Press Release
For Immediate Release
23rd May 2006

Voller Energy charges its business with 123mrp.NET Production Management Software

Voller Energy Group PLC, based in Basingstoke, Hampshire develops and manufactures portable fuel cell power systems. Formed in 2001 by Steven Voller and Mike Clarke, the company has recently seen substantial growth, rising from 2 to 20 staff in 12 months and also floated on the AIM stock exchange in February 2005. Said Michael Clarke, Chief Operating Officer; "We looked at a number of MRP systems that integrated with Sage, our account system in use at the time. A number claimed to be integrated with Sage but I found they weren't particularly adequate in a number of areas, specifically maintaining stock valuation - in fact, the trail through one of the major packages we looked at clearly didn't work. We wanted an MRP and accounting system that had tight integration. Our auditors, Intovision UK Ltd (formerly BDO Stoy Hayward) recommended Access Dimensions, and the integration between this and 123mrp.NET persuaded us to attend an Evaluation Workshop, which three people attended. Looking at 123mrp.NET was like a breath of fresh air - you could immediately see that it didn't have half its roots in DOS. Other systems that I've used tend to have data fragmented over different data sets, so you'd need to be a computer genius to extract the information you wanted. 123mrp.NET was clearly written in the 21st century."

User training commenced on 8th August 2005, with implementation and administration training occurring later that month. Mike found that users trained internally on one area of the software quickly learnt other areas when required; "If you are used to working with one section of 123mrp.NET the modus operandi is very similar for all the other sections, so it is pretty intuitive to find your way around the system. During the implementation phase I prepared all the data in Excel spreadsheet form - at the time we had one product with sixteen variations. We created a six tier structure for the product, so it could be configured at the top level with various sales options. Having keyed in the one Bill Of Materials it was then a case of simply copying the one BOM to all the other products, which took less than a day. After this we had 350 stock items to enter. We used the data entry process as an opportunity to get people to have hands-on experience with 123mrp.NET and this whole process only took a couple of days."

The system went live on November 1st 2005. Production rates at the time were only 3 or 4 units per month, however the same month Voller received a large order for several hundred new products. Mike explained; "On November 1st we literally just switched on and went live. For about a month I supervised and made sure that people were happy with what they were doing. There was a lot of purchasing activity required during December for our new order, and we had around fifty new components and two new structures to enter, which only took a couple of hours. Creating new products within 123mrp.NET is an absolute dream! On older systems you'd have to put your parts in, come out of that and go into your BOM package. If you then found a mistake you had to close that part down and go back to edit your part."

With over 30 years experience with computers Mike was surprised with 123mrp.NET's performance; "In using the system it is at least 50% faster than other systems I've used previously in the production and placement of orders. The ability to transfer a purchase order by email or even fax from the desktop is a major time-saver. Collating the data on the purchase order itself is also an improvement over other systems. Most of the reports I use are quite adequate, but if you want to tinker with them the ability is there to do so. Changing an existing report or adding a new field is easy."

Mike concluded; "It was a strategic decision to implement an MRP system, and it's very important to get this right. There is only so much research you can do on different systems after which it becomes an act of faith in making a commitment. Moving to a system that had been written for .NET from the ground up rather than one that had been transcribed from another system gave me a lot of security that the product would be reliable. We were quoted systems typically costing £50-100,000 which we were expecting we'd have to pay. I think it takes a bold commitment for a company to make a decision on an MRP system after attending just one Evaluation Workshop, but that's exactly what we did. Moving forward, the company will be developing a range of products that will need quite a high level of control with respect to insurance-backed safety approvals, so the batch process control within 123mrp.NET will prove extremely useful to us."

Summary of Benefits:

  • 123mrp.NET recommended by the company's auditors, Intovision UK Ltd
  • A true .NET system rather than one ported from another language
  • System went live within 3 months
  • 50% faster to use that systems previously experienced
  • Reports can easily be modified, or data exported to Excel
  • 4 people received full user training in just three days, with only one person requiring implementation and administration training
  • Very low startup cost as opposed to spending £50-100,000
  • Tight integration with Access Dimensions accounts software
  • Batch process control aiding acquisition of accreditation standards in the future
  • Entering new parts and BOMs is extremely quick
  • Total initial training cost for current staff of £3750
  • Low monthly rental fee of £400