Sage Line 500 - Manufacturer Wrightbus

With the help of Sage Line 500, bus

Client Profile

Wrightbus, the UK manufacturing division of the Wright Group, offers the largest portfolio of vehicles in the UK and this choice and flexibility, combined with high quality, have elevated Wrightbus to the position of largest independent manufacturer in the UK.

Founded in 1946, and still family owned and managed, Wrightbus moved into the public transport market in the early 1970s with huge success. Today, Wrightbus are leaders in innovation and creativity; the company pioneered low floor buses in the UK, and its most recent product, Streetcar, is equipped with the latest technology that gives customers ‘real-time’ information about where they are on the route and details about the next stop. Increasingly recognised as one of Europe’s leading providers of passenger transport solutions, Wrightbus has established a reputation founded on high quality design and world-class engineering. Today, one in five buses in the UK on a PSV chassis displays the distinctive “W-Shaped” front grill today – Wright’s renowned symbol of quality.

The challenge

Over a 10 year period, the company's turnover grew steadily from approximately £10 million to more than £100 million. Productivity also grew steadily, from an output of three buses per week in 1990, to almost 23 per week.

In 1998, with production on such a major scale at the Wrightbus factory, this rapidly expanding company felt it had outgrown its current IT system and decided that it needed a sound IT structure to cope with the increased pressures resulting from new contracts being won throughout Europe. The management team had two further key considerations: they wanted a quality, locally based solution and the system had to be installed with as little upheaval to business operations as possible.

The solution

The Wrightbus management team originally chose Sage Line 500 following a comprehensive presentation by Sage Business Partner Pinnacle Computing. The Sage Line 500 system demonstrated a close functional fit to Wrightbus’ manufacturing, distribution and financial requirements. Wrightbus appreciated the fact that during the the implementation process, Pinnacle was able to adhere to strict budgets and ensure that systems were up and running by the deadlines stipulated. The Pinnacle team also remained onsite to provide the necessary training and advice so that all staff were quickly comfortable with the new system.

The benefits

Sage Line 500 has led to improved performance at Wrightbus from day one, with its flexibility allowing Pinnacle to easily incorporate further value-added software add-ons, such as personnel and data analysis, when the business needed them. “We haven’t changed our business to meet available tools in the software, but we have changed the solution to meet our business needs,” says Martin Graham, Wrightbus Director of IT and Logistics. “We also have support from our Business Partners who can customise the solution to fit our needs.”

With further expansion plans in mind, Wrightbus has also taken advantage of Sage's strong integration capabilities and introduced an innovative custom Material Requirements Planning (MRP) engine developed by Sage partner Defacto Solutions (http://www.defactosolutions.co.uk). This MRP system, which dove-tails into the existing purchase ordering software, means that Wrightbus can maintain tight control of over 2000 purchased parts which make up each of its PSV buses. Thanks to Defacto's application, Wrightbus can now specify the serial number of each bus and tag this serial number throughout the various levels of works order right down to piece part level. When the modified MRP raises recommendations, the purchase order lines are consolidated and sent to the supplier tagged with each individual bus serial number. This means that when a part arrives, Wrightbus can easily identify the bus number and the bar coded receiving system can automatically identify the correct stores location. Subsequently, materials are kitted and delivered to the point of use in the flow line. One of the significant advances now being realised by this custom MRP system is a Net Change feature. If the Master Production Schedule (MPS) required date is changed for a specific serial-numbered bus, then the tagging allows any reschedules to works orders and purchase orders to be reported on and, if necessary, these can then be acted upon to replan.

The breadth and depth of Sage Line 500 has more than met the company’s expectations. The system’s breadth of manufacturing and distribution functionality allows the integrated management of purchasing, stock control and works order issuing into production, which have been of major benefit to the company.

“The package meets our basic business needs as we can use it in both the manufacturing and distribution sides of our business,” says Graham. “The centralised accounts control saves us a lot of time as we don’t have to integrate with a lot of other packages.”

Sage has provided a return on investment by enabling the company to grow, without a corresponding major growth in the number of staff.

The future Wrightbus is now looking at upgrading to either Sage Line 500 v6 or Sage 1000 in the near future. “We skipped versions 5 and 5.5 of Sage Line 500 so it is time to upgrade,” says Graham. “The new version has several tools that would greatly benefit our business.” The company did, however, look to see what other, equivalent systems were on the market prior to making the decision to upgrade its Sage product. “But we felt we were getting significant benefits and support from Sage and Pinnacle so we decided to stick with their products,” explains Graham.

Solution Overview

• Local support during and after implementation from Sage Business Partner,
• The breadth and depth of Sage Line 500 has more than met the company’s
• Improved performance and efficiency from day one, e.g. the centralised accounts
• Major returns on investment, e.g. Sage Line 500 enabled the company to grow
• A flexible solution that will support the company’s ambitious growth plans.

For More Information

Sage is a global provider of end-to-end business management applications for small to mid-size businesses. Look to Sage for fully integrated software that delivers high performance, advanced functionality, cross-product integration and unmatched freedom of choice. Sage provides companies with the solutions they need to enhance competitive advantage and increase profitability. For more information, visit www.sage.co.uk or contact us on 0845 111 9988.