Anglo Stainless Limited

About Anglo Stainless Limited

Anglo Stainless is a major stockholder and manufacturer of stainless steel fittings. The privately-owned company serves around 400 active customers, predominantly in the chemical, oil, gas, brewing and food sectors.

From its base in West Yorkshire, Anglo Stainless is a well-established supplier in the M62 corridor and throughout the UK, with export sales planned to grow.

First and foremost a service-orientated business, the company’s priorities are to be competitive, with accurate and timely order fulfillment. Anglo Stainless welcomes enquiries for advice or assistance from businesses or consumers. Alongside its stockholding and distribution activities, the company’s capabilities include the manufacture of high-specification, low-volume products where standard off-the-shelf items do not meet customer requirements.

In 2008, Anglo Stainless realised that their computer and manual systems were no longer suitable. Duplicated effort was necessary in many areas and although checks and balances were in place, the risks of error had to be reduced to fulfil the need for accurate real-time information. Hence the need for a modern, fully functional, integrated system.

'We had to increase productivity, make the business run more efficiently and improve the traceability of every product. Without investing in IT, the growth and development of our business would be much more difficult to achieve,' explained Steve Brooke, Operations Director at Anglo Stainless Limited.

A key requirement for Anglo Stainless was a system that could support the company’s combined distribution and manufacturing activities - including a direct, seamless interface between the two.

We reviewed a number of alternative systems, all of which had their own particular strengths and we were then introduced to the Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) solution. Ticking all the important boxes, we chose K8 Manufacturing for its rich functionality for all areas of our business, including inter-company trading as standard.

Steve Brooke - Operations Director at Anglo Stainless Limited

Prior to going ahead with their new system, Anglo Stainless could see where some immediate and significant savings could be made.

It didn’t need detailed ROI calculations to justify the project. By introducing K8 Manufacturing there were opportunities to make better use of our time and resources which meant reducing our costs in real terms in some cases quite significantly.

Steve Brooke - Operations Director at Anglo Stainless Limited

Results

• Shop Floor Data Capture capability
• Intercompany trading facilities
• Improved decision-making tools
• Exception reporting for cost control 
• Electronic invoice submission
• Control of customer forward orders
• Full product/order traceability
• Consistent sales quotation pricing
• Time savings allow focus on priority areas
• Facilitates ‘ongoing’ process reviews
• Excellent ‘partnership’ style support

K8 Manufacturing went live in July 2009 and the benefits of giving the business much greater control, accurate management information and improved decision-making tools were soon apparent.

Steve expressed that Shop Floor Data had been a major gain for them, 'No more manual monitoring of production data. We were able to review actual versus allowed times on an exception basis – no need to check every job.'

With customer requirements often specified at short notice, K8 Manufacturing enabled transactions to be processed quickly and supported by robust and accurate inventory management. The system also gave the company complete control of sales quotations.

'We no longer had to rely on handwritten notes,' Steve explained, 'or at times our memory to make sure we invoiced the customer at the quoted prices. Quotations are now produced in the system and available to anyone, at any time.'

Another big plus was being able to email invoices giving Anglo Stainless instant savings on post and stationery.

Steve talked about some of the high-level benefits of K8 Manufacturing. For one thing, it has certainly enabled the business to grow and develop cost-effectively. The system has given Anglo Stainless much greater visibility of its business performance - especially invaluable during the tough trading conditions that the company has had to endure.

One of the challenges that we face is that because we strive to run a very ’lean ship’, we are always on the look-out for what can be improved, what can save us time and effort – especially if it’s a repetitive task. Developing our use of K8 Manufacturing is an integral part of ongoing reviews and ‘can this be done more easily’ projects.

Steve Brooke - Operations Director  at Anglo Stainless Limited

Implementing K8 Manufacturing has meant more to Anglo Stainless than simply a new computer system. The company has without doubt forged a successful and fruitful partnership with KCS. Not wishing to be IT experts they appreciate that KCS is willing to support their business in every way they can.

'Over the years, they have taken the time and trouble to understand our business, are keen for us to progress our use of the system and when the time is right guide us through each software upgrade,' Steve said. 

Steve said that if they have a particular operational or process problem, they can rely on KCS to pull out the stops to find a solution.

By the same token, we are very keen to contribute our ideas and suggestions for future product development – it’s a win-win arrangement that works.

Steve Brooke - Operations Director at Anglo Stainless Limited

Highlights

• Developing our use of K8 Manufacturing is an integral part of our ongoing reviews. 
• No more manual monitoring of production data.
• Over the years, KCS have taken the time and trouble to understand our business.