Healthy improvements from ERP/APS combo

£40m turnover Leominster, Herefordshire-based healthcare products manufacturer Synlatex Lambournes Group (SLG) expects to improve on-time delivery from 68% to 95% and cut material stocks by 25% to £600,000 on the back of a new ERP and advanced planning and scheduling (APS) system. The firm is implementing £120,000 worth of Syspro ERP system from Information Engineering, initially 20 seats, over the next six to nine months. Lisa Newman, operations manager at SLG, also says the system should reduce client quote turnaround times from the current five days to 24 hours, as well as reducing lead times and improving manufacturing efficiency. The company has been experiencing a period of rapid growth, to the point where its old business system – which is heavily dependent on manual intervention – could no longer cope. Says Newman: “When you’re making substantial investment in a system like this, you look for reassurances beyond those of the vendor… Thanks to references from other Syspro users we witnessed its success in other companies and that gave us confidence in going ahead with the partnership.” She mentions in particular the systems’ APS system and its real time shop floor tracking facilities, which she believes will “give us the visibility we need.”