With the global manufacturing industry rapidly moving towards robotisation, automation and mass customisation, more and more manufacturers are looking to introduce digital technology at every stage in their supply chain in order to enhance their operational performance, become more competitive and, ultimately, futureproof their businesses.
F orward-thinking manufacturers recognise the importance of seamless end-to-end supply chain integration and clear, secure visibility of information – often across multi-level organisations – which means that subsystems need to be able to communicate with each other. Thanks to its partnerships with a number of industry-leading software and solutions providers, this is something that K3 Syspro can provide. The ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, is quoted as saying: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” and more than 2,000 years later this phrase aptly defines the modern concept of synergy – where two or more organisations come together to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. It is this concept of synergy that forms the foundations of K3 Syspro’s business model.
[title size=”2″]Working together[/title]
As a leading provider of ERP solutions for the manufacturing and distribution sector, K3 Syspro recognises that, to be optimally positioned for a fully digitised industrial new age, its customers need to have access to a wide range of integrated IT and business solutions. The business doesn’t claim to be ‘all things to all men’ but instead has carefully selected a number of partners who are highly-respected providers of software products that add value, to our customers and to their end users.
The rationale behind this approach is simple: the company’s best-of-breed partnerships give K3 Syspro and, more importantly, its customers a strong competitive advantage. The partners share K3 Syspro’s vision to deliver economies of scale and efficiencies for its customers, with the aim being to make the customers themselves more efficient, responsive, agile and, most importantly, profitable.
Depending on their requirements, over and above the SYSPRO ERP system, customers can benefit from a range of end-to-end system solutions encompassing document management, HR solutions, back end accounts, expenses management, business analytics, compliance software, e-commerce and other
business functions. Historically, expert providers in these fields have worked to offer business solutions with a certain degree of crossover, but have approached it from quite different perspectives. This can cause no end of problems for manufacturers who end up with fragmented systems that don’t communicate with each other. A fully integrated end-to-end solution, on the other hand, means that the risks associated with system mismatches and data incompatibility are eliminated.
[title size=”2″]A bespoke solution[/title]
K3 Syspro’s approach is not to simply sell an off-the-shelf ERP system. Instead, their expert consultants spend time in every prospective customer’s businesses carrying out a detailed review of how the business operates. They then undertake a gap analysis and determine what the business needs in order to operate more efficiently and be better placed for growth. By working with customers at all levels and asking the difficult questions, K3 Syspro can really get to the core of, and truly understand, their customers’ businesses and the industries they operate in. The needs of every customer are unique and K3 Syspro benefits from being able to call on its partners to develop and provide bespoke solutions that improve and support customers’ current and future business needs. While some customers might only require a standalone SYSPRO ERP system, others may benefit from one or more of the value-added business solutions that can be integrated into SYSPRO ERP.
Once the review is complete and the recommendations have been made, customers are allocated a dedicated K3 Syspro Project Manager who acts as the main point of contact for all the business solutions are introduced during the implementation period, and for long-term aftersales support. This frees up customers’ time as they don’t have to deal with a number of different software suppliers.
K3 Syspro’s approach is not to simply sell an offthe-shelf ERP system. Instead, their expert consultants spend time in every prospective customer’s businesses carrying out a detailed review of how the business operates.
[title size=”2″]Reaping the benefits[/title]
The aim of the company’s partnership approach is to offer products and services from best-in-breed providers that will enable customers’ manufacturing processes to operate at optimum levels. This gives them complete visibility of all their operations, equipping them for growth and delivering a raft of value added operational benefits. By automating and streamlining its customers’ business processes K3 Syspro can deliver greater operational efficiencies that result in savings of both time and money.Whatever partner software is used is fully integrated with the SYSPRO ERP system so that data generated can easily be extracted and assimilated into SYSPRO.
The solutions can also integrate other internal and external systems and technology such as web, edi, 3PL, automated warehousing, shop floor machinery, weigh scales, freight carriers, IOT and other connected products, etc. Customers also benefit from being able to take advantage of direct and easy access to guidance and support from leading experts from across our partners,
all the while having a dedicated point of contact at K3 Syspro and the backing of our considerable experience, intellectual capital and support infrastructures.
[title size=”2″]Looking to the future[/title]
Digital technology and trends are transforming what has, until not that long ago, been a fairly traditional industry. The day is fast approaching when everything we do will be driven by technology and the ‘smart’ and ‘connected’ factories may soon become the norm.
As such more manufacturing suppliers will be following K3 Syspro’s approach by partnering with like-minded businesses to offer customers more integrated solutions. In the meantime, K3 Syspro is keeping its eye on the future and will continue to look for new strategic best-of-breed partners to further strengthen its customer proposition.
DATASWITCH A VITAL INSTRUMENT FOR HELPING BKW HALVE REORDERING TIMES
BKW Instruments, one of the UK’s leading instrumentation engineers, slashed its stock reordering times by 50% after implementing DataSwitch from K3 Syspro.
The company’s warehouse management system was labour intensive and operated in a reactive way. Reordering stock was time-consuming, relied on human input and was prone to human error. The system was ad hoc and meant there was the risk of reordering stock multiple times or not at all.
K3 Syspro was called in to automate a number BKW’s key warehouse management operations by implementing DataSwitch and integrating this into the company’s existing SYSPRO ERP system. By automating the reordering process, BKW achieved significant savings across the business by consolidating the purchase ordering overnight. It made the processes leaner and more efficient and provided greater visibility as well as traceability.
Mike Honeyford, Operations Director at BKW Instruments, said: “As a business with multiple facets of operation, it was important that our ERP system integrated with the other systems we use. Our business operations can shift throughout the course of a single day, and so we required a solution that could adapt to this. The great thing about SYSPRO is that it seamlessly integrates third party applications that we use, which has given us infinite ability to work outside of SYSPRO, whilst utilising data that can integrate back into SYSPRO through DataSwitch.”
Read the case study on the website. DataSwitch is part of the K3 integration suite – www.k3dataswitch.com