ERP2 helps it run to timetable
Unipart Rail UK Limited is the leading supplier of replacement
components in the UK Traction and Rolling Stock aftermarket,
managing and supplying a comprehensive range of products from major
repairable components, from bogies, wheelsets and engines to
consumable components such as brake pads, hoses, filters and
lubricating oils.
Unipart Rail handles over 600 accredited suppliers and a product
range comprising around 50,000 products held in stock at Doncaster
with a daily delivery service to some 90 customer maintenance
depots throughout the UK as well as regular shipments to
international customers.
A Quadrate customer since 2002, Unipart Rail uses ERP² in
major uploads associated with new business, such as in forecasting
function and in the production of period end reports.
Unipart Rail originally purchased ERP² to ease the integration
of new business. In 2001 Unipart Rail won a major contract to
supply the maintenance firm for a UK train operating company.
Unipart Rail became responsible for supplying all the parts
required to keep the trains running.
The rolling stock was a new type for Unipart Rail. Integrating
the new business involved uploading to SAP the new maintenance
contract, thousands of new master materials, new parts, thousands
of new supplier relationships and the associated new accounts,
accounting and control of materials.
"We had become aware through SAP conference that various
tools were available for uploading data to SAP," says
Chris Hall, Unipart Rail's SAP Manager. "I contacted
Philippe Jardin, CEO of Quadrate and found him super helpful.
Within a week Philippe had visited us and run a demo in my
office."
"We were stunned by the speed, efficiency and ease of
use of ERP². The timing was excellent and we used ERP² to integrate
the new business we had just won."
ERP² proved extremely effective for Unipart Rail, bringing
savings in training and resourcing, and, most vitally, a huge
amount of time and cost by avoiding manual entry. Unipart Rail has
since found many additional uses for ERP² in its business.
Updating Master Data for new business
"Before ERP² this task simply did not happen because the
cost of the effort far outweighed the benefit."
Forecasting
"We use Crystal reports to find exceptions - materials
that need attention. Using ERP² we can then tune the data in SAP
allowing us to manage that exception"
Period End Finance
"With our finance team using ERP² to enter provisions
our reports can be on the MD's desk two or three days after period
end rather than after a week when updating SAP was a manual
task."
Using ERP² brought huge savings in training, resources and cost
for Unipart Rail. Chris Hall was also exceptionally impressed by
the way in which Quadrate is in touch with its customers'
needs.
"New releases of ERP² bring new capabilities that are
genuinely helpful to us, even improvements based on feedback we
have given to Quadrate. A good example is the tools for managing
logs. In the early days, we were uploading about 200 materials to
SAP every day. This entailed the generation of horrendous log files
that were difficult to use. I mentioned this to Philippe Jardin and
in the next release logs were completely reworked with new tools
for sorting, searching, selecting and deleting records. It is
refreshing to be listened to!"
Going forward, Unipart Rail is now looking to use ERP² with SAP
v4.7.