Trutex Ltd Gains Complete Business Visability

Customer Success

Who: Trutex Ltd

What: Produces & distributes School wear items

Web: www.trutex.com

Established in 1865 as the Clitheroe Shirting Company, Trutex Ltd is the single largest independent school brand. The company produces an extensive range of school wear items, from casual wear to sportswear and from blazers to rugby shirts. Trutex distributes its uniforms and sportswear through a chain of independent retailers, through a unique mail order service, and through a ‘Direct to Schools’ scheme, where the schools receive a donation from Trutex with every purchase.

• An un-integrated system was used to manage the same pool of stock for their three businesses which consisted of wholesale, retail and online. Consequently, inventory had to be segregated between the systems leading to massive inefficiencies, over-stocking in some areas and shortage in others.
• A large amount of time and resources was being spent on processes such as mailing invoices, statements and order confirmations which could be automated. This needed to be streamlined as much as possible to improve productivity and efficiency.
• As a company, Trutex strives for excellent customer service. The inefficiencies in inventory and poor stock control equated to poor customer satisfaction and loss of business. It also led to a lack of control over the company’s financial resources.

Solution: System openness, interoperability and flexibility

Medatech implemented a completely integrated ERP solution that provides visibility across all key areas of the business and generates significant savings of effort in all departments and processes. Priority ERP pro-vided accurate cost information for each product using the comprehensive part parameter matrix facility. It provides the ability to manage demand across all elements of the supply chain, receive and transmit orders, shipping information and invoices via any medium required, improve customer satisfaction, lower inventory values and plan purchases to maximise cash flows and profitability. In short, it is providing Trutex with a completely automated environment in which to do business with its many and varied customers. It was vital in 2006 when they started implementing Priority and it is just as vital to continue improving their business with Priority today.

Results: Present ROI and Tangible Value Derived

Improved efficiency and cost saving

Priority has dramatically improved the efficiency of Trutex business processes and made them more cost effective by establishing an automated system; from electronic ordering to the automatic emailing of statements, invoices and order and shipping confirmations. This alone saved Trutex around £15,000 in 2009.

Customers now receive an order confirmation within 30 minutes of it being placed and the order will not be seen by human eyes until it is collated in one of the Trutex warehouses. It is now possible for an order to be dispatched in as little as one hour, and because full details of a customers order are made available so soon, mistakes can be picked up on and remedied before the order is shipped, meaning fewer returns are made. Additionally, Priority can directly integrate with the DHL tracking system, allowing customers to track their orders in real-time.

Better visibility of the business

Priority generates the executive reporting that provides key business performance metrics. Accurate costing of products enabled better identification of which products were the profitable and improved effectiveness of the product-pricing regime.

Improved stock control

Regaining control of inventory and significantly reducing time spent on expensive stock movements. Within a distribution industry such as this, it is vital that physical movements are minimised and those that are necessary are carried out as effectively as possible. Priority has provided Trutex with the tools to achieve exactly that. From the manufacturer in the Far East, to despatch to the customer, complete visibility has been achieved and stock movements minimised.

Management of supply chain

Priority automated supply chain achieves complete control over the whole order/procurement /supply/delivery /invoice and payment process. With orders coming into the business by a variety of means (phone, fax, web, email order forms etc.) due to the high level of logistical automation that Priority provides, the first time many orders are handled by an operator is when the items are being picked for despatch. This picking is highly automated due to the advanced use of wireless hand-held barcode devices.

Product Costing

For the first time, Trutex is able to fully realise the precise pricing of their products in many sizes, styles and colours, including those purchased ready to sell and those purchased plain and passed to sub-contractors to have embroidery work done.

Financial Control

With a better grip on the operations of the whole business comes the advantage of complete control over the organisation’s financial position, allowing the company to concentrate on its goals of expanding and growing its business both home and abroad.