Robway

IT Objectives

• Fully support the company’s financials.
• Generate timely management reporting that is easy to understand and in which management and the Board can have full confidence.
• Provide ‘transparent’ solutions that can be simply drilled down into whenever further qualification or examination of data is required.
• Have all applications fully integrated into a single system.
• Provide financial control of manufacturing and manufacturing inventory.
• Track component serial number control for service, warranty and performance investigation.
• Facilitate the continual review of revenue flow and margins based on the order book.
• Assist management and the Board to make more informed and better decisions.

History

In 2002, the company’s continued growth had given rise to a number of major concerns about its then financial, sales and manufacturing systems.

These had been adopted in a somewhat piecemeal way, resulting in a range of disparate systems that did not talk to each other and which also required the use of a range of standalone spreadsheets to achieve everything that was needed.

This was both time consuming and error prone. The accuracy of reports and data were often questioned. While key management information often took much longer to produce than was tolerable.

As such, Robway undertook an extensive evaluation of alternate options. Its decision being to implement the Pronto-Xi ERP system, supplied and supported by MDS.

In 2003 there was a change in company ownership. This change saw the new management team undertake a complete review of the installed computer systems.

Incoming Finance Manager Gavin Stiffle notes, “we asked the direct question about whether PRONTO-Xi was precisely what was required to help run the company. We needed to be sure it met all of our objectives. And we wanted to know if it was the best option available.

“It was concluded that PRONTO-Xi certainly did meet all objectives and gave us the platform on which to drive future expansion”, Mr Stiffle said

Partnering with Pronto Xi & MDS

As Mr Stiffle explains, “in a business of our size and style of operation, having the optimum financial tools is the major driving force for IT.

“Above all else, we need to have full confidence in all the data being generated and we must be able to totally trust the system to do its job day-in day-out. For that to be possible, the application must be absolutely consistent and it must be highly transparent. By which I mean that if ever we are uncertain why something appears as it does, we must be able to simply drill down – in a Bill Of Materials, say – to see how and why the position was derived.

“Too many other systems are more like giant vacuums. Data gets entered. Results come out. But there is no visibility of what happened in between these two events. And that weakens confidence about the reported ‘facts’ being seen. 

“It is also important to have access to information that is easy to explain to the Board without the need to revert to a whole range of additional spreadsheets and the like. It’s the system that must give us what we want, when we need it and in the format we require.”

With regards to the use of IT in manufacturing and sales, Mr Stiffle suggests that “for us, IT is not what I’d describe as ‘mission critical’. We could operate without systems. It’s just that life would be a lot, lot harder.

“What is essential, however, is to have all applications delivered by a single ERP package. When things are not all totally integrated life gets very difficult. Without that integration, one goes back to the type of world where any number of spreadsheets have to be used to pull all of the necessary data together which, in turn, then has to be manually entered into the general ledger.

“That’s time consuming and arduous and there is always the risk of losing data or making an error. A scenario that gets exponentially worse as a business grows until it becomes impossible.

“As a finance guy our system gives me the view of manufacturing that I need.

“So I can readily see that production is using the correct components. Even more critically, I have a great view of manufacturing stock.

“We need to maintain supplies of some pretty obscure parts and many have a very low turnover. Without regular monitoring, inventory can present some major problems and, all too readily, unnecessarily tie up working capital. With PRONTO-Xi we can now easily do a monthly cycle count. And it would be fair to say that stock control is a real winner for us.

“Another real plus provided by the system is its capacity to track product component serial numbers. This means that for service, warranty or performance investigation, we know precisely which customers have what equipment including such data as the source of a component and the batch it was received in.”

For its sales operations, PRONTO-Xi substantially helps Robway manage the process in which orders are passed to the factory. And it goes on to the control of delivery dates so that customer expectations are met. On time delivery performance being a major company objective and KPI.

But, as with manufacturing, it is the software’s contribution to potent financial management that is particularly valued.

Says Mr Stiffle, “our system has very much become our ‘crystal ball’. At a glance we can readily see our ongoing revenue stream and accurately predict margins for the current month and subsequent periods.

“Now that may seem like a pretty basic exercise in monitoring projected sales. But the simple point is that, for us, without our IT tools we would be unable to do that. We simply wouldn’t have the time or manpower to ensure we had that essential data at our fingertips.

“And that has many implications. With the data we get, we can now build up our manufacturing stocks far more accurately. While, at the more day to day level, it also means we have a very practical means of scheduling staff leave so that it will have minimum impact on production deadlines.

“Equally importantly, we are now totally confident that we really do know what is going on in the business from a sales and revenue perspective. As such, the system’s reports are a central input to our monthly Board and weekly management meetings. In turn, this means we make better decisions, simply because we know what the future is looking like. The alternative is to drive a company by consistently looking in the rear view mirror.

“Operationally, the same PRONTO-Xi tools let us model what we might be thinking of doing. So, for example, we might want to examine bidding a job at a low margin. With the modelling we can far more easily decide if we do, or do not accept that engagement.

“At the high management level, effective data from IT helps to set the mood in which one is far more confident about interpreting the future. And far more confident in the business decisions that are made.  We can think about things well ahead of time. And plan for what you see the order book is reflecting, be that good or bad.

Further Directions

A current IT priority for Robway is to fully bring its Dubai office online to the central system.

However, with company plans to triple business levels over the next decade, the IT focus will be, as Mr Stiffle stresses, “to continually review those parts of PRONTO-Xi, we are not currently using, to determine where these need to be added to support our expansion.”