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Case Study - John Smedley

Traditional textile and garment manufacturing companies are increasingly turning to information technology in their drive for improved efficiencies.

This has opened the door for innovative companies such as Prima Solutions Limited, the UK's leading provider of software to the apparel industry, to work in partnership with customers to provide IT solutions tailored to the individual needs of businesses.

The use of IT as a management tool is proving the way forward for more and more organisations - a change which will see businesses able to manage more completely and effectively, making informed rather than speculative business decisions.

One such company is Derbyshire-based John Smedley Ltd which currently has a turnover of more than £17m and exports 70% of its fine gauge knitwear to 35 countries world-wide.

 

Partnership

Its relationship with Prima Solutions has developed into a close ongoing partnership since the two companies first began working together in 1994.

"Our financial performance, our productivity, and our capacity for forward planning has improved vastly and the Prima Solutions contribution in these areas has been invaluable."
"The Prima Management Information System (MIS) gives us better, more accurate and up-to-date information and has enabled our business to move into a cash positive situation for the first time in a number of years."

Information Technology Manager John Irving recalls that John Smedley had faced a number of problems at that time. "The company had various stand alone systems which no longer fulfilled the needs of the business. For example, sales order and capacity planning systems worked in isolation. We recognised that IT could deliver substantial benefits and so we began looking for a system that could both deliver our business strategy and be fully integrated into it."

"...we began looking for a system that could both help deliver our business strategy and be fully integrated into it."

By the end of 1993 a report had been completed which detailed the problems the company faced and the solution that IT might offer. It was accepted by the board and from that point the primary need was to identify a supplier which could combine expertise in IT and a strong understanding of a made-to-order clothing business like John Smedley.

A brief was issued to potential suppliers which identified requirements that had to be fulfilled. By the spring of 1994 a shortlist had been compiled which included Prima Solutions.

"Prima Solutions was the unanimous choice in what turned out to be an easy decision to make," said Tony Langford, MD at John Smedley at the time. "They had staff who understood our business and the role we expected them to play within it, their Prima MIS software was the closest fit to our needs, and they had developed a good rapport with our staff."

Key Features

For John Smedley the key features of the Prima MIS software included: work-in-progress monitoring which had been previously unavailable; all works orders, which had been paper based beforehand, could be placed on the system; immediate sales order entry and processing; stock control; build up to gross; sales ledger; a finite capacity planning system; bill of materials; additional programming capacity on top of the core system; and the ability to extract comprehensive reports in their own style.

"John Smedley has reduced its stock holding by around 25%..."
"A fully integrated IT system was a critical requirement for John Smedley. Just as important was our ability to demonstrate that we understood their business and could work with their people to deliver what was needed" says Joint Managing Director at Prima Solutions, John Norman.

"That didn't just mean that we could install and operate an IT system for them," added Joint MD Steve Brown, "it meant that we understood and could deliver the tangible business benefits they were looking for. When you consider that John Smedley has, for example, reduced its stock holding by around 25% and become cash positive, we can say we succeeded in doing that."

Positive Benefits

IT Manager, John Irving, continues, "There have been other positive benefits to the business which were not in the original specification - not least the reaction of the staff. Staff have been involved right through the exercise with a project team drawn together from all parts of the company.

Although most had not used IT systems before, staff adapted quickly and easily after completing Prima's own training programme. In-house research revealed that staff particularly enjoyed the single entry of data and the reliability of the system.

"It really galvanised them, even where individual's had no previous experience of IT systems. In fact, the enthusiasm with which the new system has been embraced and the flow of ideas to enhance it further has been a breath of fresh air. Now we have up to 80 users on the system, and our three factories at Matlock, Doncaster, and Clay Cross are on-line and fully integrated".

"It's lead to greater co-operation and boosted commitment and productivity."
"The impact on staff has been a real bonus", said Tony. "They can now see much more clearly how their work and that of other departments affects the performance of the business. It's lead to greater co-operation and boosted commitment and productivity."

Installation began in August 1994 and was divided up into three phases. Between them, John Smedley and Prima decided to go for a 'big bang' approach which, as luck would have it, coincided with John Smedley's seasonal sales peak.

Experience

"Inevitably there were some problems", remarks IT Manager, Irving, "but Prima showed great determination and strength of purpose in sticking to the task. I was really impressed with their attitude - I've seen a lot of IT company's throw up their hands and walk away when the going gets tough. Prima remained positive and worked with us to straighten things out."

The experience has fully vindicated John Smedley's decision to choose Prima and to continue developing the partnership.

Langford believes that one of the key factors was the level of detail and attention paid in drawing up the original work contract.

Continual updating of the system goes on and new software applications are added as more and more uses become apparent. From a 'wish list' of 110 ideas more than 100 are now operational on the system.

"Both sides were very clear about each other's responsibilities and the outputs that were expected from the project. It seemed a real nuisance at the time as the negotiations were fairly lengthy and costly in terms of legal fees but it was definitely money well spent. Once the contract was signed I locked it in a drawer and have had no reason to look at it since."


"It's been a real pleasure to work with John Smedley", says John Norman, "their business processes are more complex than most in this industry because they start with fleece then wash it, comb it and spin it before dying and knitting high quality finished garments. These garments are exported throughout the world always taking account of international customs requirements. From the outset we have worked closely together to agree requirements and approach and they have been extremely professional in all our dealings with them. We're delighted to see the improvement in their business that's come from our partnership."

At John Smedley, IT Manager, Irving, is similarly complimentary, "Prima have shown all the qualities we were looking for. They understand our business and are focused on us as their customer rather than on the Prima MIS product and that means that they are always flexible and open to ideas."