“Our previous system comprised multiple disconnected applications and spreadsheets which caused duplication of work and introduced opportunities for mistakes,” says Chris Stafford-Bush, Camm4’s Managing Director. This arrangement created problems for the company.
“Timely deliveries were a problem,” Stafford-Bush recalls. “Invoicing was a major blip at month end and the team often worked past midnight to get them out.”
Other processes were also inefficient. Costing was also performed using spreadsheets, which was slow and required re-entry of data into a jobbing system. Payroll data was also collected manually and re-keyed.
With the business growing and increasingly working for large international brands, Stafford-Bush realised that these systems would not permit Camm4 to continue growing and that its commitment to technology was only being delivered on the shop floor, with the back office lagging.
“We have a high quality product,” Stafford-Bush says. “We have invested in technology to ensure that we can deliver on time and do the other things that are crucial for shop fit outs.” “But I also needed more time to manage the business and that could only be achieved if routine tasks were automated in an environment where a single instance of data entry would travel through the entire system,” he says. “It is okay to run on spreadsheets with one or two customers but by the time we saw we could be working with seven or eight large retails clients, we knew we would require much greater internal disciplines.”
Why Vantage?
Camm4 therefore sought an ERP suite to integrate its back office and specialist business functions and selected Vantage, with Cogita as its implementation partner, thanks to the company’s assessment that the combination of the software and Cogita provided it the chance of swift implementation and long-term success.
Benefits:-
The company credits Vantage with creating the repeatable and consistent processes and smoothly-operating back office that has enabled its growth.
Swift and accurate invoices:-
One way in which Vantage has helped the company grow is its improved invoicing process. “A job is invoiced as soon as it has been completed, with actual costs and margins up–to–date,” Stafford-Bush says.
That has become possible, in part, thanks to new time sheet features enabled by Vantage which let Camm4 enter the time they spend on each job in real time, as they work.
Improved supplier integration and costing:-
Another cluster of benefits has come from the ability to re-use information about previous jobs the company has performed. “Quoting and costing is also very quick. We just copy an old job and make small adjustments.”
“After our first job for a new client we are making versions on a theme, usually the same but differently sized. Vantage means we can copy across the plan from previous jobs so quoting is very quick, and we can quickly see if we need to order in components for the new job. “This means we can predict our lead times and understand the capacity of each production step so we give the customer an accurate first promise delivery date.”
This new sophistication also makes it easier to work with suppliers and partners as the company now treats subcontractors and the good they offer as suppliers. “We order components to be delivered at the time we need them,” Stafford-Bush says. “They are just another part number & another supplier for the Vantage application.”
A more proactive business:-
Camm4 believes it is now a more proactive business, thanks to the information and processes available in its Vantage systems.
“We can be proactive with our clients and drive them rather than them drive us,” Stafford-Bush enthuses. “Each week, we produce a report and email it to each customer showing their jobs, the scheduled delivery date and what date they were shipped, invoiced etc. This provides our large retail chain customers with confidence.”
The Future:-
That confidence from its clients gives Camm4 confidence for its own future.
“We want to grow the business to $NZ20 million turnover,” Stafford-Bush says, with this goal to be reached by expanding its offerings into a complete shop fitting service.
“We have already purchased an extra Vantage user licence and will be purchasing more in the future,” Stafford-Bush says.
“In the last six to nine I can only recall one job that required weekend and nights work. Previously, that was the way we worked all the time. But now we are ready for jobs a week before delivery date. We have our materials here in advance. We know our lead times and we do not waste time on administration”
“Vantage has made all that possible and we expect it will make our planned expansion possible too.”