MAY 2019 IT IN FOCUS
the company had seen a £200,000 reduction
in stockholding. This also had the knock-on
benefi t of being able to reduce customer
lead-times, and the reduction in storage space
meant the factory could be reconfi gured to
become more optimised. Overseas sales
saw an increase due to consignment stock
in certain regions such as Australasia, where
shipping accounts for between six weeks and
three months of a product’s lead time. Held
directly at the customer locations, stock can
be called o immediately when required, then
invoiced and replenished. Planned versus
actual manufacturing time can be analysed
to identify where further savings can be made
through better manufacturing methods.
Speaking at the time, Richard Robertson,
Vortok MD, was glowing in his praise of 123
Insight: “Vortok is committed to a year-onyear
growth fi gure of at least 5%, although
in 2014 turnover will grow by approximately
20% to over £9m. This growth could not have
been accommodated by our old manual
system. 123insight has been instrumental in
the company’s startling growth during 2014,
ensuring that all departments meet the new
much heavier demand upon resources. It
will be key to our further US expansion and
management of it.”
Following another two awards in 2015,
2016 saw 123 Insight again win at the
IT Europa Awards, this time for its work
with Barnsley-based tyre pressure sensor
manufacturer, Bartec Auto ID. The company
previously relied on a discontinued DOSbased
system to handle bills of materials, but
with limited stock management. After selecting
123insight they saw an 85% reduction in lead
times, a 99.9% drop in stock inaccuracies,
paperwork halved and the amount of stock
also halving from £1.2m to under £600,000.
“If you ask anyone on the shopfl oor, they’ll all
say the same thing: how did we cope without it,” mused Bartec
general manager, Matt Woods.
Closer to home, Manufacturing Management was amongst
those to recognise 123 Insight’s contribution to the industry
in 2017, naming the company as one of the top innovators
during that year’s Manufacturing Management Show. The MMS
Innovation Awards were selected by an undercover team of
industry judges during the event, all of whom were impressed
by 123 Insight’s innovative and customer-friendly approach to
cutting-edge software.
After over a decade of success, some could expect the
momentum to drop o for 123 Insight. However, the past two
years have seen no let-up in 123 Insight’s successes. Indeed,
2017, ‘18 and ‘19 have seen a combined four IT Europa Awards
take their place on the shelves. This year’s success came for the
company’s work with Northern Irish fi rm Water Tecnik. It was
struggling with its manual, paper-based systems, but always
intended to implement an MRP system shortly after the business
was founded. After attending a 123insight Evaluation workshop
the company decided to move ahead, going live within one
month. In fact, so successful was the implementation, that
Water Tecnik itself has been rewarded as joint winners in the
local council Excellence in Manufacturing awards.
Also this year, the company has been nominated for the
Motion Control Industry Awards in the ‘Technical Innovation of
the Year’ category – just another indication of the diverse range
of success 123 Insight has seen.
Few software providers can demonstrate their success in as
tangible a way as 123 Insight, as Simon Badger, 123 Insight MD
(designate) explains: “these awards help to further qualify us as
a company that is respected by our peers as well as trusted by
our customers. The MCI nomination takes our total to 38 and
is one of the many reasons why companies consider 123insight.
Our no-risk approach and a solid product are the reasons they
choose to stay.”
www.123insight.com
From L-R: Simon
Badger, MD
(Designate); Guy
Amoroso, MD;
Hal Cruttenden
award host and
comedian
www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk 39
/www.123insight.com
/www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk