Orvec to get all round visibility

Streamlined processes from quotation, to delivery, and warehouse stocking density reduced by at least 20% are among key expectations at £10m safety suits and airline ‘comfort equipment’ manufacturer Orvec International of its new ERP system. The company says it selected Lilly Software’s Visual Enterprise in part for its rules-based product configurator software, designed to check that every order can be made profitably and on time at the company’s factories in Kingston-upon-Hull and Xiamen, China. The configurator will automate quotations and sales order processing, taking into account not only valid combinations, but pricing and available production capacity. It will also provide the firm’s planning department with advanced scheduling linked to other systems in the factory, while the rest of the system covers stock control, despatch of goods, accounting and so on. John Hunter, project manager at Orvec, says: “The system has the necessary flexibility, range of functions and scalability that we will need as the business expands. It will allow us to compete in an aggressive world market.” He also expects the system to break down inter-departmental barriers and improve communications and decision making. Meanwhile, financial director Diane Darley says that once the system is implemented she expects to add the Visual Business Intelligence suite. “Lilly as an ERP package has something like 700 standard reports, but we’re buying the Visual Business Intelligence tool too because we need to deliver information to the users’ fingertips. And it needs to be current, rather than historic.”