Filtering success through Sage Line 500

The company
Walsall based Netzsch Pumps is a member of the highly successful Netzsch Group of companies that manufactures, distributes and services industrial machinery worldwide. The Pumps Division, one of 4 divisions in the group, now employs over one thousand people and has annual global sales exceeding £65m.

Since opening in 1991 its UK distribution business has evolved to become a leading distributor of positive displacement pumps and is one of only six international licensees of the NEMO® pump. Assembled in a variety of designs and material combinations, its pumps perform against heavy competition servicing industries such as paper manufacturing, pharmaceutical/cosmetics, chemical, offshore and oil production, paint and varnish, food and drink, processing and waste water treatment. The company also supplies after sales maintenance, providing customers with a full end to end service.

The Sage Line 500 system is very robust and offers the reliability
and ease of use that we require for a smooth service. We hardly
ever use the support hotline because the system rarely falters,
but when the need has arisen CPiO has always offered good
service and any issues have been resolved quickly and
effectively.
Martin King, Company Accountant

The challenge
Netzsch Pumps UK has a long history of working with Sage (Tetra) products and has followed an upgrade path since the first implementation in 1989. The German head office had opted for a corporate solution based upon SAP. However, the UK Pumps Division made the decision to look to the market place for the best solution to fit the UK business.

The current system, although steady, was not delivering the additional performance that the company needed moving forward. Netzsch wanted a system that could enhance the level of customer service that the company offered to customers through better management of stock levels and its supply chain.

Gaining more visibility of orders was key. Netzsch was wasting valuable time and resource in trying to track customer orders through its previous system. This meant that the company could not set internal re-order levels to match customer ordering trends. Netzsch wanted to reduce the amount of spare stock held at its site without compromising the quality of service it offered to customers. With improved visibility of orders Netzsch knew that it would be able to quickly identify gaps in purchase behaviour and increase sales into the customer base.

Placing orders with the parent company in Germany also caused problems with translation issues. Orders were faxed to Germany and were subsequently prone to mistakes through poor translation, unclear fax reports and re-keying of information. Delays in processing orders followed, placing even more pressure on customer fulfilment at the UK end.

The solution
After much scrutiny Netzsch decided to upgrade to Sage Line 500 running on UNIX with CPiO. Not only did Netzsch feel that the Sage system would fit its business, but that CPiO could offer the total solution and service that the company wanted.

Netzsch still had all of the reliability and ease of use that it always had with its Sage system but now it had the breadth of functionality that would support its growth over the coming years. CPiO installed Version One's Db Forms to produce invoices and purchase orders direct out of Sage Line 500 and recommended Db Mail to automatically send purchase orders to Germany, thereby eradicating mistakes on faxed orders and speeding up the processing.

By integrating Sage with Cognos Business Intelligence and the company's contact management system Netzsch was able to build management reports that supported better decision making. The management team could finally get a holistic view over its business.

"CPiO helped us to build our system into more than just an
accounts package. Now we have a flexible, scaleable solution
that will help to manage our business moving forward."
Martin King, Company Accountant

The benefits
The system's functionality is very broad and although Netzsch only use a small section of it, the Netzsch team finds it reassuring to know that it offers the flexibility and scalability to cope with the changes that take place in business. The company has started to manage its stock levels more effectively and has streamlined its order processing, saving the company time and money whilst offering better service to its customers.

With improved understanding of buying patterns commercial managers can now execute gap analysis across the company's product lines, uncovering opportunities for up selling, cross selling and offering machine maintenance.

In CPiO Netzsch feels that is has found a good partner. Account management and general service levels received from CPiO are very good and the company feels that it benefits from listening to the practical advice it gets from its reseller, trusting CPiO to only suggest products or services that will add value to the business.

The future
With the Sage solution running smoothly and a strong alliance with CPiO Netzsch now feels confident that it has the IT infrastructure in place to support new ventures. Furthermore with proven experience in the waste water market, Netzsch is now planning to target the large water authorities, creating opportunities for new business.