Powering business through Sage Line 500

The company
Industrial Power Units was founded in 1959 in Wolverhampton, importing German made portable engines for use in portable welders, go-carts and lawn mowers. Over forty years on the Group now consists of three divisions covering groundcare machinery, non-electric engine starters and engine controls.

The IPU Groundcare Division distributes three ranges of commercial grass cutting machinery in the UK from Ferris, Gravely and Wright. It is now widely recognised as the market leader with a wide dealership network in place, selling on to local authorities, landscape contractors, golf clubs and the hire market.

The Engine Control Division now distributes electronic governing equipment and generator controllers across the UK and Africa, whilst the Starting Division designs and manufactures bespoke solutions, as well as distributing starting products around the world.

"The move to Sage Line 500 with CPiO seemed a logical one.
Where else would we find an 'off the shelf' ERP solution that
was such a good fit for the business? And we have always
received solid advice from CPiO, forging a strong
relationship over the years."
Ian Cleary, Finance Director

The challenge
Since first implementing Tetra Plan in 1988, the company has followed an upgrade path with Sage products and was most recently running the Sage CS/3 UNIX solution. The system had a good fit across 90% of the business, but as the IPU business began to grow and diversify, the company identified the need for a more powerful, fully integrated solution to sit at the heart of its operations. In 2002 IPU decided to move the company systems onto a Microsoft platform and installed Sage Line 500 on Microsoft SQL Server.

The solution
IPU once again turned to CPiO to help support its decision. Successfully they implemented a 16 user Sage Line 500 solution across the business. To give even greater flexibility CPiO suggested installing a SalesLogix CRM solution to sit alongside Sage, providing IPU with an easier front end to view and manipulate data.

Subsequently, CPiO has installed an integrated email solution using the latest in VPN (Virtual Private Networking) technology, supported by a strong antivirus Watchguard protection system.

" We have worked with a number of individuals from the CPiO team, always finding their advice to be of great value and their execution timely and professional".
Ian Cleary, Finance Director

The benefits
The integration of Sage Line 500 and SalesLogix has proved highly beneficial to IPU. As a front end to the Sage solution, SalesLogix has provided the team with a faster, easier method of moving around the system, particularly with sales orders. Users no longer have to wade through lines of products and each division can filter the data so that they are only dealing with their particular area of this diverse business.

Management reporting has also improved, through the proper use of the Works Order Processing module. With the information that SalesLogix and the Sage Report Writer can pull together decision makers have a more powerful solution to their reporting requirements.

In CPiO IPU believes it has found the right Sage Business Partner. Following a successful implementation CPiO has continued to monitor the progress of the system, ensuring that IPU is getting the most from the system at all times.

The future
IPU is currently working towards a lean manufacturing model, which will see waste reduce and its ability to respond to customer demand improve. Sage Line 500 and SalesLogix forms an important part of this, lying at the core of the business.

The company is also planning to develop the web interface between its website and Sage Line 500, attracting a new breed of online customer.