Case Study: Manufacturing

"We have found that MYOB Acumatica is not only feature packed, but also is able to grow with our business"

 

Background

Better inventory management gets Moove Industries moving

 

100% Australian-owned and operated Moove Industries provides leading manufacturers across Australia with premium abrasives, cutting tools, welding and safety equipment. The competitive market and a growing business meant Moove needed a more comprehensive management system. MYOB Acumatica offered the integration and better inventory management that would supercharge its growth.

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Since its inception in 2008, founder Ray Taylor’s goal has always been for Moove to deliver the best possible prices, without compromising on service. When the business was smaller, they could do that easily, relying on strong relationships with specialist international factories to negotiate discounted pricing.

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The existing business system, MYOB AccountRight Premier, was designed for a much smaller business. So, while it had suited the company at first, the system began to hinder efficiency as Moove expanded.

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To work around its limitations, Ray would manually manipulate forecasts in spreadsheets – but as the business continued to grow, he knew it was time for a change.

 

 

The Problem

Inefficient ordering, a lack of inventory data

 

Without up-to-date data on multiple-currency costs and stock information, it was difficult to ensure they weren’t under or over ordering. This inefficiency increased costs across the business and affected the final price offered to clients. Sales people were also lacking anywhere-access to up-to-date, accurate inventory information. They were, essentially, negotiating blind, which had the potential to erode minimum margins and impact on profitability.

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This, plus the extra manual work Ray was putting in, meant potential for errors quickly began to undermine his business.

“We just needed better inventory control and better support for multi-currency – the previous system just couldn’t do that,” says Ray.

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"We just needed better inventory control and better support for multi-currency – the previous system just couldn’t do that."

 

 

The Solution

Seamless automation, real-time information

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Ray looked at a number of options, but chose MYOB Acumatica because it was cloud-based and offered an end-to-end, scalable solution. With just the right functionality for Moove, it also came without the inflated price tag.

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“We have found that MYOB Acumatica is not only feature-packed, but also is able to grow with our business,” says Ray.

The big selling point was MYOB Acumatica’s inventory management, which lets Moove calculate all import and landed costs accurately and automatically.

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Cloud-based Acumatica would also let his sales team securely access information from any internet-connected device.

 

 

The Outcome

Better efficiency, faster growth

 

Ray says MYOB Acumatica’s integration and inventory management capability has dramatically improved Moove’s stock control. With timely access to data, the sales team is bringing in far more completed sales, without a reduction in profit margins.

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Ray has since doubled his sales team and opened a second office – something made simple thanks to Acumatica’s flexibility and integration.

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“We opened our new warehouse in Melbourne, and MYOB’s multi-location was set up and ready to go in a few clicks,” says Ray.

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With most manual work eliminated, Ray can focus on the company’s future – and his plan for unstoppable growth.

 

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Summary

Before

• Difficult inventory management led to cost inefficiencies

• No access to accurate, timely pricing meant minimum margins were being eroded

• No anywhere access to business information

• No scalability 

 

After

• Seamless inventory management means warehouses always have just the right stock

• Real-time access to pricing information equips sales team to make more sales with better profit margins

• Cloud-based for access from anywhere, any time

• Already proven scalability 

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GDK Group

 

“Acumatica has been a god-send for our accounts team, we’ve saved days of effort by automating repetitive manual tasks.”

 

The sound of success Established 20 years ago, the GDK Group has evolved into the leading multi-disciplined architectural construction and joinery manufacturer in the SE Asian and Oceania regions, specialising in the manufacture of acoustic panelling, timber wall and ceiling panels and customized design finishes. It’s reputation and legacy of excellence has led to GDK being commissioned to deliver some of the regions’ most prestigious construction projects, including Perth Arena, QANTAS campus re-development and ANZ Pitt Street fit-out.

 

 

Problem

Cost and complication

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GDK had been using NetSuite for 4 years and while they liked the project management functionality and a number of features, the big issue was cost. It became very expensive when trying to cater for multiple companies, and to get around this they had to set up separate companies as branches which added to administrative overheads.

 

Thomas Burden, Accounts Manager of GDK adds, “This in turn led to end-of-month processing and reconciliations becoming very complicated. And then there was the issue of inflexible licensing structures.”

 

 

Solution

The star system

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The change ahead was considerable and GDK looked at a number of options. Thomas recalls, “We looked at MYOB AccountRight and a particular online version of Quickbooks however they couldn’t handle multi-branch accounting and would’ve required add-ons to achieve the functionality we were after.”

 

GDK were especially keen on a system that could take care of project accounting and after a bit more investigation on the MYOB website they decided that MYOB Acumatica was the perfect fit. MYOB Acumatica Business could do multiple branches, projects, job costing, and just as importantly to GDK, the price was good. “We also liked how it could do consolidated reporting,” says Thomas.

 

Thomas is a cloud advocate so naturally top of GDK’s list of mandatories was a cloud solution, which also eliminates the problems or responsibility for onsite backups, coupled with the fact that employees need to be able to access a variety of company information from anywhere.

 

 

Outcome

Everything in tune

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GDK chose an MYOB Business Partner to implement MYOB Acumatica. They liked the fact that they were local and had experience implementing other solutions with set-ups similar to theirs. After finishing with NetSuite at the end of January they had a really strict timeline to ensure they were able to go live at start of February.

 

With the deadline looming, the Partner handled the basic training and set-up of the GL as well as teaching staff how to do an import of information. While there was a steep learning curve for everybody, along with the usual resistance to implementing a new system, the changeover was seamless.

 

“MYOB Acumatica gave us the functionality we were after a much better price.”

 

 

Summary

Harmonious performance

 

After a whirlwind changeover GDK are still catching up with some aspects of the new system’s functionality however in terms of overall performance MYOB Acumatica has made a world of difference. Exporting to Excel makes life easier, end-of-month intercompany consolidation has become a whole lot easier, and with visibility across all aspects of the business in real-time GDK can account more easily for multiple-branches.

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Before

• Complicated end-of-month processing and reconciliations

• Netsuite was too costly

• Inflexible licensing structures

 

After

• A number of manual tasks have become automated, saving hours of time

• More affordable, helping to improve the company’s bottom line

• Multi-branch accounting and inter-company invoicing is now easy

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ATP Science

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“We have a system that can manage our manufacturing and distribution processes in one package, but more importantly, we know that we can trust our data – that’s a massive relief.”

 

Background

 

ATP Science is Brisbane-based manufacturer and distributor of nutrition and body-building products. In recent years, the company has achieved phenomenal business growth, averaging a massive 200-300% per annum. This hard-earned growth has seen the company look to new horizons, moving seriously into the export market, a feat it says could never have achieved without its MYOB Acumatica Cloud-based ERP system.

 

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The Problem

Systems not communicating

 

When ATP decided to set up its own manufacturing plant, with a plan to go international, the limitations of its legacy business systems became apparent. Using Cloud-based DEAR software for inventory management and purchase orders, and Xero for financial management was a nightmare.

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When they started their own manufacturing things got worse — the legacy systems couldn’t put together a manufacturing run or create a product from a set of ingredients and follow it all the way through to inventory with costings, etc. 

 

"When we started manufacturing, our nightmare increased tenfold."

 

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The Solution

Integration delivered via the Cloud

 

To fulfil its exporting ambitions ATP needed a single solution that solved all the problems, and it had to be a Cloud-based system for convenience, so everything on the IT side could be managed internally.

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ATP were introduced to Momentum and MYOB Acumatica. The problems and needs were discussed and subsequently a solution was created, with the key attraction for ATP being the integrated JAAS Acumatica Manufacturing Software (JAMS) module, which streamlines the process of filling batch orders with pre-configured lists of materials.

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"The integrated inventory and financial control were the biggest things for us."

 

 

The Outcome

A huge boost for business

 

The impact MYOB Acumatica has had on the business was apparent from day one and ATP has only just started realising its full capabilities. These days, Accounts, Warehousing and Production all integrate with each other, and paperwork has virtually been eliminated.

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Reports are now much more easily accessible, with MYOB Acumatica offering an unprecedented level of information, while cash flow analysis is also vastly improved. In terms of expanding the business, forecasting can be done for the year ahead which is especially important for ATP who have a strong focus on growth.  

 

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"It all just makes sense, and we keep coming up with ways to tweak our processes to make ourselves more efficient."

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Summary

Before

• Disparate, non-communicative systems

• Financial data not trusted

• Stock-taking inaccurate

• Too much manual processing

• No scope to handle rapid growth

 

After

• Complete integration of Manufacturing, Distribution and Financials

• Accurate data at a glance

• Manual processing and paperwork gone

• Reporting and analysis on the spot

• Sound approval process

• Scalable cloud solution to grow with their business

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Sunfresh Linen

 

“Our staff have said that not having to log in to three different systems to get their job done has been the most beneficial change.”

 

Background

 

SunFresh Linen is one of the country’s largest laundry and linen hire services, with operations in South East Queensland, Northern New South Wales and Victoria. Each week their 500 employees launder over 2.1 million pieces of laundry for some of the biggest names in Australian hospitality and healthcare. But it didn’t start that way.

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In 1998, the George family purchased a small laundry in Ipswich, Queensland. The laundry had been in business since the 1960s, but it was rundown and in dire need of care. Over the years they worked to transform the once washed-out operation into a modern facility with the friendly feel and service of a family business.

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In 2006, the Ipswich factory went through a major equipment upgrade. New sorting, washing and ironing machines increased productivity so much that three years later, a second factory was on the cards. This factory in Darra, Queensland became SunFresh Linen’s new headquarters – and the original Ipswich site was decommissioned.

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Almost ten years later, SunFresh Linen expanded into the healthcare market, taking over Wesley Linen Services in 2018. In September that year, they also added a new worksite in Sunshine West, Victoria, and started production of linen orders for Melbourne customers.

 

Moving into the future

 

Strong ethics and customer focus sit at the heart of this company, and a huge part of that is sustainability. Today, the business is run by brothers Steven, Lawrence and Daniel George, who’ve invested heavily in water and environmental planning. They installed a full-plant water recycling system and state-of-the-art equipment to reduce water and energy consumption – while doubling production capacity.

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They’re proof that business can succeed not just in spite of ethics, but because of them. But, as project manager Megan Pang points out, some of their old systems had lagged and weren’t as efficient as the rest of the business.

 

"The system was sufficient when we were a small business, but we’re a large business now and we need more: reporting, security, performance – we couldn’t extract that from our old system."

 

System lacked data visibility, security and integration

It just couldn’t handle a full load

 

SunFresh Linen had been using the same old system since it was established, which struggled to process large amounts of data. This meant simple financial tasks took far too long to complete.

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“Each day, we would generate data from our ordering system and dump it into our main financial software. We’d also have to generate an ADF file for invoicing and transfer that.”

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“It was three steps that were really time-consuming, and with a busy factory – the data is huge!” explains Megan.

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The business tried to integrate more systems to support its growing operation. The additions only made things clunky and inefficient, without delivering the user management features needed to control permissions.

 

Goal: reduce admin, operate more effectively

Time to throw in the towel on the old system

 

With their old system at the end of its lifecycle, MYOB Acumatica had the features SunFresh needed to get efficient and get growing. Simplifying admin processes has completely changed the way the business operates.

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“With MYOB Acumatica, we don’t have to go through and extract or manipulate data from Excel anymore,” says Megan. It’s faster and we’ve been able to simplify and streamline many admin processes.”

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The company also implemented MYOB Acumatica’s Customer Self-Service Portal. Customers place orders online directly, which speeds up order processing.

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“It’s really easy to use and gives our customers more control over their orders,” Megan adds.

 

Streamlined processes, increased worker capabilities

System will lead business into the future

 

Megan says the benefits of a streamlined system extend to the shop floor.

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“Our staff have said that not having to log in to three different systems to get their job done has been the most beneficial change.”

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“It’s a very powerful tool, but we have the right documentation, training and support in place for our employees so they can use the system to its full potential in their jobs.”

 

Improved user access management

 

In the past, the business had little control over manager approvals – something which often blurred the lines of responsibility.

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“Before, everybody had a access, everyone could do everything,” Megan says. Now, each role only has access to the information needed to do the job, “putting ownership and responsibility back where it should be” and improving data integrity and security."

 

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Big win: better customer service

 

With their systems well-integrated and improved system stability, SunFresh Linen continues to provide the high-quality service that customers expect. Megan says having everything in one system makes it easy to quickly handle any order discrepancies.

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“If a customer raises an issue, our account manager can come back to our system and find all the information they need to get things sorted.”

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“There’s transparency – all the details are in the system and they can see in real-time what’s happening in different parts of the business.”

Seamless integrations, access to real-time insights

 

An integrated system was also key to providing management with the accurate financial information they needed to propel the business forward.

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“Things like productivity, how we can improve the factory surroundings. Before we didn’t have the time to analyse and make improvements in other areas,” Megan says.

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Now that they’ve stabilised their system, they have more time to focus on other valuable business improvements.

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“I think now that we’ve got the basics set up, once we’ve finished integrating the health sector into our online ordering system, we can start investing in higher-level reporting capabilities.”

 

Improvements with MYOB Acumatica

• Simplified admin means faster business operations

• Staff see benefits of a single, efficient system

• Online ordering gives customers more control

• Refined user access promotes ownership and responsibility

• Order discrepancies quickly handled

• Accurate data propel business forward

• More time to focus on other business improvements

 

 

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Threlfall Packaging

 

"The inventory information is unbelievable to have at your fingertips."

 

Threlfall Packaging has it all wrapped up with MYOB Acumatica

 

Antiquated, inefficient, and arduous – three things Threlfall Packaging didn’t want to be as they grew.

With their almost entirely manual systems, errors were starting to increase in their inventory and pricing, causing huge costs. MYOB Acumatica provided the replenishment capabilities to automate time-consuming processes and elevate customer service.

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The Problem

Manual system costing time and money

 

Threlfall Packaging is a wholesale company specialising in hospitality consumable and retail packaging – an industry that owner Joe Raco describes as a ‘commodity market.'

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Joe’s goal was to elevate Threlfall’s customer service, with improved reliability, efficiency and quality. In this way he’d set the company apart in this competitive environment.

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That goal was being hampered by legacy systems – inherited from 25 years in the business.

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As Joe describes it, during that time Threlfall Packaging has done a good job at “getting things done” using manual processes.

It was time to take a step back, analyse what they needed, and set the scene for growth.

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As a small to medium (SME) family business, for Threlfall Packaging time is money. Unfortunately, their manual systems were costing them a lot of both.

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Pricing and invoicing were done with “good old-fashioned docket books.” They would manually go through stock sheets from each supplier, counting by hand what they had on their shelves to fulfil orders, that then were faxed or emailed.

As the business grew, so did the complications.

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“Every time we had a price increase, we’d have to go through our price books, scan each price list and manually adjust it. That would take weeks and weeks. We needed a solution for that,” says Joe.

 

"Every time we had a price increase, we’d have to go through our price books, scan each price list and manually adjust it. That would take weeks and weeks."

 

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The Solution

MYOB Acumatica: an all-in-one solution

 

While Quickbooks and Xero both had the right accounting capabilities, Joe knew neither would “cut the mustard” in other areas. After an external needs analysis, Joe saw that MYOB Acumatica would be the best fit – and jumping right into ERP was the step he needed to take.

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MYOB Acumatica would fully automate Threlfall’s accounting, distribution and replenishment, while the CRM would allow easy segmentation of customers for managing promotions and debtors. Advanced People, the payroll module, would remove headaches from month-end pay runs. The Acumatica Distribution module would handle multiple customer pricing and streamline the shipment process, for better accuracy and on-time-delivery, all while eliminating IT hardware maintenance costs.

 

"Looking back 18 months, I think ‘How did we do those functions?"

 

 

The Outcome

Customer service the platform for growth

 

Joe says the improvements he’s seen in stock management alone have made it worth moving to MYOB Acumatica.

“It elevates us in our service, expertise and professionalism. That information is unbelievable to have at your fingertips. Before, we’d have to flick through a big folder!”

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Threlfall Packaging can classify products and customers to improve efficiency and service, while helping Joe keep a close eye on sales data and debtors.

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“What would take hours now takes a couple of minutes, so we can allocate our time to other productive tasks.”

 

Summary

Before

• Hours of staff time wasted on manual data entry

• Inefficient ordering, fulfillment and replenishment processes

• Complete lack of sales data or reporting

• Customer visibility of service could be improved

 

After

• Manual entry almost eliminated, staff focused on productive tasks

• Order fulfillment and replenishment man-hours significantly reduced

• Useable sales data informs business decisions

• Efficient customer service elevates from the commodity market

 

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Peacock Brothers Group

 

"It’s improved our overall efficiency and increased confidence in our picking and dispatching process."

 

Setting the Scene

 

It’s 1888 in Melbourne, Australia. The cobblestone streets are bustling with horse-drawn carriages and promenading women in princess-like corsetry. An entrepreneur by the name of Ernest Peacock has just opened a small, general printing store named Peacock Bros.

 

Fast-forward 132 years and Ernest’s business has become one the largest label manufacturers in Australia and New Zealand

 

By the late 1880s, there was a serious movement towards federalism in Australia (not long after, the Commonwealth of Australia would be established). With the explosion of business in the new Federation, companies were seeking better systems – and Ernest saw an opportunity.

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Over the years, Ernest developed printing systems and binders – often in gold leaf – which quickly established him as a quality printer. He added accessories like filing cabinets, manila folders, book-keeping equipment – and pioneered a calculator called the ‘Millionar’.

 

Family continues legacy of grandfather

 

Ernest’s son takes over the family business with his son-in-law Stephen Yuritta. Later, his granddaughter Ruth, would become the newest executive director for Peacock Bros.

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In the 1970s, the company was the agent for the iconic Casio handheld calculator – a staple in many school backpacks across Australia and New Zealand. Eight years later, the company would sell off its general printing business to pursue a new line of work.

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At the time, cartons were still being labelled by hand, causing no end of problems. The company purchased a Mark Andy press in the late 1970s –a flexographic printer commonly used to print high volumes of labels and packaging – and the rest is history.

 

130+ years old and still going strong

 

Today, Peacock Bros. is one of the largest manufacturers of labels in Australia and New Zealand. They’ve also made a name for themselves as one of the biggest providers of identification, tracking and mobility solutions in the supply chain. They manufacture high-quality labels, tags and thermal ribbons, and offer a premium range of world-leading printing, labelling, scanning and digital healthcare solutions.

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Despite its growth and success, Peacock Bros. remains committed to the family values that it has lived by since day one – integrity, respect and loyalty to its customers and employees. But it also recognises when there’s room for improvement. For the New Zealand branch of Peacock Bros., it was the out-of-the-box system that needed upgrading.

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“We were experiencing some system inefficiencies and our workarounds were manual and time-consuming,” Scott says.

 

Old system used clunky workarounds

System inefficiencies created even more work for sales team

 

Scott’s team isn’t afraid of a little hard work. They’re often the first to jump in should another team need an extra pair of hands.

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“The sales team wears lots of different hats – but it started to become too much. You can’t do everything, and on top of the growth that we’d had, we needed to separate some things,” Scott says.

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Peacock Bros. NZ runs a separate accounting system that isn’t linked to its big brother across the ditch, and they’d been experiencing some inefficiencies with their picking and dispatching process. On occasion, incorrect items were being picked for complicated bundles. The short-term fix involved the sales team fulfilling the orders – even sometimes packing and dispatching them too. They lacked confidence in their systems.

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“We needed to automate that process so that our sales team could spend considerably less time in our dispatch area – and more time with customers.”

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Also, off the back of New Zealand’s first COVID-19 lockdown, it became apparent that a more accessible, cloud-based system was needed to help accommodate working-from-home options.

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Company chooses to stay with MYOB family

A match made in technology heaven

 

The system the organisation had been using was one of MYOB’s original ERP products, MYOB Exo, and there were several reasons why they chose to upgrade, rather than shifting systems altogether.

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Scott says they’d been able to see first-hand the benefits of MYOB Acumatica, having watched a number of their customers integrate Peacock Bros. hardware with its systems.

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Aside from its flexibility, MYOB Acumatica was also cloud-based. “It ticked a lot of boxes,” he adds.

 

"The existing functionality could be turned on or off if we wanted, but it also had everything it needed to grow with the business – if we wanted to use third-party apps or integrations, then we could."

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Multi-functional system streamlines processes

Fully automated process uses best of both worlds

 

With a combination of MYOB Acumatica system functionality and their own hardware products, the Peacock Bros. NZ team was able to construct a solution to the automation problem.

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Now, after a sales order is processed, the system automatically sends the dispatch team a packing slip. The dispatch team then uses a mobile with the installed MYOB app to scan the barcoded product labels’ unique serial numbers, before eventually confirming the shipment.

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This can be done anywhere in the warehouse on mobile devices- something they couldn’t do before. Furthermore, if the device is docked in its cradle it becomes a computer, allowing the dispatch team to complete the next step in the process: printing dispatch labels.

 

Automation increases efficiency, gives team confidence back

 

For Scott and his team, the improvements they’ve seen from a change in system are two-fold.

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“It’s improved our overall efficiency and increased confidence in our picking and dispatching process,” Scott says. “This means the sales team has the time to go and do what they do best – and that’s spending time with customers.”

The warehouse team has also welcomed the upgrade with open arms.

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“They were really keen to learn how to use the new software system and the new technology – especially once the results became obvious,” Scott adds.

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And with more COVID-19-induced lockdowns on the horizon, the company was better prepared to weather the storm.

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“We were able to do most of our work from home which was really helpful during that second lockdown. The team was able to stagger their days and take turns going into work,” he says.

 

"We’re just over halfway through our financial year, and we’ve had the biggest December/January we’ve ever had. I think it’s lucky we implemented something just in time because if we didn’t, I think we’d be struggling to keep up."

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Two-year plan to automate more processes

 

The dispatching process is only the beginning. Over the next two years, Scott says the company will look to integrate their e-commerce website, EDM and CRM software, and the manufacturing software for their labels.

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He says MYOB’s commitment to continuously improving their system is music to his ears.

 

"That will really help us grow and drive us in the right direction too. It gives us confidence that MYOB Acumatica is the right piece of software for our business."

 

 

Summary

History

• Started as a small, general printing store founded by Ernest Peacock in 1888

• From printing to label manufacturing: largest manufacturer of labels and provider of identification, tracking and mobility solutions in Australia and NZ

• Still a family-run business after 132 years

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Business improvements with MYOB Acumatica

• Automated sales-order processing

• Streamlined dispatching using hardware and software integrations

• Sales team can spend more time with customers 

• Lots of room to grow – more modules will be added later

• Simplified processes and better efficiency