didn’t have SyteLine in place, we wouldn’t have been able to fulfil business potential as we have done.” The Frontstep system also facilitated data sharing and cross-pollination of skills with Ampy’s parent company in Australia – Email Metering – which had spearheaded the relationship with Frontstep with an investment in SyteLine earlier in 2000. Upgrading to SyteLine 6 will increase the power of the APS and the potential for greater returns. “Frontstep is leading the field in APS technology, and upgrading to the latest version of SyteLine will enable us to exploit the potential of the system even further.”