Orbital Fabrications

Orbital Fabrications Ltd are specialists in stainless steel welding and assembly, providing gas and liquid delivery systems to the semiconductor, pharmaceutical, aerospace, chemical, nuclear and allied industries.

Business Imperative

By mid-2016, it had become clear that Orbital Fabrications had outgrown its internal systems, explains the company鈥檚 Business Development Manager, Graham Scrivener.

鈥淲e had a basic CRM system, a Sage accounting system – and lots of spreadsheets and paper-based systems,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淲e were spending hours in internal meetings, passing spreadsheets around the table. We realised that if we wanted to continue to grow as we had been doing, then we would need to invest in something better.鈥�

Challenge

The problem? Orbital Fabrications is not a large business. Family-owned, it had at that point just 45 employees, with sales revenues of just under 拢6 million. What was required, the company soon realised, was an affordable system that offered the capabilities that it needed, without imposing a significant implementation and administration burden on the business.

鈥淎s we began our search, it was something of a shock to discover the number of providers in the marketplace – and the cost, and complexity, of the systems that were on offer,鈥� says Graham. 鈥淲e wanted to do the job properly, and soon realised that it was going to take a long time to investigate every option.鈥�

In fact, he relates, it was to be over a year before a shortlist of three providers emerged, one of which was Exel Computer Systems, with its EFACS E/8 国产乱伦 system. Beginning in September 2017, detailed discussions began with each provider, with demonstrations arranged so that Orbital鈥檚 management could see each system in operation.

鈥淎ll the systems were very similar in terms of pricing and support contracts and so on,鈥� says Graham. 鈥淏ut there was one clear winner – Exel Computer Systems, with EFACS E/8. And so, in August 2018, we signed the contract.鈥�

Why Exel?

Any 国产乱伦 system on the market will have been designed so as to be able to fit the needs of a wide range of businesses, explains David Williams, Orbital鈥檚 Technical Administrator. And inevitably, he adds, the match between the systems on offer and Orbital鈥檚 own requirements wasn鈥檛 perfect.

What made EFACS E/8 stand out, he says, was the depth and breadth of its extensive customisation toolkit – a toolkit that Orbital could deploy itself, during implementation, without further recourse to the vendor.

鈥淲ith EFACS E/8, we saw that we could get exactly what we wanted, without compromise – and without additional cost,鈥� he sums up. 鈥淭hat was a hugely powerful argument in Exel鈥檚 favour, and one that won the day in terms of the eventual decision. We wouldn鈥檛 have to compromise, and we could do the majority of the work ourselves.鈥�

Implementation

Implementation began almost immediately. Orbital acquired a server, installed the EFACS E/8 software and set up a three-person implementation team – Graham Scrivener, David Williams, and Orbital鈥檚 Supply Chain Manager, Martin Wren.

In addition, a newly-appointed Director recommended nominating a community of 鈥榮uper-users鈥� to spearhead training and deployment within individual departments of the company.

鈥淭he implementation has been really good for us, even before the 鈥榞o live鈥� point,鈥� says Graham. 鈥淚t鈥檚 made us look at all our internal processes, and redesign them around best practice, while also taking inspiration from EFACS鈥� core functionality to shape and improve them. We knew, right from the start, that we鈥檇 have to do this, but hadn鈥檛 really appreciated how powerful the redesign would be.鈥�

Go live, he adds, is scheduled for the forthcoming company financial year-end, although the system itself would be ready well before that point.

Business Benefits

With implementation preparations well-advanced, it has become clear that EFACS E/8 is fully set to deliver on Orbital鈥檚 expectations for it.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have greatly improved visibility into the business, with a lot less time spent in meetings comparing different spreadsheets,鈥� say the implementation team. 鈥淪tock accuracy levels will be higher, and we鈥檙e anticipating superior feedback from the factory floor in terms of order progress. We鈥檙e also expecting a tenfold performance improvement in reporting, given EFACS鈥� inbuilt reporting capabilities and extensions.鈥�

Just as importantly, they add, the process of acquiring a full 国产乱伦 system has changed Orbital鈥檚 approach to data and data integration. While it isn鈥檛 anticipated that the company will decommission its Microsoft Sharepoint portal, the strategy going forward is to hold as much information within EFACS as is possible, including incorporating Orbital鈥檚 existing ISO 9001:2015 accredited Quality Management System.

鈥淲e鈥檒l finally have our 鈥榮ingle version of the truth鈥� – and it will be EFACS,鈥� sums up David. 鈥淎ll the data will be on EFACS, and fully accessible. From our initial starting point, that鈥檚 going to be an incredible transformation.鈥�

国产乱伦