Plumbing Parts (Assembly/BOM)
"I wish I had known about Anagram's Encore-eBIS years ago"
Plumbing Parts was founded in 1984 as a plumbing and heating merchant. Today, from its humble beginnings in the garage of the owner, it serves a large catchment area in South Wales, supplying both trade and retail customers with all their plumbing and heating requirements, from copper tube to state of the art showers and heating systems.
The owner and current managing director is Norman Davis. 'Back in 1984, I started the company after having worked for a large plumbing and heating merchant. For me the key to success was going to be the level of service that I could offer customers'. Some 20 years later, Plumbing Parts is a thriving business on the outskirts of Cardiff, with just under 10,000 sq feet of showroom and warehousing and a new showroom on the way. 'It's a far cry from those early days when my warehouse also doubled as my garage', recalls Norman.
'Computers have been central to our business from day one as has been the efficiency of our business systems. We have used a number of PC based systems - largely the traditional accounting packages which are widely available. This has meant a low cost initially, but we have always needed modifications to suit our business. We have looked from time to time at systems which claim to specialise in our business, but they have always seemed to be rather inflexible. Plus they are often Unix based and so need specialist support and are very expensive, not only to install in the first place but also to run on an annual basis. Any changes always seem to cost the earth!'
'Until recently, we had an old DOS system from one of the major accounting software providers which we had modified. When our supplier said they wanted to upgrade us to a new version we decided that there were too many limitations and so started to look for a new system. I was referred by another merchant to look at a Encore-eBIS from Anagram Systems. I had never heard of it but was very impressed the first time I saw it. It seemed to do everything we wanted and there were a number of merchants already using it, so the company clearly understood our business.'
'We undertook a number of site visits to different merchants to check out the system and in particular the point of sale, since we needed to have a fast system where it was easy for our staff to find the products. We had never had a computer on the trade counter: it was all manual. From start to finish it took us just 2 months to get the system in, running, trained and live. We have never looked back' says Norman.
'Encore gave us the latest technology and a system that is exceptionally easy to use. Plus we have all the functionality we need: we can handle buying groups and e-commerce and are currently looking at web sales, kits, all our customer and supplier terms and specials. The stock control is excellent - we are not restricted if we make mistakes in allocating products to the wrong group, changes are quick and easy. Encore's link to Microsoft Word means we can do mailmerges for mail shots direct from the system and keep a record in the contact management module of what went to who. We can also store scanned documents here, such as signed delivery notes. Access to them is quick and simple. The information that you can get out of the system at the push of a button is really fantastic. Even our accountants have been impressed; our annual audit, which normally takes many hours took barely two hours this time round.'
'Encore will play a key part in helping us develop our new show room where we are going to specialise in alternative plumbing and heating technology, such as condensing boilers and manifold heating. The fact that Encore operates in different business sectors and not just in the builders merchant sector is a real plus .This means that there is a cross fertilisation of ideas between businesses and ensures that the system is kept right up to date with useful technology.'
'The support we have had from Anagram has been excellent and is real value for money, as was the system in the first place. I wish I had known about the program a few years ago!'