Case Studies
The SJ Group
The group is MOD approved, has won ISO 9001 certification and employs approximately 80 people across these four company sites. Head office and several factory sites are in Alcester, Warwickshire.
The Group is experiencing a period of growth and further expansions are planned over the next few years. With this in mind, John Pearson, Sales Director, was concerned that their aging, UNIX based, computer system, which supported Accounts/Sales Order/Purchase Order Processing and Production was not supporting the business going forward. This presented a problem, because although John knew what was required, he did not have an up-to-date understanding of the technology available and was aware that they might buy a solution purely on price which would simply replicate their old system and not move the business forward. John was therefore pleased to receive a call from Peter Culbert, CCL's Business Development Executive, which reminded him that CCL were literally on his doorstep in Stratford upon Avon and were vastly experienced in providing independent advice in just this sort of situation.
"I had met with CCL a few years back, and had been impressed with their credentials. The time wasn't right to proceed then, but this call from Peter was timely and I met up with Andrew Krauze, CCL's Managing Director and we started the project planning process" John said. "Andrew was also able to put me in touch with Nigel Mason of Coventry and Warwickshire Business Link who, managed to provide a significant grant towards CCL's project."
Project Controller, Graham Denny and Consultant, Hugh Wilson were selected to run the project owing to their extensive Manufacturing systems background. This proved key in their interaction with SJ's key users. "They were able to talk the talk", said John Pearson "so this, coupled with CCL's independence from the solutions market meant that we had every confidence that they were working towards the best solution for us, and us alone."
After producing a Specification of Requirements, covering each of the four businesses, a shortlist of suppliers was arrived at and structured demonstrations undertaken, closely managed by CCL. A preferred supplier was selected, eMerge Technologies, and Graham Denny then spent some time clarifying contracts and negotiating prices with them. The project is now drawing to a close with implementation planned in the next few weeks.
John Pearson summed up; "Without CCL we could have made costly mistakes. Their experience of working with companies like ours was invaluable. They provided real value and were nice people to work with, I would have no hesitation in using them again, if the need arose."
John Pearson, Sales Director
The SJ Group
