Background
Clyde Materials Handling Ltd. (CMH), based in Doncaster, is recognised as a global materials handling solutions provider with offices and manufacturing facilities in the UK, USA, Brazil, China and South Africa. It offers levels of service from equipment supply through to total turn-key solutions inclusive of design, installation, commissioning and training.

CMH is presently growing rapidly on the back of global market penetration and innovative designs. The projected growth and the international nature of future business meant that the existing information systems, based on an ageing, unsupported MRP system and numerous Excel spreadsheets, would need changing.

Inevitably, the business processes that these systems were supporting had evolved over time and needed reviewing and re-engineering to match the new business requirement. The challenge facing the business was therefore to define the new business shape, examine how systems and new processes would support that, and determine how the information developed from the system would be used to support the operational decision making processes.

Project Summary
Allman Horrocks Consulting (AHC) were commissioned by CMH to undertake a systems evaluation and selection process after the company had decided internally that the present systems could not support it's future plans.

AHC used its SELECTOR methodology to take the senior team through the process of selection based on a 3 year vision of the business. The vision is described through the key business processes, their performance metrics and a vision of how the process can be preformed.

In parallel with the systems selection, AHC took the team through a strategic review to set the framework in terms of metrics and organisation to achieve the 5 year business objectives.

This workshop-driven review developed the core elements of the strategy including the mission statement, critical success factors, key business processes (abstracted from the system selection process), objectives, markets and products and financial targets.

The output of the workshops formed the basis of CMH's 3 year strategy and 1 year action plan, and confirmed the systems needs in terms of key business processes and the decision making information.

Testimonial
"When Clyde Materials Handling embarked upon the task of selecting our new ERP business system, it soon became apparent that whilst we knew a lot about our own business, we were not so sure which system best suited our business needs. As newcomers to this field, it quickly became apparent that some ERP solution providers appeared more suitable than others, but which one met our needs closest?"

"At this point we decided that we needed help with the selection process, but what we didn't want was someone telling us "this is the one for you". The decision had to be ours and we had to own the decision once it was made. We looked around the industry and eventually came up with 3 consultants with the right credentials. All promised similar outcomes but using different methodologies."

"We settled on AHC and the SELECTOR route, because this methodology reviews the whole business and its future plans, not just its present needs. The process was one of informed choice allowing Clyde to understand the important features of the new business system which will facilitate growth. We found the whole experience very rewarding in that we achieved all the criteria and objectives we had set ourselves prior to making the commitment to order."
Brian J Wright
Joint Managing Director
Clyde Materials Handling

Download this case study