PBwel is a globally recognised designer, manufacturer and supplier of temporary portable earthing, voltage detectors, Buchholz relays and electrical safety products.
PBwel and Sage X3
With a heritage spanning over eighty years, and world-class experience in equipment designed for the safe maintenance of power systems, PBwel provides customers with high-quality service, reliable solutions and technical expertise.
PBwel's products are trusted and tested by some of the leading companies from different sectors such as rail, energy, constructions and more. With customers such as Network Rail, SSE, nationalgrid and Keltbray.
The latest exciting development for PBwel occurred in April 2018 when the business was acquired by the Novarc Group and joined their Electrical Safety Products division (ESP). Since 1993, the Group, through both organic growth and acquisition, has established itself as a world-class specialist in the supply of Electrical Safety Products through innovation, design and investment in modern manufacturing techniques.
PBwel Sage X3 Project Remit
The Novarc Group were already using Sage X3 to manage their global operations and the next logical step for PBwel, was to move their operations onto Sage X3. This would allow PBwel and the other companies within the group to reap the benefits of a powerful integrated ERP system.
With a focus on:
• Enhanced visibility into production data.
• Improved stock traceability.
• Automation of inter-company orders and invoices.
• Streamlining of sales processes
• Group visibility of financial reporting.
Mike Credicott PBwel Managing Director:
“The business was running on a legacy ERP system that was difficult to use and we could not easily access the data. The Novarc group had already implemented Sage X3 across other companies within the group. We knew migrating to Sage X3 would enable us to be more efficient and give us access to our business performance data faster.”
Project Sucess
Sage X3 has allowed PBwel to gain better insights into their data with increased accuracy.
PBwel now have enhanced visibility of production performance with real time production data being captured throughout the manufacturing process.
Using easy to use data capture screens, all stock movements as well as manufacturing times are being recorded in Sage X3 at a bin location level across the warehouse and shop floor. Group stock is now tracked at Batch/lot level through the added traceability of the connected inter-company ordering.
Day-to-day operations have also been streamlined with the automation of the inter-company order process. Purchase orders placed by PBwel are now immediately visible to the other companies within the group, reducing administration time and increasing efficiency within the business.
The PBwel sales team can now place quotes on Sage X3 from anywhere and have instant access to review last prices quoted and quote conversion data. Customer Services can easily convert quotes into firm orders at the click of a button, reducing order processing times and increasing customer service levels.
The sales picking and shipping flows have been overhauled from a mainly paper based activity to a fully digital process. Reconfiguration of the handover points between the teams, facilitated by the automation and control available in the system, has drastically reduced shipping times and duplication of duties.
From a Financial perspective, the move to Sage X3 has enabled PBwel to restructure and condense their Chart of Accounts without removing the granularity required for in depth analysis using Sage X3 Dimensions.
Increased traceability and digitalisation have been added to the following areas:
- The maintenance, additions, disposals and depreciation of the Fixed Asset register using the integrated Sage X3 module.
- The 1st successful MTD VAT return submission via API to HMRC fully supported by Sage X3.
As well as benefiting from Sage X3, PBwel are benefiting from a strong partnership with Vallestra. With a dedicated team of Sage X3 professionals the Vallestra team are a key partner and provide ongoing support and guidance to PBwel as they continue to grow.
When asked what it was like working with the Vallestra team Mike Credicott said:
Mike Credicott PBwel Managing Director:
“This was a major project for PBwel where the team had never worked with a fully integrated ERP system before. As with all projects of this nature, the team had to not only perform their daily work tasks, they also had to hit the project milestones.
To keep everyone on track required skilful and sympathetic project management and Vallestra’s wealth of experience in system migration and integration was key in the success of the project.
There is no doubt that we would not have achieved our timeline without the active support from Vallestra. Their knowledge of Sage X3, their ability to adapt the processes or to provide solutions to suit not only our business but also to meet the reporting requirements of our French parent company, was second to none.
We could not have achieved the successful outcome without them.
I am also pleased to say, that post Go Live, they continue to provide the business with support and we are delighted to have them as part of “our team”.”