Customers

Case Study - Cosalt Safety Workwear

Cosalt Safety Workwear supplies personal protective equipment (PPE) and workwear to some of the UK's biggest organisationsfrom Mercedes, Vauxhall and Network Rail to a significant number of the UK’s police forces and fire brigades. In a recent new contract win which has the potential to be the largest PPE framework agreement in the UK, Cosalt has contracted to supply firefighters’ protective clothing to 12 services across South Eastern and Eastern England.

Cosalt is both manufacturer and service provider, looking after the needs of over 250 customers who choose from nearly 15,000 style lines varying from everyday workwear to fire-resistant protective clothing and all points in between. Control and precise supply chain planning are critically important to Cosalt in being able to provide the right items, in the right sizes, in the right volumes, to the right people, in the right place, at the right time - and all at the right price!

PrimaNet is a major component of Cosalt's daily operations, providing a platform for every aspect of the company's finance, purchasing, customer ordering and stock management processes. It has been an important element in underpinning Cosalt’s demand for control and in delivering significant improvements to customer service, stock availability, cost control, productivity and profitability.

Cracking the Service Delivery Code

The market for PPE and workwear for tough, hazardous environments places a unique set of demands on the organisations serving it. Quality control and compliance with stringent health and safety requirements are non-negotiable: in many applications, wearers will be relying on their clothing to protect them from serious injury and even death. Garments also need to be lightweight, offer maximum freedom of movement and be stylish.

Because such garments are subject to far greater wear and tear than everyday clothes, maintaining them is very important to the customer. Bearing this in mind, Cosalt - one of the UK's most respected suppliers in this market - opted for PrimaNet. The solution underpins a service-led approach to manufacture and supply that operates 365 days a year and balances both domestic and international operations.

"Our requirements as a business are simple: we need to ensure the right kit is with the right people. That means service and stock are paramount. We need a service capability that's profitable and cost-effective; mistakes cost money so it also needs to ensure orders are right first time. Plus, with garment lead times of up to 15 weeks in the Far East and 8 to 10 weeks from Eastern Europe, we need stock management and order processing that's accurate, scalable and that works in real-time. Finally, with nearly 15,000 current style lines and 65,000 SKU's we need very tight control over costs." states Carlton Greener, Cosalt’s commercial director.

"Automation is the key. With PrimaNet, we can deliver a fully-managed service that covers the entire lifecycle of all customer garments - from specification and manufacture through to delivery, cleaning, collection, repair and replacement."

Delivering Control

Cosalt's legacy system was relatively complex, unwieldy, and wasn't providing the fingertip control needed to support the business model. Greener's team was also finding it increasingly difficult to generate the level of management information needed to support responsive decision-making.

PrimaNet’s Wardrobe Management module has meant Cosalt can manage stock with great precision right down to garment and wearer levels; the Garment Rental/Service Care module has delivered the managed service capability for providing the end-to-end, outsourced clothing solution for customers. This powerful combination means the technology can support the business instead of vice-versa.

Says Greener "We were asking a lot from the new system: we needed significant improvements across management information and reporting, streamlined processes for improved productivity, better cost control, stock control and visibility plus total precision for order placement and fulfillment. With distributed processing across multiple sites handling around 10,000 transactions a day, our 70 plus users demand ease of use, with a familiar, Windows look and feel and Internet access for customers and suppliers. PrimaNet has ticked every box."

At the stock management level, PrimaNet has outperformed all expectations. The PPE market is subject to many variables says Greener, from seasonality and speed of delivery to volumes and the precise personalisation of garments. The system updates stock planning throughout the day to give his team pinpoint control and total visibility of stock held.

"We wanted a true, enterprise-wide solution. PrimaNet's modular functionality enabled us to deploy it right across the business. It is multi currency as well as multi-lingual, which supports us as we develop the international side of the business. It handles all our financial operations - from management accounts and payroll through to HR management and executive reporting. It also controls every aspect of order processing: from purchasing, raw materials, wardrobe management, stock control, allocation, picking and tracking through to despatch, proof of delivery invoicing and reconciliation."

Business Intelligence Enables Better Business Planning

PrimaNet’s Information Manager is powered by Business Objects and enables Cosalt to deliver tailored KPI reports to their customers, including monthly delivery performance statistics and outstanding order information. Cosalt also uses the tool extensively for producing internal KPI reports, such as stock planning information.

“Information Manager allows us to deliver tailored business management information to our customers on demand, when and where they need it”, comments Carlton Greener. "We can now schedule the running of regular reports which are published and accessed across the web and we can produce even the most complex of reports, utilising the wealth of information in our PrimaNet system”.

Automated Procure to Pay Processing

eCommerce and eProcurement were key development areas for Cosalt. Gone are paper-based, fax orders - and the human errors that typically go with them. The ability to receive and then process orders electronically speeds up processing, significantly improves accuracy and has transformed customer service. eProcurement is a key capability for working with public sector organisations and the utilities: PrimaNet is easily integrated with their systems and provides strong and secure order authorisation through the web browser.

Utilising the latest XML technology, PrimaNet has enabled Cosalt to fully automate the procure to pay process for its customers, improving order accuracy and reducing transaction time and costs. Customer orders are entered into their own system and sent electronically to Cosalt’s PrimaNet system without any manual intervention. This means that orders can be picked and despatchedthe same day, enhancing Cosalt’s customer service. An XML invoice is then created, including POD information, and sent electronically to the customer’s system, which speeds up the invoice matching process.

Carlton Greener explains: “Although we have controls in place within the PrimaNet system to check the quality of orders, automation dramatically reduces transaction costs for both Cosalt and the customer.  Ultimately, by automating the purchase to pay process, we can provide customers with a more efficient service as well as costs savings, whilst Cosalt also benefit from improved cash flow.”

Bottom Line Benefits

PrimaNet's capabilities have been of substantial benefit to Cosalt. Product management and cost control have been improved significantly and the ability to manage margins much more effectively has delivered improved profitability. Operational reporting has been improved right across the business to provide a level of unprecedented visibility and clarity.

The system has gone down well with users too. Implementation, training, help desk and full technical support have all been superb. New users are up and running quickly with inevitable knock-on improvements to personal productivity.

Concludes Greener, "Without doubt, the capabilities of PrimaNet are pivotal to the future of our business. We are a service led business and our success stands on our ability to deliver for our customers - in every sense. PrimaNet provides us with that stability and the platform to deliver a wealth of time saving facilities. PrimaNet has greatly improved stock planning and this has contributed towards Cosalt reducing stocks by some 20%. This has significantly reduced working capital and the associated funding costs. Streamlined transaction processing has also enabled an improvement in business efficiency which has assisted management in making significant improvements to profitability over the last 2 years."

"PrimaNet's capabilities were and continue to be crucial to the business because they underpin our service operation and the whole managed approach to providing PPE and workwear. The fact that PrimaNet delivers these capabilities so comprehensively is our key performance indicator."

"PrimaNet's capabilities provide us with even greater operational business potentials. This is helped by the partnership approach that the Prima team takes. They have demonstrated real business smarts as well as technical expertise: by challenging the requirements, they have helped improve our processes even further."