Latest updates and insights from Kerridge Commercial Systems

Competition and business go hand in-hand. You can’t expect other entrepreneurs to sit back and let you capitalise on a market while they sit on the side-lines. Rather, the more successful you are, the more others will want to follow suit.

While it's influenced by a number of factors, this success primarily hinges on one thing; customer satisfaction. With increased competition comes increased customer fluidity.

Sanjay Fatania, Financial Implementation Manager at Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS), explains what to look for in a trading system so credit-related problems can be quickly identified and valuable insight provided to your team about customer trading profiles, payment history and trends.  

As processes develop and guidelines change, compliance with rules and regulations has never been more important for manufacturers. Thankfully, the time-consuming compliance checks of times gone by have been streamlined through technological advances. Now, with the right ERP software in place, manufacturers can enjoy tighter controls and more efficient processes.

K8 offers a suite of standard KPI’s and dashboards, tailored to meet the needs of senior management and operations. These KPI’s are available to monitor trends within the business and to ensure that performance indicators may be set and measured across the business.

Tony Pey, Head of Product Marketing at Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS), explains how using a computer system with integrated ePOD (electronic point of delivery) as part of its delivery management solution will enable you to manage every aspect of the delivery cycle. 

Mark Steggall, Head of Product Management at Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS), explains how using a modern computer system can keep your suppliers on their toes and ensure your customer service remains outstanding.

To say the Internet of Things (IoT) is a hot topic within the manufacturing industry would be an understatement. As we’ve discussed in depth right here on our blog, IoT is disrupting past ways of working, digitalizing processes to drive efficiencies and increase business intelligence.

Machines are the driving force in manufacturing. Because they play such a huge part in the production line, it’s very tempting to ignore the warning signs of fatigue, wear and tear in the hope that issues will never materialise. After all, carrying out machine maintenance and pressing pause on production will ultimately lead to a monetary loss, won’t it?

For many decision-makers, a new tool or piece of software is the answer to all of their problems —once they’ve signed on the dotted line, they expect instant results. And of course, if you’ve made the right purchasing decisions, this should be largely true. However, before you can reap the benefits of your new solution, you’ll need to ensure it has been implemented correctly.

In manufacturing, a Bill of Materials is essential — and inaccuracies can have a huge impact on your overall output and efficiencies. In this blog post, I will discuss just how substantial these impacts can be, as well as how you can avoid them.

Across every single sector, customer service is key. In business, happy customers equal increased sales, return custom and positive referrals, all of which are crucial drivers to the success of any business.

As factories and processes become increasingly digitalized, the threat of a cyberattack is growing. With hacking regularly making the headlines — think back to 2017’s WannaCry ransomware attack — you would assume that manufacturers had put safeguarding measures in place to prevent a similar threat from disrupting their operations. However, government research has found that this isn’t exactly the case.

It doesn’t seem all that long ago when K8 was the primary software platform that Kerridge Commercial Systems’ (KCS) customers used to run their businesses. 

The very nature of manufacturing means that waste is a real issue. Whether it’s energy by-products emitted by machinery or offcuts of materials used in the manufacturing process, minimising wastage is a priority for every manufacturer and not just in terms of cost.

You know that we now live in an increasingly digital world. For businesses, initially this meant having a website, then moving into e-commerce, and more recently, having a social media presence. However, the most forward-thinking businesses have now moved beyond these elements and are busy adopting their digital strategy.

Starting a new ERP project is not without its difficulties — without the correct planning in place. As the saying goes, fail to prepare and prepare to fail. Put the legwork in now and hit the ground running once your ERP software is fully implemented.

Working in manufacturing and technology, we’re familiar with acronyms. From ERP to CRM, the latest jumble of letters hitting the headlines is GDPR — the General Data Protection Regulation. But what is it and how is it set to impact manufacturers?

In this blog post, I will be discussing the cutting-edge technology of the 1870s. You may be wondering whether I’ve lost my mind— “the 1870s? That’s not relevant to me”. Before you hit that back button, hear me out; we can learn a lot more from nineteenth century manufacturing than you may think.

On 26th July 2017, the UK was taken aback by the government’s announcement to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2040 onwards in an attempt to tackle Britain’s problem with pollution.

With markets becoming even more competitive and boundaries blurring further, being a manufacturer is no longer as simple as making things. The industry as a whole is in the midst of a servitization transformation, as manufacturers venture into the services field — a space that was traditionally reserved for specialist service providers.

As a busy manufacturer, you might wonder how much time you can realistically spare to keep up to date with industry resources and blogs. After all, it’s time that could be spent elsewhere, managing the factory floor or handling other business-critical activities. However, the real question is: can you afford not to keep up to date?

In field service, an industry that is heavily focused on customer satisfaction, your first time fix rate is crucial. Put yourself in the customer’s position: when something goes wrong, they want it fixed straight away. They don’t want to put processes on hold, losing both time and money in the process, while an engineer attempts on multiple occasions to rectify the issue.

The aviation market in the UK is strong. According to a report from January 2016, our aviation industry achieves an annual turnover of over £60 billion, with exports alone worth £26 billion. Of this sum, £52 billion is contributed to the UK economy.

As a manufacturer, you’ll already understand the importance of your warehouse within your business. As the place where raw materials arrive and are stored, as well as where finished products are kept before shipment, your warehouse is a hub of activity. Without effective warehouse management, your entire set-up could descend into chaos — with disastrous consequences for your supply chain.

You’ll likely have already heard the terms Internet of Things (IoT) or Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) bandied around. However, if you’ve put them down as simply being the latest in a long line of manufacturing buzzwords, you’re very much mistaken.