Case Study: Welling Architectural
Welling UK is a leading provider of architectural ironmongery and door hardware solutions. They offer a wide range of high-quality products, including door handles, locks, hinges, and accessories, catering to both residential and commercial projects. With a focus on innovation and customer satisfaction, Welling UK provides expert advice and customised solutions to architects, builders and homeowners.
Main Business Challenges
Quantum Group’s journey towards transformation began with recognising the limitations of their existing system. Here are the key challenges they faced:
Limited Reporting
Sage 50 lacked comprehensive reporting capabilities making it challenging to extract actionable insights from their data.
Lack of Customisation
The inability to customise Sage 50 to suit their specific business needs limited Welling’s flexibility and efficiency.
Slow Performance
Operating on a local server-based system, Sage 50 often experienced slowdowns and freezes, disrupting workflow and productivity.
Capacity for Growth
As the company expanded and reached 8-10 employees, Sage 50 proved inadequate to support their growing needs, hindering scalability.
“Sage 50’s reporting is very limited, and we tended to shy away from pulling information off because it took too long. With Interprise there is more flexibility with reporting and we find it easy to pull data off”
Order Processing Challenges.
Welling Architectural faced numerous challenges with order processing, including inefficient workflows and limited visibility into stock levels. The lack of automation and integration led to manual data entry and processing errors, impacting overall efficiency.
“We had a number of challenges, and overall the Interprise way of processing orders is much improved. This includes more visibility on stock levels per item, the click-through links where you can drill into a product and find out how many are on a PO etc. You can reverse and amend orders that have bee processed before they’re finally invoiced which helps with inevitable amendments.”
Reporting Limitations
Sage 50’s limited reporting capabilities hindered Welling’s ability to generate meaningful insights from their data. The time-consuming process of pulling information from Sage 50 deterred the team from utilising reports effectively, limiting their ability to track customer spending and analyse sales data.
Data Visibility Needs
Welling required improved visibility into customer spending patterns and product sales volumes. The inability to access this data efficiently hindered their ability to make informed business decisions and optimise their operations.
Post-Implementation: Interprise Suite Drives Efficiency and Service Excellence
After implementing Interprise Suite, Welling experienced a range of significant improvements and benefits. They found their system no longer crashed, and the transition to a cloud-based system ensure the safety and accessibility of their data, particularly beneficial for remote working. Visibility into products was greatly enhanced, with improved stock tracking and purchase order visibility directly inside product information forms.
Utilising various plugins such as auto-purchase invoice processing, ShipTheory and warehouse management streamlined operations and saved the team hours of time. The accounting side became simpler, facilitating timely monthly management accounts. Notable, new staff joining praised the simplicity of Interprise, highlighting its user-friendly nature.
Improvements in Order Processing
Welling experienced enhanced visibility and tracking capabilities in order processing. Features like audit trails and sales order history facilitated smoother operations, especially when dealing with repeat orders for customers.
“More visibility in order processing, tracking with the audit trail and features like the SO history help when repeat-ordering for customers”
Benefits of Carrier Integration & Warehouse Management
Carrier Integration significantly saved time by eliminating manual address entry on courier platforms, reducing errors and improving efficiency. Warehouse management (WMS) reduced errors in picking and packing, minimised paper usage and enhanced organisational efficiency.
“Carrier integration has saved significant time not having to manually type addresses on courier platforms, it has also helped reduce errors”
“Warehouse management had helped to reduce errors in picking/packaging and has reduced paper usage too. It has also helped us become more organised and tidy with the way we work”
Impact of Paperless Bills
The introduction of paperless bills saved a significant amount of time processing purchase invoices by automating manual data entry, alleviating administrative burdens and improving workflow efficiency.
“Paperless bills saves a huge amount of time processing the hundreds of purchase invoices we get each month”
Reporting Capabilities and Data Analysis
Interprise Suite’s reporting capabilities provided flexibility and ease of use, allowing Welling to extract valuable insights quickly and efficiently. Custom reports could be created quickly and affordably, catering to specific business needs.
“As a Director, the main reports are the P&L and balance sheet, which we pull off monthly and the reports work well. You can easily drill down into a problem line and find out where money was spent where it maybe shouldn’t have been, or where a cost has risen in a specific area. With the invoices attached as PDFs you can quickly find out where money has gone and correct this before it is too late. The profit analysis on each order is a good guide and the team can quickly pick out low margin products.”
Alerts
The alerts module plays a crucial role in notifying Welling of important events happening in their business in real time. Implementing the alerts plug-in allows them to take a proactive approach to take corrective actions promptly, ensuring profitability and inventory optimisation. They found the alerts module simple and effective.
“The alerts module has helped pick up orders with low margins and products that haven’t sold for a while.”
Efficiency & Growth Goals
Welling noted a significant improvement in efficiency since implementing Interprise Suite, leading to time savings and increased productivity. This extra time allowed them to avoid employing additional staff and focus on business development initiatives, contributing to their revenue and staff growth goals.
“We are more efficient than we were prior to using Interprise, it has taken time to refine things as it will with any ERP system. We continually challenge ourselves to keep trying to make things simpler and more efficient. There have been many hours saved with the plug-ins too.”
“Interprise has saved us employing extra staff, for example in the accounts department to post purchase ledger invoices and in the warehouse with the shiptheory plug-in, this has given the order pickers/packers more time to pick and less time typing. We like to think that any time gained has either saved us money or has been put into business development.”
Conclusion
In summary, Interprise Suite has revolutionised Welling’s operations, delivering increased efficiency, accuracy and scalability.
“Interprise Suite has been a game-changer for our business. The time and cost savings, coupled with the personalised support from Apex, have made the transition seamless. We highly recommend Interprise to wholesalers looking to streamline their operations and drive growth.”
Bertie Gear, Director, Welling UK
