CCL (Computer Consultants) Limited

Thorlux Lighting, a division of F W Thorpe plc, designs, manufactures and sells fluorescent and discharge lighting products for industrial and commercial applications from its base in North Moons Moat, Redditch.

Thorlux offers approximately 9,000 product variations.  This wide range, although attractive to the customer, causes significant administration and planning problems within the business.  In addition, Thorlux will make ‘specials' to customer requirements.  These ‘special' products are often the basis of large contracts for important customers.  The company had previously managed the business using multiple unconnected computer systems, Tetra for Sales Order Processing and Accounts, parts of the Micross Production Control software suite for parts of the manufacturing process, and a series of stand-alone computer systems and manual links to join the gaps.

An example of the manual links is that, although the sales effort is directed to architects and specifiers, the majority of orders are taken through wholesalers.  Orders placed via wholesalers need to be tracked against the original quote to the end user of his agent(s).

Establishing and controlling the link between the orders and the ‘real' customer was a key requirement of the new system.  The specialist software requirements were very challenging, but with the help of the CCL methodology, Thorlux was able to produce a specification, and using the structure approach select a suitable software supplier.

Thorlux decided that the most effective and least disruptive approach would be to replace the Tetra functionality first by implementing selected modules of the new software.  This Phase was thought to be relatively simple as the existing Sales Order Processing and Accounting procedures were thought to be easily transferable to the new software.

Some months into the installation progress was not as good as expected, as the supplier's project manager was not driving the implementation.  CCL were invited to assist and by producing detailed plans for software configuration, management, education, operator training and data transfer were able to bring the project back on track.  Phase I went live over Christmas 1998; this had the additional benefit of showing tangible improvements quickly.

In parallel with Phase I, the data was being gathered and validated to set up a manufacturing database, Phase IIa being to replace the functionality in Micross.

In the event this involved some business process changes, which CCL assisted in defining.  This Phase went live at the beginning of May 1999.

The experience at Thorlux highlights that in order to ensure a successful implementation there is a need for strong Project Management both by the supplier and by the client.  However,

•  The suppliers interests and the clients do not always coincide
• Internal staff will already be committed to their own roles
• It is unlikely that any of the internal staff have previous Computer Project Management experience

Peter Mason, Financial Director at F W Thorpe, echoes this view.  Peter says "The CCL Project Management Methodology helped us identify and address the important issues so that we could focus our resources on the successful implementation of the chosen system.  Based on our experience we would most certainly recommend CCL for business critical system selection and implementation."

Richard Field

Managing Consultant