Following a recent £2 million investment in state-of-the-art presses, automotive supplier, APS Metal Pressings Limited, is now implementing a new ERP solution from Access Supply Chain to drive further efficiencies in the business.

APS's factory is set up for high volume batch production and 80 per cent of its business is in the manufacture of parts for Tier One automotive companies supplying the likes of Toyota, Land Rover, Range Rover, Nissan and Ford.

According to Process and Control Today, conforming to increasingly demanding industry standards was being hampered by the limitations of the company's existing 14 year old computer system; preparing for assessment for the latest ISO/TS16949 automotive standard, APS decided to implement the new Access Supply Chain system.

The company produces mandatory daily reports for quality control and it is in the area of reporting that Paul Smith, director of APS, is expecting significant gains.

"I expect the Access system will save us a week a month just in the preparation of management reports," he says. "Currently we have ten or twelve managers each spending two hours or more every month preparing reports on Excel spreadsheets, and manually checking prices and stock movements. This will all be automated in the Access system using Crystal Reports and as well as saving time, it will obviously eliminate the potential for error," he says.

With real-time financial reporting, the company will also be able to respond immediately to any changes in the business situation, whilst on a practical day-to-day level, the automated e-mailing of purchase orders will save two or three daily trips to the fax machine for purchasing staff.

Paul comments, "We didn't need a detailed cost analysis to justify the investment in the Access system; I think we will see massive savings in the first year and we'll recover the cost very quickly."

Established by Philip Smith in 1970, APS remains a family-owned and managed business. The company employs 85 staff at its site in Hockley, Birmingham and staff-retention is high. Investing its profits wisely during the boom years of the 1980s and 1990s, the business continues to grow, currently turning over £7 million a year in what has become a highly competitive market.

For more information on Access Supply Chain or its software solutions, contact Claire Moore on 0845 170 8888 or visit www.access-supplychain.com