Industries

Distributors

As a Distributor the products you manage and sell enhance your reputation. Multiple routes to market in a customer-led marketplace create unique opportunities for success. Our solutions reflect and enhance this with online, mobile and traditional modes of operation. Increase brand loyalty along with business performance and predictability. Deliver excellent levels of service whoever and wherever your customers are, with improved visibility and sophisticated reporting.

Features for your company

ERP software for distributors - image of a lorry
 

Case Studies

John E Fells

John E Fells banner image

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Distribution and Manufacturing

Fells needed a system geared up for the complexities of the wine and drinks market and found that the Distribution and Manufacturing module within De Facto matched their requirements.

De Facto ERP has a standard structure for Excise Duty handling which can be quickly configured.

In addition, the powerful features have dramatically simplified the task of maintaining Fells’ price lists. Previously utilising custom price lists for specific customers, Fells now utilises price banding to dramatic effect. Furthermore, with a number of bonded customers, Fells are able to automatically recalculate prices for them, using formulae to manage the conversion.

What our client said...

"Our relationship with De Facto stretches over 10 years. The ERP system is easy to use and does everything one would expect. Together with the team, we have enhanced it to suit our needs. This has led on to many other innovative projects that are embedded in our business."

Nick, Associate Director of Finance,

John E Fells & Sons Ltd

Trade Ordering

Wanting to expand their online presence, Fells neeeded a sales portal where trade customers could purchase wines and drinks at any time.
 
Our job was to create a website to suit the precise needs of the trade customer. Our design and development team worked together closely to forge a professionally designed, feature rich website, emulating the design of their existing website for complete consistency.  
 
Developed using a custom Trade Order Template, the order systrem allows clients to place orders and access their entire account information via a secure login system. They are able to view their entire order history, track the delivery status of current orders, and print account statements for essential self-service management.
 
Sales are encouraged with repeat order functionality for streamlined order processing. Integrated with their De Facto ERP system, managing product content is simple, allowing for an assured real-time trading environment.

Hill’s Panel Products

hills-panel-products

Choose a business area to read about:

Distribution and Manufacturing

Hill's Panel Products (HPP) needed a truly integrated financials and logistics solution in order to manage the growth of their business activities.

What our client said...

"De Facto ERP has enabled HPP to gain great efficiencies in all areas of our business. Our future growth plans all involve working closely with De Facto. Their flexibility gives us the confidence that whatever challenge we have, they will be able to handle it."

Dan Mounsey, Marketing Manager,

Hill’s Panel Products

By implementing the Distribution and Manufacturing module, HPP have switched to utilising Sales Orders for their production planning. The switch has resulted in the ability to manage complex orders much more efficiently, removing the need for a huge number of Bills of Materials.

A single Sales Order may include diverse items from across their product range. For example, fittings from the fittings warehouse; cut and edged panels in standard and non-standard sizes; board supplied full sheet or cut, part-finished or not, and a variety of door types. Using additional fields functionality enables them to record such information as components, styles, door production information, etc.

HPP run their own transport and distribution operations. Load planning is a vital issue for them due to their extremely varied range of products and extensive customer list. De Facto ERP enables them to manage load order and drop order with maximum efficiency.

Business Intelligence

HPP opted for De Facto’s Business Intelligence system in order to gain information from their shop floor which is linked to data already stored in their De Facto ERP. Previously having to use a standalone product to pull information together, HPP are now able to use BI to easily measure which product groups occupy the most manufacturing resources. Utilising the BI module has enabled HPP to significantly cut costs in this area.
 
Since the implementation, HPP are also able to build extremely quick ad-hoc reports that can run without taxing the performance of their servers as all the data cubes that collate the information are refreshed to schedule overnight. 

Warehouse Management System

Operating multiple product-specific warehouse areas within their sites, communication and effective management of resources is vital. Warehouse Management System (WMS) filters enable the viewing and utilisation of only those products particular to an individual functional area of a warehouse.

Having enabled the staff to manage their own operations at their own level, the full range of items in the Sales Order is then brought back into view for transport planning purposes. 

The De Facto WMS solution has had multiple benefits for HPP. Previously manual processes are now entirely electronic based with considerable automation. Production has become more efficient, along with load and drop planning. Changes in business processes have been implemented, enabling the switch from 'made for stock' to 'made to order', with consequent gains in efficiency and turnaround.

What our client said...

"We have an excellent working relationship with De Facto that has developed over many years and is sure to go from strength to strength as our businesses continue to grow together."

Dan Mounsey, Marketing Manager,

Hill’s Panel Products

E-Commerce

Having already witnessed dramatic improvements in the way their business operates thanks to De Facto ERP, Hill's Panel Products (HPP) was confident that De Facto would make a success of their website too.

The new online presence would need to be impressive enough to make HPP stand out in a competitive market – and the website that De Facto’s Online Services team delivered achieved exactly that. 

Our web developers and designers went above and beyond expectations, producing an outstanding website that has proved exceptionally profitable for the company.

What our client said...

"I thought I’d let you know that last month was a pretty big record for online sales – over 20% up on the previous best month! I think this figure is testament to the quality of the work done on both sides."

Dan Mounsey, Marketing Manager,

Hill’s Panel Products

One of the key aspects that sets HPP’s website apart is its unique ‘builders’. These allow any customer to design a bespoke product in a step-by-step fashion. The system then cleverly produces a pictorial representation of what the final product will look like, based on the customer’s precise requirements.

For example, HPP’s easy-to-use sliding door builder gives customers the freedom to pick the exact measurements, shape, finish and a variety of other specific details for their sliding door. The customer’s vision is then realised in front of them as the system presents an image of their finished dream door.

The builders provide customers with a memorable, enjoyable experience not available on your average E-Commerce website.

What our client said again...

"I can’t fault the De Facto web designers on their commitment to getting our website to where it is and the quality of their work, which I think has led to an end product that both HPP and De Facto can be proud of."

Dan Mounsey, Marketing Manager,

Hill’s Panel Products

Meanwhile, seamless integration with De Facto ERP facilitates the smooth flow of data between the website and the core database. Information regarding sales orders, customer details and order histories is updated on a real-time basis, ensuring no time is wasted on duplicate data entry – allowing HPP staff to better use their valuable hours elsewhere.

The website has been a big hit with HPP and their customers alike, causing a significant shift in terms of the percentage of revenue generated online. Since it went live, more than 6,500 orders have gone through the new website and HPP’s turnover this September was four times as much as turnover at the same time last year.

APS Group logo

Company Type: Distributor ›
Industry: Packaging ›
apsgroup.com

APS Group

APS Group banner image

Choose a business area to read about:

Distribution and Manufacturing

APS Logistics needed a new management information system, in order to enhance and develop their customer services, storage and distribution operations. The Distribution and Manufacturing module enables them to record information in much greater detail, and to generate reports which provide a deeper breakdown of individual functions and activity than was previously possible.

The remit for APS Logistics is to deliver the right item to the right place at the right time and to be able to report on every movement/transaction in a varying degree of details as determined by their client. 

What our client said...

"De Facto has been an excellent partner in producing and enhancing an IT system that is flexible enough to cope with anything we find to throw at it. Personally, I’m more than happy to recommend this solution to prospective new clients."

Graham Thornton, Logistics Director,

APS Group

For APS, De Facto ERP has proved to be a flexible system, and one which has enabled them to increase the flexibility of their managed solutions. It easily accommodates the widely varying scale and details of their clients. For example, at one end of the scale, APS stores just 40 items for despatch to 300 delivery points, while at the other end, more than 2000 items are held in stock and delivered to over 2000 locations.

CRM

APS needed to strengthen their project and customer relationship management. Prior to utilising De Facto’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution, APS were using Outlook to record project dates and organise staff and documentation. The organisation of a project and the dates would simply be blocked on Outlook’s calendar feature and all related project information would be disparately located across various spreadsheets and work documents.

The implementation of De Facto’s CRM module and consolidation of all this information means they can access documentation from one place, along with the better management of staff involved in a particular project. APS have also benefited from the integration between Job Costing and CRM allowing them to record staff time against project events using time sheets. 

What our client said...

"I’m pleased to say that any issues we’ve had have always been dealt with promptly, efficiently and – most importantly – without any noticeable impact on our ability to deliver excellent service to our customers."

Graham Thornton, Logistics Director,

APS Group

Planet Eclipse

Planet Eclipse banner image

Choose a business area to read about:

Distribution and Manufacturing

During its expansion, the company soon discovered that they had outgrown their existing business software and needed a system which would give them more accurate stock levels and an effective handling of production.
 
Planet Eclipse’s business involves the importation of high numbers of relatively low cost stock units from all over the world. As such, the cost of actually getting the units into the UK and to their warehouses is a significant element of their business costs. De Facto ERP has sophisticated features to handle Landed Costs. The flexible system can handle a limitless number of cost elements, typically covering transport / freight, insurance, duty and any other charges related to the goods, allowing for proper FOB and CIF values to be calculated. It also handles a wide variety of Unique Taxes, such as VAT, excise tax, duties, port charges and so on.

As different countries use different baseline Units of Measure to calculate some of these charges, De Facto ERP will automatically convert one unit of measure to another where necessary.

Financials

Planet Eclipse approached De Facto with specific system feature requirements for their accounting. Supplying outside of the UK, they were unique in that they needed to run a UK and a US structure on one system.

The flexibility within the De Facto Accounting system has alowed the building of these configurations into the system and Planet Eclipse are able to run both structures on one system. 

Manufacturing

Planet Eclipse are a particularly manufacturing focused company. Sourcing components for their innovative paintball machinery from Thailand and other locations in the Far East, effective cost control was an essential requirement in the search for the right ERP software and for the success of their business.
 
The implementation of De Facto’s Production module has the allowed the company to plan ahead efficiently. Products are custom made to the client’s requirements, and the planning feature enables the effective management of colour sorting based on actual demand, nearer to the time of distribution.
 
Planet Eclipse has experienced better cost management as an overall benefit of the powerful Production module. The ability to monitor pricing of components and materials has enabled the company to assess the profitability of their products and see the true cost of finished products as well as margins. Improved levels of productivity have resulted in a recent re-location to a larger warehouse. 

What our clients say about us

The ERP system is easy to use and does everything one would expect. Together we have enhanced it to suit our needs. This has led on to many other innovative projects that are embedded in our business.

John E Fells
Read their case study

I thought I’d let you know that last month was a pretty big record for online sales – over 20% up on the previous best month! I think this figure is testament to the quality of the work done on both sides.

Hill's Panel Products
Read their case study

De Facto has been an excellent partner in producing and enhancing an IT system that is flexible enough to cope with anything we find to throw at it. I’m happy to recommend this solution to prospective clients.

APS Logistics
Read their case study
 

De Facto Software Ltd.
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